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3 Biggest Mistakes Your Business is Making on Social Media
A simple Google search will lead you to plenty of articles explaining all the things you should do to increase your social media following. After all, social media has become one of the most important tools for businesses looking to reach a broader audience. However, what may be less apparent for businesses and less accessible is a list of things you should not be doing.
The truth is that many of us are making mistakes when it comes to our social media strategies that we may not even realize. Social media marketing can be tricky, and even well-intentioned businesses with a so-called “strong” strategy in place can fall victim to some of the most common mistakes. If you’re a business who’d like to see your social media efforts paying off more, then here are some of the mistakes that might be ultimately hindering the results you’d like to see.
Inconsistency
Statistics show that social media accounts that post regularly on a consistent schedule have a higher engagement rate. Irregular posting leaves your audience confused and not sure when to come back for what they need. It’s vital to create a schedule and lay out everything that you would like to post for the week.
From posting a video about an RTA Outdoor Kitchen to sharing an informational article, there are all sorts of ways you can provide valuable content for your audience. Nowadays, there are multiple apps that can post for you. It’s as simple as “setting it and forgetting it,” and your posts will automatically go up on a schedule of your choosing.
That way, you don’t have to worry about remembering when to post. You can set your schedule according to when your audience is most active on social media, increasing your chances of them seeing your post and reacting.
Ignoring Comments
One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make is believing that social media is a one-way conversation. Unlike traditional advertising, social media is an exchange between a business and its audience. In other words, you need to get a conversation going. If your followers comment on your post, always reply and encourage communication. This will foster a meaningful connection with your audience, and increase your brand loyalty. After all, when someone feels like they’re directly connected to a business they feel appreciated by and loyal to that brand.
Neglecting Visuals
Social media is all about visuals. Blocks of text are out, and flashy, appealing, and clean visuals are in. Take the time to carefully curate your content so that it’s more likely to catch people’s eye as they scroll. From your logo to your color scheme to the photos you post— the visuals you choose will make a big difference in your engagement.
4 Biggest Challenges of Starting Your Own Business
Standing your own business is one of those things that is filled with many opportunities, yet also plenty of terrifying challenges. There are lots of things that can go wrong along the way, which is why not every entrepreneur necessarily reaches success. However, if you can identify these challenges ahead of time, you’ll be that much more capable of facing them and overcoming them as you go.
If you’re an entrepreneur in the early stages of your business— whether you’re starting a bookkeeping business, or selling crafts online, here are some of the biggest challenges you may face along the way.
Financial Strain
Finances can be tight, particularly in today’s economy. Getting enough funding in the beginning can be a challenge. This is only natural since investors may be hesitant to give their money over to someone who’s not necessarily a sure thing. However, your finances will play a critical role in the overall success of your company. It’s important that you get your ducks in a row, and secure funding where needed.
Carefully watch your expenses and be vigilant about where your money is going. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who are careful with every penny and know how to use their resources wisely.
Competition
In today’s competitive business world, there’s no shortage of people out there doing exactly what you’re doing. And while you can’t hope for the competition or disappear, you can do the next best thing, which is find a unique selling point. What do you have to offer that they don’t? What makes you special that no one can find elsewhere? How can you make yourself stand out in a crowded marketplace, and build brand awareness? This will be one of the biggest determining factors in whether you make it or not.
Work-Life Balance
When you’re an employee, you get to clock out and go home when your work day is done. However, when your business is your own, and you’re in charge of everything from payroll to scheduling, your work day never actually ends. This can start to weigh down on you and create an imbalance in your life. However, it’s critical that you find a work-life balance, particularly if you have kids.
Succeeding to Quickly
Sometimes our success comes so quickly, that we aren’t prepared for it. We can find ourselves scaling so quickly that we can’t keep up with the pace. Unfortunately, growing too quickly can leave us unable to fulfill orders, and ultimately result in unhappy customers. Remember, build your business model so that you can accommodate the amount of orders coming in, and scale your business at a comfortable pace. Remember, slow and steady always wins the race.
5 Stages of Grief Explained
Grief—one of the most emotional terrains that exist. It’s a journey through a multitude of emotions that have been broken down into what is known as the five stages of grief. These stages are each part of the emotional process that people go through after experiencing the loss of a loved one. Each one is complex, yet necessary for ultimately healing. If someone you love has recently died, here are the stages of grief explained that may offer insights into your range of emotions.
Denial
When you first learn about the passing of someone, you often feel total disbelief. It simply doesn’t feel possible that you’re facing a significant loss like the death of a loved one, and as such, it’s incredibly difficult to accept the reality of the situation you’re facing. Denial itself is a defense mechanism that permits your brain to slowly accept its new reality.
Think of it as a temporary shield that protects you from the emotions attached to something intense like that. And while it may be perfectly natural, it’s not sustainable long term. At some point, it’s time to start accepting reality which is usually where the next stage comes in.
Anger
As the denial begins to fade, reality sets in and so does the pain. In most cases, this means a deep surge of emotion, usually starting with anger. They don’t understand why or how this could have happened to them, and the anger sets in. However, this is a crucial part of the grieving process, and this anger should be accepted. It will allow you to express and release all that pent-up emotion whether it’s by screaming or going for a run. The idea is to release it and get it out so you can move on to the next stage.
Bargaining
The third stage, known as bargaining, involves attempting to “bargain” with reality. People often think things like, “If only I would have”, or “What if I had” asking themselves what they could have done differently to stop the situation. This is a natural human instinct as people feel out of control with their circumstances, and they attempt to regain control of reality.
Depression
At this point, when people realize they have no control over the situation, and ultimately there’s nothing they can have or can do, depression sets in. A deep sadness takes over them and usually involves removing themselves from activities and people that once brought them joy. Nothing feels real, and there is a great sense of loss.
Acceptance
Yet, after this dark and intense phase comes the light at the end of the tunnel. The final stage following depression is acceptance. And while this may seem synonymous with moving on, it’s hardly the same. Acceptance simply means coming to terms with what has been lost and accepting it as reality. And while pain may still be present, there is a renewed sense of acceptance and purpose. People are ready to return to their lives despite the emotional challenges they’ve just undergone.
3 Interesting Changes To Make When Renovating An Office Space
If you have an office space that you’re ready to renovate so that it better meets the needs of your business, there are a few things that you might want to consider adding so that your office space has something interesting to offer both your employees and any customers or clients who might come into your office space.
To help you in figuring out what might be best for your business, here are three interesting changes to make when renovating an office space.
Find Ways To Modernize
If the office space that you’re renovating hasn’t had any kind of major renovations in decades, what you might want to focus a lot of your attention on is modernizing the space as best you can.
One area of modernization that you might want to focus on is security. Not only should you seek to use modern technology to protect your products or equipment, but you can also modernize to help keep your employees and your customer or clients safe when they are on the property. Along with this, you can seek to modernize the overall style and layout of the space so that it’s more open and encourages collaboration, which isn’t something that many older office spaces prioritized in the way many modern offices do.
Focus More On Flow
One reason why many businesses seek to renovate their office space is due to a lack of flow and integration between people and departments.
There are multiple ways that you can get the feeling of more flow in your corporate space. One thing you might try is to break down some of the walls between spaces. If you still want some separation, you can always use glass walls or shorter partitions to help keep a little differentiation between one room or area and the next. Additionally, if you want the whole space to feel like one cohesive unit, you can also use color and other design and decor elements to help with this.
Make Accommodations For All Employees
Something else that you should consider as you’re making renovations and changes in an office space is how everyone within your organization and who enters your space will be physically accommodated. For example, if you choose to include raised access floors in one part of your space, make sure people with physical disabilities will still be able to get into this area safely.
Even if you don’t have people on your staff right now that need accommodation, thinking ahead with your design will help ensure that you won’t have to scramble to make quick fixes when these services would be needed.
If you want your renovated office space to look great and be interesting to anyone who comes into the space, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how this can best be done.
Housekeeping Horrors: 6 of the Worst Things Cleaners Have Discovered at Work
There’s more than one reason why it’s essential to have workers’ compensation insurance for a cleaning business. Beyond the regulations and legalities, cleaners and housekeepers encounter a shocking array of dangerous and disgusting things during the course of the average shift.
You can probably already imagine that toilets are no one’s favorite thing to clean. However, we guarantee you’ll be aghast when you read the following stories of housekeeping horrors.
1. Post-party uglinesses
A few beer cans and overflowing ashtrays are one thing, but some hotel guests go above and beyond when they let loose. Syringes, drug paraphernalia, strange stains, bodily fluids, and burn marks are all common – if disgusting – discoveries. However, one cleaner quit her job on the spot after walking into a room that had all of the above plus vomit on the ceiling. We can’t say we blame her!
2. The aftermath of sunburn
At least once in your life, you’ve probably had a sunburn so bad it peeled. While there certainly is a kind of sick satisfaction to peeling away your flaking skin, this is something you should never leave for someone else to clean up.
Sadly, some hotel guests seem to think good manners aren’t necessary if you’re paying for a room. One poor housekeeper came into a hotel room to discover a pile of peeled-off skin beside the bed. Even thinking about it is disgusting, let alone having to clean it up.
3. Living things
From maggots to feral cats, housekeepers have found some wild creatures in hotel rooms and holiday rentals. Whether they’re brought in by the occupants or find their own way in, attracted by old, rotting food, cleaning up after them is never a fun time for the poor housekeepers.
4. Full bathtubs
At first glance, this might not seem all that gross, especially compared to some of the other entries on the list. But take a moment to think about it. You have to clean the tub after some random person has checked out, and it’s full of murky water. You have no idea what they were doing in the bath or what could be lurking under the surface, but you have to reach in to unplug it. This is the reason why most hotel bath plugs are on a chain!
5. Gross things tucked away in hiding places
This is a common theme reported not just by housekeepers but by unlucky guests. Some people apparently like to take disgusting things and hide them around their hotel room before they check out. As you can imagine, this creates a genuine moment of horror for whoever finds it. Commonly discovered surprise items include tampons and sanitary napkins, condoms, bodily excretions, fried chicken, and wedding rings.
6. Piles of hoarded junk
Some of the worst housekeeping horror stories come from hotels and apart-hotels that allow long-term guests. While most people are clean, quiet, and respectful, a few can cause quite a stir when it comes time to clean their rooms.
Quite a few housekeepers reported having to clean up after hoarders who kept mountains of junk piled in their rooms. The terrifying part of this cleaning job is that you never know what you might find under the next pile of garbage. What looks like an innocent pile of magazines could have old food, feces, maggots, or all sorts of other horrors hiding beneath it.
After reading about these nightmarish situations, we hope you have a new-found respect for cleaners and housekeepers. If you can afford to tip them, do it because, sadly, the people who leave the worst messes often don’t.
Vadym Novynskyi Opens Trust for His Ownership Stake in the Smart Holding Group
Smart Holding Group, founded by Vadym Novynskyi, has recently gone through several rounds of restructuring. The goal of these changes is to give the organization the resources to thrive both during and after the war in Ukraine. The company has announced some ambitious efforts to stabilize the economy while readying itself for post-war reconstruction. Because Novynskyi would like to focus on private interests, he’s disposing of his shares in the company and opened a trust with his ownership stake.
Novynskyi finalized the agreements in the fall of 2022, in full compliance with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. Every trustee has been thoroughly vetted and approved by Cypriot legislation, an essential step to helping the organization run as smoothly as possible. Vadym Novynskyi hasn’t been a part of the management team since the early 2010s, meaning there will be no significant changes within the leadership hierarchy of Smart Holding Group. The trustees will control, manage, and own the various assets of the group to protect and increase the value of the organization’s net worth.
‘Come Out Stronger’
Julia Kiryanova, CEO of Smart Holding, has pledged to use the company for the good of the country. Novynskyi started his organization with mining and metal projects, but left the business model open enough for vertical integration. Today, the investment and industrial group has been optimized for maximum production yield.
As Kiryanova looks to the future, she foresees long-term success and prosperity based on the latest restructuring rounds. “Smart Holding has a mission to support the Ukrainian economy to withstand the devastation of the war and will actively participate in the post-war reconstruction. We also have ambitious investment goals as part of our growth strategy internationally.
“We believe that with the talent and experience that we have accumulated in the management team, the company will rebuild its assets and come out stronger.” Vadym Novynskyi’s organization has been a beacon for individuals, families, and communities in Ukraine, supporting employees with living wages and benefits. The diverse portfolio, with significant stakes in real estate, mining, metals, oil, gas, and infrastructure, is carefully balanced to ensure the best chance of success — both now and after the war.
Private Interests
Vadym Novynskyi immigrated to Ukraine from Russia in the 1990s and started the Smart Holding Group in 1999. He has a degree in engineering management systems and spent a number of years working for a prominent oil producer in Russia. One of his first strategic decisions after arriving in Ukraine was to unite different metallurgy companies. After receiving his citizenship in 2012, he became a member of Ukraine’s Parliament. He was one of the more vocal proponents of peace in Ukraine before the war, meeting with Russian leaders to broker an agreement.
As a member of Parliament, Novynskyi co-authored or authored more than 100 draft laws, all of which aimed to help everyday citizens lead better lives. He’s not a member of any political party, but rather looks at the bigger picture to solve economic or civil problems. He’s been especially vocal about securing rights for displaced people in Ukraine and maintaining religious freedom in occupied territories.
He’s also won many awards for his charitable work, receiving accolades and honors from both secular and religious organizations. From health care to family, his mission is about helping as many people as possible as opposed to catering to the privileged few. He looks forward to continuing his mission in 2023 and beyond.
How To Sell Your Car in Los Angeles Without Hassle
Did you know that 1,144,279 new cars sold in 2020?
Los Angeles area residents are known for their car culture, which partly extends to the sheer number of cars they own. But it’s not uncommon for circumstances to arise where you no longer need a car or don’t have room to store it.
Before making your mobility a goal in life, you need to learn the best way to sell a vehicle, either online or in person. Alternatively, you can break down and use ride-sharing or public transportation.
Unsure about how to sell your car in Los Angeles without too much hassle? Read on for our top tips for selling your car in the greater Los Angeles area.
Determine How Much Your Car Is Worth
It is essential to find out how much it is worth. There are a few ways to do this, such as checking the Kelley Blue Book value or getting an appraisal from a professional.
Once you have an accurate idea of your car’s worth, you can start trying to sell it. There are a few different ways to do this, such as placing an ad online, in a local paper, or even just putting a for sale sign in your car’s window.
Whichever method you choose, be sure to be clear about your car’s price and features, and be prepared to negotiate with potential buyers. With a little effort, you should be able to sell your vehicle quickly and without hassle.
Find the Right Buyer for Your Car
Most people in Los Angeles trying to sell their car without hassle are unsuccessful because they don’t know how to go about it.
You need to find the right buyer for your car. There are many potential buyers in Los Angeles, but not all are looking for the same thing. You need to find a buyer interested in your car’s make, model, and year.
Once you’ve found the right buyer, you must negotiate a price. The price should be fair for both you and the buyer. Don’t be afraid to walk away from a deal if it’s not right for you.
Once you’ve agreed on a price, it’s time to sign the paperwork. Make sure you understand all of the paperwork before you sign anything.
Finalizing the Sale
Once you have agreed on a price with the buyer, it’s time to finalize the sale. The first step is to transfer the title of the car. It can be done at your local DMV office.
You will need to bring the following items:
The Car’s Title
The title is the document that proves you own the vehicle. Without it, you won’t be able to sell the car. You’ll need to go to the DMV and request a duplicate title to get the title.
Once you have the title, you can list your car for sale online or in your local classifieds. When you find a buyer, transfer the title to them.
Bill of Sale
This document is a simple way to transfer vehicle ownership from the seller to the buyer. It outlines all vital information regarding the car, such as make, model, year, mileage, and purchase price. By having a Bill of Sale, both parties will have a written record of the sale in case there are any problems down the road.
Buyer’s Driver’s License and Proof of Insurance
It would help if you ensured the buyer had a driver’s license and proof of insurance. It can be done by asking to see their driver’s license and insurance card when they come to look at the car. If they do not have a driver’s license and insurance, you should not sell them the car.
Payment of the Transfer Fee
The transfer fee is a state-ordered fee charged when a vehicle’s ownership is transferred from one person to another. You’ll need to pay the transfer fee when you sell your car, but you can include it in the sales price if you’d like. Just be sure to inform the buyer that the fee is included in the price.
Find the Right Selling Platform
There are several ways to sell your car in LA, from online classifieds to traditional dealerships. The best way to sell your car without hassle is to find a platform that meets your needs and requirements.
An online classification may be the best option if you’re looking for a quick and easy sale. However, selling to a dealership may be the way to go if you’re looking for the best possible price for your car. Whichever route you choose, be sure to do your research to ensure you’re getting the best deal possible.
Optimize Your Listing
Make sure you include clear, detailed photos of the car and a thorough description of its features, mileage, and other relevant information. Pricing your car is also essential, and you may want to consider working with a local dealership or car buying service to get the best price.
Finally, be prepared to answer potential buyers’ questions and be flexible with your schedule to accommodate test drives. Following these tips can help ensure a smooth, hassle-free car sale.
Negotiate With Confidence
Don’t be afraid to stand your ground and assert yourself when discussing prices with potential buyers. It’s also helpful to know the value of your car and what comparable models are selling for in the area.
With a bit of research and some confident negotiating, you can sell your vehicle quickly and without hassle. If you want to sell a car quickly, you may take a look at Bidlane.
Understanding How to Sell Your Car
Assuming you have a car in working order and has all of its parts, you can follow these steps to get the most money out of selling your automobile in Los Angeles. By following these steps on how to sell your car, you can successfully sell your car without the hassle.
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3 Ways To Make Sure You’re Hiring The Best People For The Job
When you have an open position that you need filled within your company, your main goal should be to find the best possible person to hire for this job. However, weeding out the mediocre people from the best people can be hard to do during the interview process. Luckily, there are a few things you can try to help you better be able to identify those who might be the right fit.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three ways to make sure you’re hiring the best people for the job.
Have A Clear Understanding Of What You Need
Before you even begin the hiring process, you or whoever is going to be conducting the interviews should have a very clean understanding of what your company is wanting and needing from someone who will be filling this position. Otherwise, you can’t hope to effectively fill this position, as you won’t know what you’re looking for.
While it’s important to find someone that is a match for your company in their personality and company culture, if the person you hire can’t actually do the job that they’re hired to do, no amount of sparkling personality is going to make up for that. So if you’re needing someone to help with loading and unloading of freight, they better be able to physically be capable of this work.
Learn All You Can About Their Experience
To help you determine if your candidate has what it takes to excel in the role you have available, you should try to learn all you can about their past experience doing work similar and different from the role they’re applying for.
To help you tease out this information, spend some time asking the right questions and then speaking with their references about how they are as a worker. While you might not be able to get a lot of information from their references, especially if they are from an HR department of their former employer, even knowing things like if they are eligible for being rehired can help you to learn if they were able to gain the requisite experience from other positions.
See How The Feel In The Space They’d Be Working
If there is a candidate or two that you feel good about and think that they might be a good fit for your organization, it might be a good idea to take them around the space that they would be working in to see how they respond to it.
As you do this, look for people who ask questions about the space relative to the work they’d be doing. It’s also a good sign if they are open and friendly with your current staff, as this could indicate that they will fit in well.
If you’re determined to find the best possible candidate for the position you have open in your company, consider using the tips mentioned above help you get to this point.
Red Bali Kratom vs Maeng Da: What Are the Differences?
Did you know that the US kratom industry market size is over $1 billion? Although its popularity is soaring, many don’t know the difference between Red Bali vs Maeng Da kratom.
Are you struggling to choose between Red Bali Kratom and Red Maeng Da kratom? Do you know the different advantages that each kratom type offers?
The following guide will explain what both kratom types are and how they work. Read on to discover which variety of kratom is right for you.
What is Red Maeng Da Kratom?
Maeng Da kratom is a potent strain with white and green leaf veins that works well for beginners. However, you might not get the full effects if you have a high tolerance to kratom. Many turn to Red Maeng Da because it’s a much stronger strain.
Red Maeng Da has a high alkaloid content that offers relaxation, sedation, and energy boosts. It comes in powders and capsules or you can grow your own kratom if you find that Red Maeng is right for you.
Keep in mind that the dosage dictates whether you’ll get a stimulating effect or soothing effect. Using a small amount of Red Maeng Da might increase your mood and energy. Higher doses help aid relaxation and relieve discomfort.
What is Red Bali Kratom?
The Red Bali kratom strain gets its name from the region where it’s grown. It possesses the main features of a red vein variety which means that it’s highly sedating and soothing.
Many find that Red Bali is usually more energizing when compared to Red Maeng Da. However, Red Bali is less potent than Red Maeng Da and it’s ideal for kratom beginners with low tolerance.
Red Bali effects include a mildly invigorating feeling, increased optimism, and overall positivity. It also helps alleviate discomfort in areas of the body experiencing pain.
Red Bali Kratom vs Maeng Da
Both strains have very similar effects but Maeng Da is essentially a stronger option than Red Bali. They each work well for both short-term and long-term kratom users. Consider trying both depending on your tolerance or rotate them as your tolerance fluctuates.
Keep in mind that beginners sometimes experience minor side effects with either strain. Examples include nausea, headaches, fatigue, irritability, and reduced appetite. Always eat before using either strain to avoid nausea.
The best way to avoid negative side effects is to find the right potency and dosage for your body. Also, make sure to drink plenty of water to make your kratom experience as enjoyable as possible.
Ready to Choose a Kratom Type?
Now you know the key differences when it comes to Red Bali kratom vs Maeng Da kratom. Consider starting with Red Bali for the best experience if you’re new to kratom. Likewise, consider Red Maeng Da if you’re struggling to feel the effects of other kratom strains.
Remember this guide and select the best kratom strain for your needs with total confidence! Check out the rest of our blog for more wonderful tips and fascinating information.
4 Benefits of Content Marketing for Your Company
49% of survey respondents say that in the past year they’ve become more selective about what they give their attention to.
To keep up with changes like this businesses must adapt. In order to gain and hold people’s attention, the content you put out must be relevant and valuable.
Content marketing is all about doing just that.
Of the various types of marketing, it is one of the best for growing a company and increasing sales. In fact, there are almost endless benefits to creating content for businesses.
In this post, we’ll go over 4 of the biggest benefits of content marketing.
Keep reading to learn more!
1. Increase Your Visibility
If you utilize search engine optimization or SEO principles when creating your content it will help your site gain visibility. When done right it will help you to rank higher on search engines such as Google.
This way, when a potential customer searches for a keyword that you rank for, you will appear higher in the results. This helps to draw more traffic to your site which can lead to more sales.
The more consistent and optimized your business content is, the more visible you will be.
Additionally, using good SEO means you will have internal links in your content, that can help to keep potential customers exploring your site.
2. More Valuable Leads
Using content marketing not only draws more traffic to your site but will also provide your sales team with more qualified leads.
When someone comes to your site because of a google search that you ranked high for, they are usually already someone who is interested in your product or service.
You also have the benefit of including a call-to-action at the end of your content, which helps to direct people to contact you or to look at your product catalog. This is great for creating leads and moving potential customers through the sales funnel.
3. Targeted Content for Customers
Your content plan should include content for all stages in the customer journey, from the awareness stage through to retention. This allows customers to get answers to all the questions they may have and makes them more confident in their decision to make a purchase.
You should be sure to have a comprehensive content plan so you can cover all stages of the customer journey. Check out this blog to learn more about content planning.
4. Build Trust and a Reputation
Putting out consistent, valuable content helps to build trust and a reputation for your company. By publishing this content you can position your company as an industry expert which helps to build your company’s reputation.
Customers will have more trust in your company because you consistently put out content that is valuable to them without requiring anything in return for it. Through your content, you’re also able to communicate with your customers by answering their questions and interacting with them in the comments.
This will help to build trust with them but also helps build loyalty as well.
Enjoy the Benefits of Content Marketing Today
In today’s competitive market you have to do what you can to lead potential customers to your site and product. By using content marketing you can increase your chances of being found by potential customers.
Looking to read more like this? Explore the rest of our site for articles on news, entertainment, and more!