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Joined Dec 27, 2015
245 Blog Posts

Should You Invest In Contract Labor Companies?

Having a project completed sometimes requires a hard look at the type of labor that may be necessary to get the work done in the first place. Many people do not stop to take enough time to figure out exactly how they should hire labor to get it done. Some simply go to contract labor companies without a second thought and others just use the employees that they already have. So, which method is really better? We want to take a look at that today.

Taking A Look At The Project

Imagine for a moment that you are having a pool built for your business or for your private residence. The first thing that you might do is look at pool loan companies. They can provide the financing you need for this project. However, before you go to them you are going to need to have a plan in place so that you can present to them your ideas for how you intend to get this project done.

One of the steps you must clearly take is to hire a company or hire employees who can get the labor of building a pool up and out of the way for you. They are going to come at a cost and you should carefully consider what that cost is going to be.

The Pro Side

Lets see what may push you towards going with contractors to get your project done right.

1) Flexibility- There is no doubt that contractors make it easier to get just a very specific task accomplished. You do not have to worry about paying benefits or overtime or anything of that nature when you go with contractors. You just give them the specifics of what you want to have done with your project and they go to work making that happen. It is so easy that you may wish you had started by doing it this way in the first place.

2) Cost Savings- You can save a bundle when it comes to your overall costs with contractors in comparison to regular employees. The amount that a contracting service bids to do your project could come in as way less expensive than having your regular crew do the work.

3) Easy To Find Talent- Those who work as contractors tend to do the same kind of jobs over and over. They are experienced in providing high-quality service to anyone who comes to them with a project. You may be able to avoid some of the costs of training new employees when you go with contractors.

What May Hold You Back

It is not all rosy for hiring contractors. Let’s take a look at some of your potential hangups with doing it this way.

1) Fear Of Disloyalty- Contractors do not really know you as a person. They may not feel that they have to put their whole heart into a project. Additionally, they may feel more comfortable doing something such as stealing from you. That is always a danger when hiring people you don’t really know.

2) Less Control- Contractors are more free to set their own rules and timelines. You can have a pretty tight grip on your own employees but may not experience that with contractors.

Go With What Makes You Comfortable

There are a lot of factors that you could put on the pros and cons ledger before making a decision on this one. The most important thing at the end of the day is to go with a decision that makes you comfortable. If having your own employees do it is the only way you can feel that way, then go with them. It is just about getting your project done right the first time and exactly the way that you want it done.

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5 Things to Do to Improve Your Resume

Your resume counts as the first glimpse that many employers will get of you. Naturally, you want it to look as perfect as it can. It goes without saying that you’ll want it to be error-free and factual.

 

However beyond that, do you know what kind of elements the best resumes have? If not, you could be overlooked for jobs that you’re otherwise qualified to fill. If you don’t know where to start your resume improvement quest, take heart. The following list provides you with five tangible things you can do to improve your resume.

 

  1. Pick Out the Keywords

 

Most resumes get machine sorted before they go on to recruiters. As such, you’ll want your resume to contain as many job-related keywords as you can.

 

If you’re not sure which keywords to use on your resume, Entrepreneur recommends that you run the company’s job post through a cloud generator. This will make the keywords stand out.

 

Once you know what the most prominent keywords are be sure to use them throughout your resume. Company headhunters give extra points for customized resumes.

 

  1. Highlight the Future Not the Past

 

According to Forbes, job seekers spend too much time on their resumes talking about the past instead of focusing on the future.

 

Your resume tells a story. Don’t tell a story to your employers that is ancient history. Instead, highlight the portions that list current accomplishments, degrees, and credentials that qualify you for the job you’re applying for. The more current this information is the better.

 

  1. Turn it on its Head

 

Monster.com suggests that you turn your resume upside down and look at it from a distance. Doing this allows you to look at it in big blocks. Ask yourself if the formatting, the font, and other elements look okay. If there are sections that don’t look appealing, be sure to change them.

 

Or you have a friend or a professional resume reviewing company like https://employmentboost.com/ take a look at it to see what stands out.

 

Often when you’ve put together a number of resumes in one sitting, it’s harder to see your resume clearly. Having another set of eyes can help you avoid leaving mistakes on your resume that could cost you a job.

 

  1. Name and Contact Information

 

Did you know that 80% of recruiters will look at your name and contact information before they look at anything else? Therefore, you want this section to look clean and to stand out. Make sure they can get a hold of you.

 

  1. Increase Your Resume’s Wow Factor

 

There are elements to your job and education history that will stand out. These count as your resume’s “wows.” What types of information could you include on your resume to impress your potential employer? Do you speak four languages? Did you increase your former company’s bottom line by 25% in one year? Did you graduate with honors?

 

Place this information in strategic spots on your resume. Add a headline with information like “Award-Winning Web Designer” to catch employers’ attention.

 

You can also add “wow” information throughout your job descriptions by telling employers how you improved the work environment in each position. Maybe you increased your company’s web traffic or saved it a bunch of money. Add that information. Make sure you add similar information to an “Honors and Awards” section as well.

 

Conclusion

 

A standout resume impresses employers and gets you interviews. When you’re adding information to your resume, be sure to add the right information.

Include information about how you will improve their business’s bottom line. Also ensure that your contact information stands out and is easy to read.

 

Additionally, you’ll want to add to your resume’s “wow factor” by adding interesting information and by highlighting the keywords the employer is looking for. If you take all these steps, you’ll create a resume that gets employers’ attention and lands you jobs.

 

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How to Make Sticking to Your Diet Easier

If you’d like to shed some extra pounds, you might have decided to go on a diet. Unfortunately, a lot of people associate diets with being miserable and hard to stick to. This is often the case for many people, but it doesn’t have to be the case for you. If you follow these tips, you can make it a whole lot easier to stick to your diet and achieve your weight loss goals.

 

Be Realistic

One reason why some people ditch their diets is because they set unrealistic goals in the first place. If you set a goal to lose a ton of weight in just a few weeks, then you might get frustrated when you don’t achieve this goal. Then, you might give up. Instead, be realistic so that you don’t set yourself up for failure. Set small goals along the way to make things more achievable and less overwhelming.

 

Avoid Buying Tempting Foods

If you have all of your favorite junk foods in the house, it’s probably going to be a lot harder for you to pass on eating them. Therefore, consider keeping junk food out of your house. Give away any junk food that you might already have to friends, or consider donating it. Then, when you are grocery shopping, consider only purchasing foods that are healthy and in line with your current diet plan. If you don’t have these tempting foods in your home, you can help avoid eating them in the first place.

 

Allow “Cheat Meals”

Of course, sticking to a strict diet over the long term can be difficult, and you might find yourself tempted every now and then. If you always deprive yourself of the foods that you crave, then you might end up giving up on your diet completely. By having occasional cheat meals in reasonable portions, however, you can avoid feeling quite so deprived and might be prone to sticking to your diet longer.

 

Use a Meal Delivery Service

If you have never thought about using a meal delivery service, you might find that now is the perfect time to try one. If you have healthy foods delivered to your home, you can help ensure that you are only eating diet-friendly foods. Plus, you can avoid trips to the grocery store and can make preparing healthy meals much faster and easier.

 

Luckily, there are different healthy meal delivery services out there that you might find are just right for you. You can even use a gluten free meal delivery service if you are avoiding eating gluten.

 

Once you try one of these plans, you might find that it’s actually the easiest way for you to get healthy meals on the table for yourself. It’s even easier than going through a drive-through and grabbing foods that aren’t diet-friendly at all.

 

Pre-Prepare Your Meals

Additionally, along with using a meal delivery service, you should try pre-preparing your meals when you can. If you go to work without a healthy lunch, for example, you might find that you’re tempted to grab something from a fast food restaurant. If you pre-prepare healthy lunches for the week and grab one when you’re heading out the door, however, you can help ensure that you stick with a healthy diet. Plus, bringing your own food with you can be much cheaper than eating out, so you might find that you’ll save a lot of money while you’re saving calories at the same time.

 

Along with preparing meals to bring along to work, you can pre-prepare meals to eat at home as well. Cooking lean protein ahead of time and then just heating it up or adding it to a salad when you get home from work, for example, is a great way to make your life easier and stick to your diet.

 

Even though it’s not always easy to stick to your diet, following certain tips can make it a whole lot easier. If you follow these tips, then you might find that sticking to your diet and meeting your weight loss goals is more achievable than you thought. Then, you can get to your goal weight without as much of a struggle.

 

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How Eating Healthier Can Impact your Life

The Benefits Associated with Eating Healthier

Changing your diet can have a huge impact on your life. It can affect, not only your health, but also the way that you view yourself. Having good self-esteem is very important because it affects various facets of your day-to-day life. Many people find that when they implement more healthy lifestyle changes into their lives, they are happier, more positive, and more confident. If you feel like your weight is holding you back in life, this can positively change your relationships with others, your mind state, and the level of success you can achieve. Of course, appearances are not everything and it is always nice to accept the way that you look. However, eating healthier can be a positive thing for many people who are looking for a change. Aside from physical changes, eating healthfully can greatly reduce your risk of various health problems, including heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and certain types of cancers, if you are overweight and need to lose extra body fat.

 

Making Better Choices

It can be difficult to purchase healthy foods and make smart decisions when eating out. We are constantly surrounded with the opportunity to make poor choices, in regards to our food intake. Nearly every aisle in the grocery store contains convenient, yet unhealthy options and almost everywhere you look there is a fast food restaurant. Sometimes, this can make it feel impossible to make healthy choices and in some instances, people aren’t even aware how unhealthy their diet truly is. This is why it is important to properly educate yourself about nutrition and the risks associated with an unhealthy diet. When you arm yourself with the correct information, this allows you to make better choices in the future and avoid negative behaviors, in regards to your diet. There are several steps you can take towards creating better eating habits. For example, if you find it difficult to stick to a healthy eating plan due to all of the temptation surrounding you, you may want to consider a healthy food delivery service. This removes a lot of the confusion regarding nutrition and all of the time it takes to frequently visit the grocery store, in an attempt to hunt down healthy options. Food delivery services are prepackaged and convenient. They make accessing healthy food a much simpler option and help to keep you on track with your diet.

 

Seeking The Right Advice

Other important steps towards improving your nutrition include speaking with your doctor about the things you are currently consuming and consider the advice they have for you. Often, you may find that your diet is worse than you originally thought. If you need more specific guidance, you may also want to consider seeking the services of a nutritionist, which can give you a more in depth analysis of your eating habits and the areas you may need to adjust. This will help to paint a better picture of your overall diet and will give you a better understanding of your eating habits.

 

When losing weight or trying to eat more healthfully, it is important to set goals for yourself and create a plan with specific steps on how you want to achieve these goals. It can be a long process but it is often worth it in the end, due to all of the health benefits that are often associated with being more healthy, as well as the power it has to make you happier overall. Everyone wants to look and feel their best and adjusting your diet is one way to achieving this. It is important to stay motivated and positive throughout the process of changing your diet because it can be difficult at first. However, once you become adjusted to choosing better food options, it will be easier and feel more natural to you.

 

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Are Businesses Safe Using Cloud Storage in Today’s World?

 

The arrival of cloud storage has cut down on a lot of anxiety and worry. Saving files on a hard drive comes with risks. Putting those same files in the cloud ensures copies of files won’t be lost if a laptop’s physical hard drive is somehow ruined. And then there are more expansive uses for the cloud. Entire IT networks operate in that virtual void. Moving an IT network to the cloud also transfers various duties and responsibilities required for maintaining both hardware and software.

 

Despite the benefits of cloud storage, not all anxiety and worry disappears though. Legitimate concerns do exist about how safe information stored on the cloud might truly be. Perhaps it would be a good idea to seriously address concerns over cloud storage safety.

 

Access to the Servers

In the cloud, data is stored on servers. When you access your files in the cloud, you open up a doorway to the server. Access to the cloud storage server requires both an account and a password. So, access to the content and information becomes restricted. One person does have access to the data on that server: an employee of the cloud storage company. Obviously, the company has to maintain the ability to enter its own servers. And then there are third-party vendors who may work with the company.

 

Technically, this means you can’t completely restrict access to the cloud. For small businesses or even individuals storing financial data, this may prove worrisome. Thankfully, legitimate cloud storage services work hard at maintaining security. A publicized security breach wouldn’t exactly help a cloud storage company attract new clients. For this reason and more, many cloud storage companies invest heavily in security.

 

Take Additional Steps

Don’t always rely on others. Accept certain responsibilities in order to further enhance security. Purchasing a password encryption program to make it difficult for someone to sign into your cloud storage account. That’s a fairly simple step. There are others to take as well.

 

Investing in fraud detection with Confluent could be another way to add more protection and security. Sadly, cloud storage servers can be targeted by individuals with an intent to commit fraud. Malicious acts could involve using the server to commit payment fraud, stealing an identity, and more. Hiring a service capable of monitoring for fraud and other illicit behaviors could put a huge roadblock up in front of criminals.

 

Retaining the services of a credit monitoring and identity theft company could deliver further assistance. Any illicit activity undertaken in your name or social security number might be quickly flagged by such services. Has someone overseas tried to withdraw money from your account? You probably won’t find out in time unless a monitoring service is on the job.

 

Also, be sure to put a lot of careful thought into what particular cloud storage company you select.

 

Work with Reliable Cloud Storage Companies

The technology industry sees startups arrive on the scene with consistent frequency. Many tech entrepreneurs come up with new ideas or new ways to improve an established service. The cloud storage world is not excluded from seeing new arrivals stake a claim on the business landscape. Not every company, however, may be up to the task of storing data at proper security levels.

 

Human nature leads people to wish to save money. Attractive deals on cloud storage pull many potential customers in. So do promises about the best service and cutting-edge technology. Startups love to promote attributes such as these.

 

Don’t be so easily led by a company’s marketing ploys. Look closely at the credibility of any cloud storage firm you consider. This way, you can increase the chances of signing up with a truly reliable and legitimate company.

 

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Five Household Tools You Should Be Investing In

No, this isn’t a post about why you should buy a new plunger for your bathroom or comfy pillows for the bedroom. It’s about actual tools with utility that you should be investing in. They are commonly forgone by most homeowners in exchange for the short-term savings. Having these tools at home can benefit you in numerous ways, whether by increasing protection for your family and property through surveillance or improving health and wellness through physical exercise. Without further ado, here are five tools you should be investing in for your home:

 

Green Tech

Switching to green technology, whether it’s a complete or partial move, can result in long-term savings that easily offset the short-term out-of-pocket expenses. In fact, most solar companies today offer financing assistance and leasing options to make it easier to adopt green technology. Invest in green tech including solar hot water heaters, geothermal heat pumps, Energy Star-certified smart fridge, and compact fluorescent lamps and light bulbs. Green energy programs not only help to improve the environment, but also boost the economy as well as save your household hundreds of dollars each year.

 

Alarm Systems

An alarm system for your home improves security tenfold. It deters any attempts of a break-in in your property and gives you peace of mind that your home is secure when you’re out of town. The stickers warning the the premises are installed with alarm systems alone will do the trick of stopping the bad guys. After all, the risk of getting caught is too high and, therefore, not worth it. There are many choices for alarm systems on the market, from landline-based to wireless ones, DIYs to company-installed, smart tech, etc. Of course, price is another key factor when making any kind of purchase. There are fees you should consider including activation, monthly, and cancellation charges.

 

Toolbox

Even if you’re not exactly the handyman/woman or the avid do-it-yourselfer at home, having a toolbox can come in handy. Tools you’ll want to have inside your toolbox include a Philips and flathead screwdriver, tape measure, level, utility knife, and a hammer. Of course, you’ll want to have some nails to pound on with that hammer. Other really nifty tools to have in hand if you have the extra budget include wire strippers, crescent wrench, pliers, and power drills. Any well-equipped toolbox can cost between a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. It sounds expensive, but it can save you a ton of trouble when your household starts to experience some wear and tear.

 

Wireless Router

It can be intimidating to shop for a new wireless router, given the myriad of options on the market. For the layman, most of the product details and specifications won’t make sense. Understand what your current circumstances are, particularly what you do with your wireless connection and how much space you have for it. Some routers are much better for streaming content while others are ideal for smaller living spaces. Having the right wireless router is essential for a smooth, lag-free browsing experience, especially if you are using your home’s WiFi for researching the web, working remote, or managing your business.

 

Surveillance Camera

An alarm system is good as a deterrent for break-ins and theft, but if you just want to take a look at your property, children, and pets, it might not give you the 360-degree field of vision that you want. When buying a home camera, make sure it has night vision and can turn a full 360 degrees. When buying a surveilance camera, factor in the cost of the monthly subscription fee that companies usually charge.

 

Final Thoughts

Though all of these tools can collectively cost you a hefty sum, these are essential items that can help you during natural disasters, financial hardships, and other calamities you may face. Forget buying that latest juicer or blender or that 60-inch television screen that you rarely use.

 

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Small Business Investment Tips for Doing Well in the Stock Market

Small businesses should take advantage of investing more as they start to accumulate profits. Investing can provide added capital over time that can make it easier to take advantage of opportunities that come up and facilitate healthy cash flow.

The following are six important tips to keep in mind if you’re using small business funds to invest and grow capital:

 

Take advantage of penny stocks in order to get started

In the early days, it’s a good idea to look into penny stocks because they don’t require a significant investment but they have a lot of potential in some cases. Investing in penny stocks is probably not going to make you rich, but it could help you to learn the ropes of investing. And don’t forget that some people have made a fortune from penny stocks. Just a few examples of one-time penny stocks that hit the big time include True Religion Apparel, Medifast, and Mylan Pharmaceuticals.

 

Try to incorporate investments into your own business interests

The best way to invest for small businesses is to invest in such a way that long term business goals are worked toward through investments. Before making any type of investment, it’s a good idea to look at your long term goals and how you could use any available investment funds to meet those goals. In particular, you may want to do research on how a bull call spread can benefit your market to get some low risk chances of benefiting your business interests.

 

Avoid going overboard on a particular investment

One of the most basic rules of investment is learning to diversify. A lot of times, fledgling investors are tempted to put all their eggs in one basket because they have a real hunch about a particular stock or investment. However, going overboard on a particular investment creates a lot of risk. You need to diversify because, while one stock or investment may turn out to be a lemon, they all won’t. Diversify your investments so that you spread the risk out. This will give you the greatest chances for success in investing generally.

 

Be aware of the potential that mutual funds offer

Mutual funds offer a great opportunity for beginning investors to make some money without having to take great risks. When you are unfamiliar with the world of investing, you want to minimize risks in order to minimize losses. Mutual funds involve investing money into hundreds of stock so that risks is spread out without you’re having to make any decisions or conduct any analysis on what you’re specifically investing in. Mutual funds generally allow your investments to grow slowly and to weather the vicissitudes of the market well even though you’re not a very experienced investor.

 

Be patient

One of the number one rules you need to remember about investing is that you’re almost never going to get rich quickly by investing. This means that you need to bide your time and be patients about returns on investments in the stock market. Stocks that are good investments will go up little by little each day.

However, stock market investments won’t increase significantly in value immediately so you’re going to have to sit back and watch. Patience in investing leads to the greatest successes. Remember that stock market investment profits are passive, so even if they take time they don’t require upkeep or ongoing effort.

 

Invest strategically to minimizes fees and taxes

There are often a lot of fees that go along with making investments on certain trading platforms online. You’re also going to have to pay taxes on any investment earnings your company has.

It’s important to analyze the expenses that fees and taxes will involve and invest strategically by being aware of what it costs and what it will cost to make your investments.

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How Can I Keep My Small Business Going And Growing This Year?

It’s safe to say that one of the small business owner’s top priorities is devising and implementing growth strategies that keep the organization in a state of constant expansion. If this is one of your objectives for the year, note that there are many growth techniques you can implement to see the positive changes that will make your organization more productive and profitable. Here are a few of them:

 

  1. Update And Optimize Your Human Resources Department

The people you employ are definitely the biggest asset that your company has. This is the case for many reasons, including the fact that they are the individuals who complete the tasks and assignments that keep your company going and growing. Additionally, they are typically the “face” of your organization, meaning that they’re the ones who continually interface with the general public and clients on behalf of your organization. With all of these realities in mind, it’s imperative that you implement strategies that will keep your current employees happy and productive. This is one of the primary reasons that HR departments exist, so keeping this department in tip top shape is imperative once you realize that you want your small business to grow and expand.

 

There are multiple strategies that you can deploy to keep your HR department in great shape. One is utilizing dynamic software. Finding the right HRIS software for small business purposes is an important and empowering strategy for multiple reasons. First, doing so can help you automate a wide range of processes that were being completed manually. Once this happens, you can typically get more done in less time. For example, BambooHR’s human resource information system enables small business owners to store their data in a fast, simple way with one centralized system. Some of the elements to be considered when purchasing HR software include competitive price, encompassing feature set, dependable customer service, and usability.

 

  1. Develop A Savvy Marketing Strategy

In addition to optimizing your human resources department, make sure that you implement a savvy marketing strategy. This step is imperative because marketing functions as one of the primary modalities through which you make your brand known to both prospects and your current customers. This ongoing exposure fuels brand awareness, thereby increasing your company’s likelihood of attaining great outcomes like more industry authority and increased sales.

 

There are many strategies you can deploy to take your small business’s current marketing plan from average to awesome. One is by focusing on your online presence. Doing so will increase your likelihood of attaining the level of traffic necessary to fuel conversion. One of the key strategies that can be utilized to help you attain substantive traffic online is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO strategies can include anything from link building to keyword analysis, and small business owners who have taken the time to master this complex marketing discipline oftentimes wind up attaining page 1 ranking in the SERPs.

 

  1. Optimize Customer Engagement

Your customers are the individuals who make purchases from your organization. Therefore, they are the people who are keeping your small business in operation. As such, keeping them happy is imperative if you want your company to become and remain as profitable as possible. With this reality in mind, it’s important to implement customer engagement strategies which ensure that you can gauge whether your clients are really satisfied with the products and services you offer. One component of the customer engagement process is referred to as customer delight. This process is solely concerned with customer experience and feedback. It can involve things like the use of survey sites (Survey Monkey, for example) to anonymously collect feedback from customers regarding their experiences with and opinions about your brand.

 

Conclusion

Small business owners who have decided that they want to keep their organizations going and growing should know that consistently implementing key growth strategies can make the complex process of business expansion relatively simple. Use one, two, or all three of the growth strategies outlined above to increase your small business’s likelihood of undergoing dynamic expansion this year!

 

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Tools a Company Should Invest in to Be Successful

To build a successful business one must spend the time and money to give it a leg up. This means that making sure your business has a good process, the right machines needed, and a more efficient way to run than not- you can be lead to success.

 

Bookkeeping

Whether you are a financial pro yourself, or know nothing about taxes and paperwork, it is always good to seek financial help. Hiring an experienced bookkeeper can completely change the way a business gets off the ground. They will not only help you keep track of everything being spent and help you determine what needs to stay and go. But they will be super beneficial around tax time. I remember my first business tax year was a disaster because I felt the need to do everything myself.

 

Improve HR Process

With the shift in digitization, outdated HR procedures will have to go. The old HR methods will be a thing of the past and the whole business world will move forward with digitized HCM or human capital management. An example is performance appraisal software which can fast track employee evaluations. The whole process will be cloud-based and everything involved in human resources will move faster. Even now, HR apps are moving to smart phones and similar mobile gadgets. It is expected that more mobile platforms will be developed in the near future.

 

With investment capital joining the industry, a company can now use very easily a cloud-based system for its core HRMS and payroll requirements. This could include employee engagement, employee communications, online learning, wellness and talent and performance management. The process can still speed up with the use and cooperation of Glassdoor, Indeed, Careerbuilder and LinkedIn. These systems using the cloud are already deployed and have proven effective for around five to seven years. They could have already developed into maturity and are now more trusted by its users and can be enterprise targeted.

 

Website

You may know a little bit about coding and design, which leads you to believe you can handle the making of your website yourself, but fact is it will be better to either hire someone in house, or send your ideas to a professional company to get this done. When someone hears about your company or is looking for services like yours, the website is going to be the first impression they will have about you. If this first impression does not go well, like always, the viewer will go elsewhere. It is important to really get your hands on a beautiful website that will lead to more conversion later on.

 

Sometimes it is easy to feel the need to take shortcuts when starting a business. But it is important to look at what will be more beneficial in the long run for you and your business. Investing does not always mean going straight into stocks, but can be investing in your business.

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Stock Investing for Small Business Owners

Small business owners relish the potential to earn a great deal of money running their enterprises. Budding entrepreneurs should be aware one positive thing. The wealth amassed from owning a small business isn’t contingent on earning massive profits each year. Consistently saving and investing profits — even modest ones — every year might build up the business’ value and the owner’s net worth significantly.

 

The Corporate Strategy

Often, what works for large corporations also works for small businesses. The approaches may be scaled down a little, but the overall strategies remain the same. One strategy involves taking profits and investing the money. This creates added valuation to the business while hedging against losses related to expenditures. The insurance industry presents an example of this strategy as interest on investments may offset payments on settled claims. A small business tracking its finances with a netsuite alternative could do the same thing.

 

Of course, a small business owner must be smart about choosing an investment strategy. By relying on safe investments, a small business owner might find his/her profits growing in a safe place.

 

Long-Term and Low-Risk

Putting a set percentage of revenue into aggressive, risky endeavors aren’t automatically bad ones. Long-term investments — even risky ones — might prove profitable. That said, would you really want to put a significant amount of business profits into risky vehicles? Lower-risk investments safeguards cash and allow the money to grow. A major corporation in dire need of building up capital could seek high-yield municipal bonds offer ing6% returns. These bonds, however, come with the looming risk of default. A treasury bond pays far less than 6%, but the odds of default aren’t exactly high.

 

Generally, long-term and low-risk investment strategies benefit the small business owner. Less risk has its rewards.

 

Diversify Assets

Certain approaches can undermine low-risk investments. For example, putting too much money into any single investment vehicle can turn low-risk investments into potentially higher-risk ones. Imagine if all of a business’ cash reserves were put into the stock market and the market crashed. For all intents and purposes, the business crashes with the market.

 

Savvy investors wouldn’t likely create a personal portfolio completely lacking in diversity. The same logical attitude frequently applies when investing a small business’ funds. Diversity the portfolio to reduce risk while allowing money to grow in different ways.

 

Match Approaches to Business and Investing

Matching business strategies and goals to your investment strategies and goals makes sense. That is, if you seek moderate growth in your business’ profits, think about seeking the same level of growth with the investments. It would be an odd strategy to try and grow a business carefully and then take the capital and put it into an aggressive growth venture known for occasionally serious losses. If you’re conservative with your business, then you likely would be more comfortable as an equally conservative investor.

 

Don’t Allow Trading Fees to Cut into Profits

In order to buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other assets, you must purchase from a broker. Brokers do need to make money for their services. Paying fees may be unavoidable, but you can cut down on the amount of money spent on trades. Before you sign up with any brokerage service, closely examine all the fees associated with the service. Seek out a reputable broker who provides reasonable fees that won’t cut into your initial buy too much.

 

Stay on Top of Taxes

Investments may come with tax obligations. Certain investments do fall under the category of nontaxable income, but this isn’t the case all the time. Taxes might need to be paid on dividends and capital gains. Keep all 1099s related to all investments because they will be needed at tax time. Failure to report any taxable income, even due to an honest omission, could lead to an audit or fines.

 

In short, be as careful with your investments as you are with your business. Make the two work together well contribute to improving your financial standing.

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