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4 Tips For Keeping Up Business Sales During COVID
Sadly the pandemic has hit many businesses across the world extremely hard. Some have been forced to close their doors, while others continue to struggle to stay open. Unfortunately, the effects of the pandemic show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
It’s no longer an option to wait this thing out. Rather than resisting COVID, your business needs to embrace it. By making changes necessary to adapt to the times, your business has a better chance at surviving the uncertainty ahead. Take a look at some of the best tips for keeping your business afloat during COVID-19.
Reassess
The first step to adjusting to the restraints of the times is reassessing and re-evaluating. Take a look at your business model and decide whether it fits how we live our lives during the pandemic. If you’re unwilling to make changes in your business revolving around new social distancing measures, then it won’t be long until your business crumbles.
You have to make adjustments where needed. Take a look at how you’re marketing your business and whether it could be pitched in a different way that suits the needs of today. For example, if you sell restaurant supplies and restaurants are currently closed, try selling to private consumers instead. It’s all about reinventing yourself and adapting to recover lost sales.
Move Online
If your business has a physical location, then now is a great time to start considering moving things online if possible. Putting the energy into building an online store doesn’t just increase the amount of audience that you’ll reach, but you’ll also ensure your business will keep running even in the event of another lockdown.
As many as 65% of households already ordered online prior to the pandemic. Now, E-Commerce sales are in the trillions, making it one of the most promising ways to keep your business afloat.
Focus On Customer Service
Nowadays, customers expect more than ever. With businesses like Amazon that focus entirely on the customer experience, it’s no longer okay to deliver mediocre service to your customers. More and more businesses are moving towards a customer-based business rather than a service-based business. Revamp your business model so that you’re focusing on how your customer benefits from what you offer. This may take readjusting how you do things; however, it will pay off in the end. You can invest in lead generation in the Philippines to help you enhance customer experience and acquire new customers. Give your customers a reason to choose you over the competition, and you’ll create loyal customers for life.
Stay Positive
Above all, it’s important that you stay positive. Running a business is hard— pandemic or not. The best thing you can do is put in the work every day, strategize, and never underestimate your competition—while staying positive. By staying positive, you’ll already win half the battle.
Factors to Consider When You Decide to Retire Abroad
You have finally decided to spend your retirement years in a foreign country. This is nothing new. For many ex-pat retirees, it may even be a dream come true. Your retirement should be spent in any place where you are your happiest, and if being in another country is where it is, then you should go for it.
Just the same, moving to a foreign land and spending the rest of your life there requires serious planning. There are many things you need to take care of, even before moving, to ensure that all goes smoothly before settling into your new residence. You also need to make sure that your finances are in order so that your future and your family is secure wherever you go. If you need help with your financial planning, seeking advice from experts like those from www.pensionsforexpats.co.uk can be beneficial. You should also find out more about overseas pension transfers and see how they can work for you and your retirement abroad.
Here are other factors to consider when you retire abroad.
Decide where you want to stay permanently
While your options are endless when it comes to the best retirement places, you may already have a specific place in mind. Be that as it may, you still need to research that location. Many of your friends may find it an idyllic place to retire, but you may discover that it isn’t really what you had in mind. Keep in mind that you will be residing there permanently, so you have to be comfortable in the environment and content with your new lifestyle. Consider your family too. Involve them with the decision so that everyone is happy with the move.
Take a vacation there first
Before going permanent, it might be best to test the waters first. Take a vacation in your preferred destination, preferably for a few months, and see if you can picture yourself living there permanently. Talk to some locals, meet up with ex-pat retiree friends, visit various places, and see if the climate agrees with you. All of these should factor into your decision of taking up permanent residency there.
Find out about health insurance
Your health insurance is crucial, more so if you reside in a foreign country. Your health can take a turn unexpectedly, and you and your family are caught by surprise. Your country may have offered you an excellent health insurance package, and you never needed to worry. Another country may not do the same for an ex-pat retiree like you. To lay your concerns to rest, find out what options for health insurance are available to you and offer the most coverage.
Get expert advice about taxes
Another reason to pay a visit to your potential residence is to know about their taxation for retirees like you. The best way to get that information is to talk to a professional tax advisor from the country who can provide you with what you need to know.
If you have taken all the necessary steps to determine where you want to spend your retirement years, you can be sure that they will be the best years of your life.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/rowing-single-older-retired-4537704/
Tips For First-Time Home Buyers In Australia
The process of purchasing a home is not the same everywhere, and it’s helpful to understand the dos and don’ts of your neck of the woods. Buying a home is an exciting time in life, and knowing all there is to know about the process will help you get a better deal in the end.
If you have made Australia your place to be, then you’ll want to purchase your own piece of paradise one day. Take this day to read up on a few tips for first-time home buyers in Australia, and start planning for the future now.
Check that you’re eligible for a home loan
Before you get yourself too excited about buying a home, you need to find out if you’re eligible for a home loan. Houses are expensive. Unless you have hundreds of thousands sitting in the bank, you’re going to need some help working out payment.
You’ll also need a pre-approval letter before you’re ready to make an offer on a property. Take the time to see what home loans you qualify to receive, and find a deal that works well with your financial state.
Sort out some of your debt
You may find that you need to clean up your financial history a bit before you take the plunge on a new home. Your debts can make all the difference between an affordable home loan rate and complete insanity.
Take the time to evaluate your financial history, and clean up the things that you can manage. If you have a lot of credit card debt, try consolidating the debt into one payment.
Check out the First Home Owner Grant
The very first time an individual purchases a property in Australia, they are granted a one-time financial blessing from the government. However, the First Home Owner Grant only applies if you are legitimately making the very first purchase of property, ever in your life.
Don’t pass on the opportunity to apply for the grant, as it could save you several thousands of dollars on the price of your new home. Also, if you don’t use it the first time you purchase a home, you won’t get another shot.
Understand the true cost of buying a home
There’s more to the cost of purchasing a home than the “sticker” price. When you purchase a home, you’ll need money for several things. Here is a quick list of some of the most impactful costs you’ll encounter when buying a home in Australia.
- You’ll need around 10-20 percent of the cost of the home for a deposit.
- You’ll need Lender’s Mortgage Insurance.
- You will have to pay your stamp duty taxes.
- You’ll have to pay legal fees for the process.
- It costs money to apply for a mortgage loan.
- Building and pest inspections are also vital.
Overall, there are many variables to consider as you walk through the process of purchasing a home. It’s best that you take your time with each step, and always research anything that doesn’t make full sense.
Easy Ways To Pick Up Trucking Work
The shipping or trucking business can be entirely productive, yet it is a very competitive market to work for. There are lots of drivers who attempt to get into the company consistently and wind up falling flat. This result ordinarily ends up people who are extraordinary drivers yet are bad entrepreneurs. Realizing how to run and develop your shipping business takes more than learning how to drive a truck or pick a route.
Today we are here to tell you about how to become successful in the trucking business. Below is the list that you must need to consider before getting into the trucking business.
- Look for Cargo Brokers: Cargo agents overcome any barrier among drivers and transporters, and this is a decent choice for the individuals who are beginning new. Representatives help proprietor administrators discover truck contracts and do most of the work incorporating rate exchange with the transporters.
- Recruit a Dispatcher for Owner Operators: You can enlist a truck dispatching administration that encourages you to associate with transporters and agents. These dispatchers are likewise ready to offer some managerial administrations like charging, bookkeeping, and assortments.
- The Power of Load Boards: Load Boards for cargo administrators are another method of associating drivers legitimately with the transporters. The Load Boards make it simpler to discover truck loads or agreements by giving a tremendous run down to browse, and the majority of the errand subtleties are clarified obviously.
- Know Your Target Clients: Before searching for big contracts, decide your objective customers. Knowing your accurate customers will help you get a particular point of view on what you need and build up an arrangement. This progression is a critical one and takes less time.
- Locate the Well Paying Shippers: Every business needs profit to become successful, and for that, you need to find out the well-paying shipper. When you know your objective customers, you have to search for them. One route is to discover the customers through industry partnerships with neighborhood sections of your zone. Call the possibilities and have a go at setting up a gathering. Decide the strategy they select, the carriers they work with.
- Associate with Government Contractors: Logically, the government is enlisting contractual workers for its staffing necessities, and the shipping business is no particular case. Alongside the government, state and neighbourhood governments additionally have shipping agreements to fill. There are a few temporary workers enrolled by the administering organizations close by. You can connect with those and satisfy your shipping needs. It might require a couple of additional means, yet that is justified, despite all the trouble.
Conclusion
These are some of the best ways to quickly find hot shot loads, which will pay a decent amount of money to you. You need to make sure that you do not skip from one method to another without sticking to it for a more extended period—this way, you do not get enough hot shot loads. Therefore, remember that consistency is the key, and you need to follow one method at a time.
How restaurants are evolving to deal with the pandemic in 2020
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have hit many businesses hard. Apart from the entertainment industry, there are very few businesses that have been hit harder than restaurants in the past few months. Many people don’t want to risk eating outside of their own home, and those that do are forced to follow restrictions when they do go out. So how are restaurants coping? Here are three ways these businesses are trying to still turn a profit in 2020.
Go outdoors
One of the biggest problems facing restaurant owners in 2020 is the need to space customers out around the restaurant. As early as the start of the year, if you visited a popular restaurant you could have found yourself within touching distance of other tables. Now, most restaurants have been forced to remove tables to make sure customers are socially distanced around the restaurant. With very few tables available, many owners are really struggling to make enough money to cover their overheads every month.
If you’re a restaurant owner, it can be surprisingly easy to turn any outdoor space, like a car park or a delivery bay, into a picturesque zone where you can serve customers outdoors. For example, it is very easy to install artificial grass practically anywhere and it requires very little maintenance. Companies like California-based SYNLawn specialize in commercial artificial turf for a whole range of different purposes. All you then need to do is buy some garden furniture, which is available very cheaply from most DIY retailers, and you’ve created an outdoor garden.
Smaller menus
It’s not just the size of the restaurants that have caused problems. The size of the kitchens has also caused concern among a number of business owners. We’ve all seen what restaurant kitchens can look like on shows like Hell’s Kitchen. Members of staff normally run around, shouting at their colleagues and reaching over each other to make sure every dish is perfect. If kitchens ran like that in 2020, they’d run a high risk of transmitting the virus and would probably be shut down by the health inspector. Instead, restaurants have had to reduce the number of staff working in their kitchens to make sure each chef can cook safely away from their colleagues. This means many restaurants have had to resort to shrinking their menu as they don’t have enough people to be able to prepare everything on their normal menu. Even fast-food restaurants like McDonalds have been forced to drop things like salads and desserts off their menu.
Deliver to your door
As many restaurants simply can’t fit enough people in their buildings to pay the bills, many have been forced to start offering takeaway and delivery. Apps like Uber Eats make it very easy for any business to sell their food online and have a delivery driver come and pick it up from their kitchen and take it to the customer. The only problem is companies like these take a huge chunk of any potential profits. It’s likely that once restrictions start to ease, many restaurants will stop offering this service which has worked as a lifeline for many during these hard times.
4 Biggest Causes For Hunting Accidents and Injuries
Regardless of how much experience you have in hunting, accidents can happen to anyone. It’s critical that you always take safety seriously any time that you’re using a firearm so that you don’t risk becoming overconfident. It’s easy to start slipping on how cautious you are if you fail to be as careful as possible.
Keep you and your loved ones safe while enjoying the sport that you love, by watching out for some of the most common reasons for hunting accidents and injuries.
Failing To Be Familiar With Firearm
It’s important that you know all of the correct ways to handle your firearm in order to stay as safe as you can. You should know the proper way to hold it, handle the recoil, and of course, how to load it safely.
It’s important that you take time to get to know your weapon before you take it out to use it. Failing to get to know how to handle your firearm before taking it on a hunting trip with you could be a disaster.
Carelessness
In most cases, hunting accidents occur as a result of pure and simple carelessness. People start to lose sight of the basics of gun safety and make mistakes that could have been easily avoided. Always handle a gun bearing in mind the most important basics of gun safety.
Get to know them by heart, and have a strong awareness of any risks going on around you. As a result, you should avoid a multitude of situations that happen as a result of pure and simple carelessness.
Not Carrying A Phone
It’s important that you have a phone on hand to call emergency services if anything goes wrong during your hunting trip. In the event that you do get hurt or put in danger, it’s important that you not only have a phone but that it has served.
It’s important to check with your cell phone carrier whether the particular area you’re planning on going will have enough of a signal to make a call if anything should happen. Above all, make sure that your phone is in your pocket rather than in your gear bag. If you should fall, you want to make sure that your phone is on your body, not several feet away from where you can’t get to it.
Not Wearing Bright Orange
It’s awful to imagine that you could get hurt by one of your fellow hunters out there, however it happens more often than you might like to think. When other hunters are present, it’s important that you stand out to them by wearing bright orange.
Orange is the best way to signal to other people out there that you’re a hunter and not an animal. To read more on topics like this, check out the blog category.
Why Your Car Needs to be Serviced on a Regular Basis
When was the last time you took your car to be serviced by a professional? If you’re keeping up with the regular servicing that a car really needs, that’s great news, but if you aren’t so spot on with your servicing, and you only take your car to a garage when there is something wrong with it, or when the service light starts to annoy you too much, you could be making a lot more trouble for yourself than you need to.
There are many responsibilities that come with owning a car, and having it serviced at regular intervals is one of them. So if your car is overdue or you were thinking of skipping the next service because it all seems fine to drive, read on; you might change your mind.
The Warranty is Maintained
One of the most important reasons for taking your car to be serviced when that service is due is the warranty. If you have bought a car that has a warranty attached, one of the requirements to keep that warranty valid will be regular maintenance of the vehicle. As long as you keep the car tuned up in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines, if something goes wrong in between services, the warranty should cover it. If you haven’t kept up with the checks and something goes wrong, the warranty might be voided and you could have to pay out a lot of money to get the car fixed, even if it isn’t your fault.
It Keeps You Safe
When you are able to have your car tuned up when it is meant to be, it will keep you much safer than if you leave the task undone and hope for the best. Breaking down on a freeway is a frightening thing to do, as is finding your engine has died on an unlit country road. In fact, losing power in your vehicle is frightening, frustrating, and infuriating no matter where or when it happens, causing you potential danger, and certainly making your day much more inconvenient.
Keeping your car maintained means that a situation like this is much more unlikely to happen, and you can get to and from your destination without any problems. Of course, breakdowns may still occur, they are just going to be much less frequent. If you do have an engine failure, you should make sure you step away from the vehicle and use LED light bars to ensure you are noticed while you wait for recovery.
It Protects the Car’s Value
When you are searching for a used car, what were the most important elements you want to read in the ad? You might have been interested in how many owners or how many miles, but what really would have been useful to know is that the vehicle has a full service history. This ‘full service history’ means that the car was serviced when it was meant to be, and the service book is stamped to prove it. Therefore, you know you are buying a car that has been well looked after, and is more likely to be reliable as a result.
So when you come to sell your car, you should be offering a full service history too. Not only will it make it easier to sell, but you should be able to ask for more money for it than you would if there was no service history. Getting the vehicle seen by a mechanic means protecting its value, and that’s clearly going to be important.
Benefits of My Honda Extended Warranty
I have to be honest when I bought my last car and I was offered a Honda extended warranty, my brain was instantly saying no, and there is a feeling that these extended warranty are something that you just don’t need, especially at a time when you are already splashing out on a car and the insurance that goes with it. In the past I would always instantly say no to this kind of optional extra because it was just all about saving as much money as possible, but I had a good think about it, couldn’t decide, and said I’d get back to them.
That afternoon I went home and I was reading more abut the Honda warranty and extended warranties in general, and I decided that this probably was worthwhile and so I called the dealership up and put it in motion. Of all the things that I read that afternoon, here are the things that stuck with me, and which pushed me to make this decision.
Manufacturer
The manufacturer will guarantee the vehicle and its parts up to 3/4 years, usually 3, now if they only guarantee those parts up to 1 year then they look like they are not very good at what they do, if however they guarantee up to 5 years, they run the risk of things going wrong that will damage their reputation. To me then, if they are saying nothing will go wrong in 3 years, it means that between 3-5 something could definitely go wrong, and I wanted cover. If the manufacturer knows that the vehicle is good for 5 years, they would proudly say so.
Valuable
This was the first time that I have bought a new car and whilst I knew that the value of the car would deprecated greatly when we left the showroom, I had no idea that a warranty could improve the value of your car over the long term. This is of course because people will know that for the first 5 years all work and repairs were carried out by the car manufacturer which means original parts and professional work. Equally if you sell the car before the end of the warranty then you can pass the warranty on to the new owner which of course makes the car more valuable and more attractive to a would-be buyer.
Things Go Wrong
Ultimately it is worth bearing in mind that things go wrong, especially between the 3 and 5 years mark and it is just wroth getting yourself covered. This both gives you the financial peace of mind that you won’t be shelling out again, as well as the knowledge that you are fully covered if any of the parts in the vehicle fail.
I haven’t reached the extended warranty period just yet but I can tell you that I am absolutely over the moon to have it on my side and I ma more than happy with the decision which I made.
Tips To Find The Perfect Senior Housing For Your Parents
There’s no escaping the passage of time, and all of us have to adjust to handle the changes brought about when parents get older. Your parents may be in great shape as they age, but it’s always helpful to add a little knowledge to the mix.
Learn a little something about the process before your parents are faced with challenging changes, and be a rock for the people who helped you become who you are now. Here is a brief look at a few tips that will help you find the perfect senior housing for your parents.
Consider house sharing for your parents
Your parents may not be fully able to care for a big house all on their own, but they may be perfectly suited to have a roommate situation with another elderly couple. House sharing with other retirees could be the best-kept secret in elderly housing options.
Sharing the cost of owning a home could relieve financial struggles for your parents. Having more people in the home adds an element of safety as well.
Independent living communities
If your aging parents still want to maintain independence in their everyday lifestyle, they could find a suitable active retirement village to call home. Growing older makes for a lot of changes in the way you want to live your life.
If your parents are living in a place where they’re surrounded by others who are their age, they will likely have a more enjoyable time living there. Take the time to consider what your parents really need in their new home.
Assisted living communities
When your parents need some help making it through the daily tasks of life, an assisted living situation might be most suitable. An assisted living senior community may have an individual apartment for your parents that shares other communal spaces and activities.
Assisted living communities have staff there to help with daily functions like cleaning the house and remembering medications. This senior living setup is best for those who only need a little help with daily living.
Life plan senior living communities
You should first know that a life plan living community is not suited for everyone, because it costs a pretty penny to procure. However, if your family is well off financially, then your parents may find the most comfort in this type of setup.
Life Plan Communities are proposed to combine various types of senior living situations into one. If your parents have a chance of needing close attention in the future, a life plan community can take care of everything.
Aging in place can be an option
Sometimes modifying the house your parents already occupy is the best solution. Not everyone is up for the challenge of relocating once they’re older.
Your parents may prefer to age in place. Adding some grab bars, moving bedrooms around, and other augmentations can help make your parents’ current home more accommodating to their needs.
How To Make Your Office A Good Space For Your Employees
When you own a company, a small business or anything else, one of your business’s key factors to succeed is your employees. You have to make sure that your employees are all performing at their best. No one is violating the rules, it’s not like your employees are gambling at work or looking up UK sister sites for casinos during office hours, or taking long breaks, or coming to work late.
Sure, as the owner of the business, it is your responsibility to provide your employees a comfortable place to work in. If this is what you do, they will find it easier to abide by your rules, work at their best and help you make the business successful.
You might be asking, how can you do it for them? Here are some of the things you may want to consider ensuring that your employees can work at their finest all the time.
Get rid of any clutters
One of the things you have to make sure of is that your office should always be clean and clutter free. Clutters can make employees feel dizzy, tired and lazy. Hire someone to clean clutters on a regular basis, and of course, you also have to remind your employees to keep their desk organized and their space clean.
Have enough trash bins so employees will not be tempted to throw their rubbish anywhere else. It is very pleasant to work in an environment that is very clean and tidy.
Invest in a high-quality office chair
If there is something that you need to invest seriously, it is the office chairs. Employees will be sitting at the work stations for longer hours, if they do not have a comfortable chair to sit in, they may find it struggling to work. There are many available office chairs in the market and mind you, not all expensive chairs provide comfort and vice versa. You have to choose wisely all the time.
Temperature
Make sure that your employees enjoy a comfortable temperature, not too cold, not too hot. Turn the air conditioner on when needed, same as with the heater. You would not want any of your employees freezing or heating up. If they are not comfortable with the temperature, they may feel sickly and uninterested to work.
It is your responsibility to ensure that everyone is getting the right temperature they need to operate. Also, you have to consider the machineries in the office when setting the room’s temperature.
Accessible
If they are working on the 22nd floor, make sure that there is an elevator working all throughout the day. You would not want them to take the stairs as if they do, the moment they reach their stations they are already tired and exhausted. Give them enough accessibility going to their work stations.
Spacious
Make sure that all your employees have enough room to stretch their legs and walk. Their work stations should have enough legroom and the pantry should be huge enough to let your employees take their breaks comfortably.