Category Archives: Small Business Solutions

How to Save Money using Power from Renewable Energy Sources

Posted on by Pete Brown
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More and more people are delving into the use of renewable energy sources because of the various benefits that it yields. For one, you will be able to reduce your carbon footprint and help the earth heal. But perhaps, the most notable advantage of using renewable energy sources is the significant amount of sum that you can save. This article tackles the ways on how you will be able to save money using power from renewable energy sources.

Reduced Energy Bills

One of the primary ways for you to save money using power from renewable energy sources is by reducing your energy bills. In this case, you can use a solar panel savings calculator to have a good idea of how much you can save on your monthly electric bill if you use solar panels instead of connecting to the grid. While it is true that you need to shell out a significant upfront cost to acquire solar panels, the amount that you will save when you no longer have to pay a hefty amount for your monthly electric bills will prove to be worth it.

The reason behind this is that solar panels are durable, with a typical lifespan of 20 years. Thus, for sure, you will be able to earn back the amount that you used to purchase the panels in the 20 years that you no longer have to pay for any monthly electric bill.

Protection from Price Fluctuations

Another way for you to save money using power from renewable energy sources is by being protected from price fluctuations. Like with other consumer commodities in the market, the price of electricity can also be affected by inflation, which means that you may have to pay more for the same kilowatt-hour consumption in the future. As a result, you need to shell out a bigger sum.

With the use of a renewable energy source such as solar panels, you are protected from these price fluctuations because you no longer depend on the grid for your electricity needs. Rather, you only need to leverage the energy from the sun, which is free.

Eligibility for Green Energy Incentives

To encourage more and more people to switch to the use of renewable energy sources, many governments are providing tax incentives to their people who will go about this route. Thus, if you decide to leverage renewable energy sources, you may be eligible for certain tax incentives or write-offs. These can drastically reduce the number of tax dues you need to settle later on

Perhaps this is the best time for you to delve into the use of renewable energy sources for your home, as well as for your business. Apart from being able to reduce your energy bills, you are also protected from price fluctuations. You even have the opportunity to earn decent revenue from the use of renewable energy sources, as well as be eligible to receive green energy incentives. Make sure to take advantage of all these perks by switching to the use of renewable energy sources.

Guide To Customer Communication While You Work From Home

Posted on by Roy Emmerson
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Here we consider the best approaches and proven tactics that will help organizations improve customer communications when working remotely.

Working from home is the reality many of us have been dreaming about while others have been afraid of it. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced almost everyone to get used to remote work. It has exposed us to challenges that pushed us out of our comfort zone. One of them is a remote customer communication process. It has also become a big reason for businesses to love the Internet even more than before.

Communication is essential for project success, as it helps set trust-based relationships and mutual understanding between stakeholders. It provides  smooth collaboration and results in business success. When most countries are locked at homes again, we need to rethink a customer communication strategy and adjust it to remote teamwork. 

How to Approach Customer Communication in The New Normal

McKinsey & Company defines three pillars of clear messaging to customers during the pandemic: transparency, customer protection, and customer outreach. 

Transparency means giving customers the behind-the-scenes views of the options you consider for them and perspectives that may come true for your business in the post-coronavirus world. Better to share honest predictions without sugar-coating, as it will help your company build trust with customers. 

Customer protection implies that you need to add more compassion to customer communication procedures and inform people about measures taken to ensure a safe and convenient experience with a brand for them. “Now” requires us to keep in mind the overall social mood affected by global critical events. Thus, support teams should be even more empathic when communicating with customers.  

Customer outreach means you should constantly keep the conversation with your customers across different channels. Talk to them, update them, and repeat the important information about the changes in your processes once again to ensure that it’s delivered successfully to everyone in your community. 

Customer Communication Channels & Tactics You Should Know

Considering “psychological” approaches to customer service, it’s also essential to take a closer look at digital channels making communication with consumers more effective when you work from home. Many companies have started using VoIP phone systems as alternative solutions in times of uncertainty.

Other businesses have considered unified communications as the best option for improved workflow and customer relations. However, customer communication options aren’t limited to those mentioned above. Here we present proven tactics that will help businesses empower customer service. 

Interact on Social Media

The first rule for digital business success is to be where your customers are. To be more specific, it’s on social media. Social networks are one of the most popular online communication channels. Imagine 74% of users log into Facebook at least once a day, with 51% of them logging in more than once a day. 

Social media is the first place modern customers expect brands to interact with them the most quickly. Consider that 40% of customers who send complaints on social media expect the company’s reply within one hour.

With tools like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, businesses can answer customer queries almost instantly. Many organizations consider them as the most effective medium for customer service and create separate brand profiles entirely dedicated to customer support.  

Incorporate a Live Chat

Live chat is a technology incorporated into a website that allows customers to stay in touch with their favorite brands round the clock. This customer service tactic has been widely used before and gained even more popularity today when most teams work remotely. With tools like HelpCrunch live chat, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty since your brand is always easily accessible online anytime.

Communicate via Email

Email communication might seem a traditional and very obvious practice. Probably, yes. However, it doesn’t also mean it’s inefficient. Emails are another way to stay in touch with customers while working remotely. According to research by Epsilon PeopleCloud Messaging, email is the most critical communication channel between companies and consumers because it’s personal, reliable, relevant, and targeted. Businesses can use email marketing to update customers about the changes in processes during the pandemic. 

Use Video Conferencing

Another actionable tactic to get in touch with customers is by using video conferencing tools and apps like Skype. Along with the top productivity apps, they help improve the overall team collaboration and performance when you work from home. Although it might be challenging to apply to customer communication in B2C companies it is particularly efficient for the B2B world. When organizing real-life meetings has become unsafe and almost impossible due to travel restrictions, video calls have become even more important. 

B2B customers may want to schedule a video call with the company to discuss their purchases or collaboration details. Thus, video conferencing tools are gaining popularity quickly, especially during the lockdown.

Engage Through The Content

However, all of these channels enable companies to set a direct and effective dialog with customers when teams work remotely, there is one more way to communicate with customers. It’s through the content. It’s recommended for businesses to reimagine their content strategies from the customer service perspective. 

For example, your brand can assist customers remotely by publishing how-to articles, guides, tutorials, or explainer videos to enable people to provide self-service. You can also store the “help” content in special online knowledge libraries or the FAQ section on a website.

It’s crucial today since many people feel anxious regarding the challenges and innovations encountered during the coronavirus. While you might have heard tips about diversifying your content earlier, it’s now recommended to prioritize the content informativeness even if it requires sacrificing content diversity.  

To Wrap It Up

Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, this guide to customer communication might be helpful. These actionable yet straightforward strategies will empower brands to cater to the target audience’s needs and increase loyalty. Hopefully, they have also inspired you to and will help you improve support service and bring customer relationships to the next level regardless of the coronavirus recession and pandemic.


[Infographic] Why Companies Need to Rethink Their Communication Strategy for Remote Teams by Team Communication App

Top 10 Apps That Increase Your Business Productivity

Posted on by Genia Genia
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When choosing a mobile application for solving some business issues, users often focus on all sorts of priority apps, taking the choice of specialists who know the market. The problem is that there are a lot of such ratings. To make the full picture of the situation, we have to study a huge number of sources offering business apps.

Many business tasks can be simplified with top business apps. These range from service or tracking apps, to development and web page building apps. The top business solutions are readily available and at your fingertips.

Their assortment on the market today is impressive. It should be noted that some of the listed developments function and apps like Edubirdie works only on laptops and desktops. But most of the applications are also adapted for mobile devices.

Bynder

Good brand management makes your business instantly recognizable and trusted, like a delicious restaurant people love. It brings in new customers, makes them happy with your quality and service, and sparks excitement about what you offer. Invest in your brand, and watch your business flourish!

Evernote Scannable

This top business app is created for both OS Android and iOS. Evernote is an application developed by the creators of one of the most convenient note-taking programs. It helps to quickly and accurately scan documents and other necessary things. For example, contracts, invoices, a check from a store, or a business card of a partner. Unlike a regular photo taken with a phone camera, Evernote Scannable automatically detects the document, its location, and immediately makes a scan.

Wunderlist

This is another business time management app. The Wunderlist has different functionality. This business app helps you create shared task lists with your partners, employees, or family. A perfect business application like best EMR for urgent care can be synchronized with several gadgets and opened from a tablet, smartphone, computer, or smart watch.

Keynote

If you have to make frequent presentations, choose one of the top business apps. Keynote is what you need. You can control presentations from your smartphone, iPad, or Apple Watch. In other words, Keynote turns a gadget into a remote because it functions in a similar way. Please note that the developers of the app didn’t care about the Android owners. Therefore, Keynote only works on iOS.

WhatsApp Business

This app is different from the regular WhatsApp messenger and is specially designed for entrepreneurs. Among business applications, this is a simple and practical option. Here you can add your account information, work email address, or store address. To communicate with customers, you can write a greeting or goodbye which will appear in the dialogue.

Do not confuse this application with another messenger from WhatsApp Business API. Unlike the usual WhatsApp Business, this business app is paid and used in large companies. Includes features such as sending bulk messages, manage multiple WhatsApp business accounts, automating messages and more. While the application is available only to Android owners, the developers have already announced its release for iOS.

TINYpulse

When it comes to decent business apps, TINYpulse is another top choice. The app collects feedback from employees. If you feel that not everyone on your team is happy with the way things are, send out a simple survey to employees. Employees will be able to anonymously share what they do not like, what they would like to change, and how they feel in the team. You will receive valuable information and get to know better how subordinates live.

QuickBooks

Whether you are in business or freelancing, keeping track of your finances is always very important. QuickBooks has a version applied on a computer and a smartphone. With the help of such business apps, it is convenient to maintain records, calculate income and expenses, or send invoices to customers. You can see the current sales figures or check the latest payments directly from your phone.

Things 3

The developers of Things 3 believe that a productive person should not bear all their tasks in mind. It is much more rational to concentrate on solving them one by one. The recommended business app fully meets this theory. Things 3 helps to create tasks and subtasks, categorize them by importance and due date. The following application saves time. But most importantly, the list of all tasks is always at hand.

HootSuite

If your brand has many followers on different social networks, it can be inconvenient to control everything at once. In order to make multiple posts on Instagram and Facebook, you have to constantly switch between applications. HootSuite developers have solved this problem.

With the HootSuite business app, you can manage all your accounts, publish content, reply to all emails and comments with a few clicks. You will also find many HootSuite Alternatives with more extensive features and lower pricing.

Spark

This is one of the in-demand business apps that somewhat resembles HootSuite. If you have multiple personal and work addresses on different services, Spark can help you combine them. You will get a handy list of all emails and many other functions. The available function of team discussion is the general chat between employees. Previously, the application was only available to iOS owners, but a few days ago it was released on Android.

Bookmate

All entrepreneurs know how important it is to constantly learn new things. But not everyone has enough time for this. The Bookmate app allows you to listen to audiobooks while on work travel or while driving. Audiobooks are far from revolutionary but they are still a great way to gain new knowledge.

Business apps remind the user of an important meeting, the deadline of a project, keep notes, connect with colleagues hundreds of miles away. However, when there are too many applications, the convenience and safety of their use become questionable. The optimal solution may be the introduction of a corporate social network as an integrative system that works on the principle of “all-in-one”.

The list above was composed with direct help from Kyle Drummond, a financial advisor from DirectLoanTransfer, which is specializes in quick payday loans,

What You Need to Know About AI Marketing

Posted on by Pete Brown
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There are many ways of describing marketing, one of which is by advertising, flyers, or even just printing ads. This activity attracts and encourages individuals to endorse a brand or products and services of a business. The distinction between the old way and the industry’s new approach is noticeable. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), various companies are depending on their reliable efficiency to grow their business.

The question is, what are the things you need to know about AI Marketing, and how does it affect your company? We’ve gathered some helpful guides for digging deep into AI Marketing in this post.

What is AI Marketing?

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, a software built in a machine that can think on its own without any human intervention. The primary role of AI is to see patterns routinely made by humans and have their way of solving a problem. On the other hand, Marketing is the process where the company uses to lure the public to use their products or services. With the two being combined, it creates endless possibilities in making a new wave of processes that can help businesses grow instantly.

Experts believe that about half of the manual tasks will be automated over the next 10 to 20 years. For others, it can both be an advantage and a drawback. Why? Let’s say an entrepreneur has an online company and has recruited a few workers to respond to customer inquiries or concerns, but if you add a chatbot to your online platform, it will be able to respond to you with fewer numbers of employees that will save you a lot of money.

Predictive Analytics

This amazing capability of AI Marketing comes in handy for predicting future outcomes from the company’s data or also called Data analysis. According to experts, it can easily pre-determined what will be the next step or the right move to take and helps to answer the company’s business questions such as below. 

  • How many percentages does a customer buy the product?
  • How many customers will stop supporting them to buy products?
  • What is the rate of customers who are likely to buy annually?
  • What are the traits of each of my customers?

Predictive analytics can answer them in real-time and saves a lot of time and effort in analyzing them manually. It creates a better customer experience as it targets the exact wants and needs of each individual. Not only will you predict the result but also the chase to obtain loyal customers as well.

Clustering and Customization

This is a combination of supervised and unsupervised learning. It is a process where each customer is being categorized according to what are their usual activities on the site. For instance, customer A usually searches and buys boho-inspired home furniture, while customer B likely to lean more toward minimalist designs. All customers that have the same taste will go together under each category. According to the digital marketing experts at smartboost.com, making segments will fasten the process of knowing how many percentages the outcome may be. It can make your company grow and build its reputation by making the customer experience personalized.

Recommendation Engines

The method used by advertisers before that is the if-and-then method, posing the question, what if? To distinguish cause or scenario in running a company. It looks for patterns based on the metrics collected data, can detect or predict potential problems with the aid of AI technology. It advises or suggests a necessary behavior after analysis. It is an essential way to avoid bumping into major issues in the future.

Natural Language Processing

One of the most important parts of AI Marketing is Natural Language Processing; it indicates how the customer feels, what they say about the product, or how much they like using it. Simple as it may sound, but it helps to know the feedback of each customer to be able to adapt and grow from it.

Psychographic

It is where the personality, interests, attitude, and behavior of customers have. Uncovering who they are and why they buy the product or avail the services. It is also a crucial factor to build a strong structure in AI Marketing. 

With the aid of technology that paves the way to speed up long hours of work in a minute or two, marketing has grown tremendously. AI Marketing has a lot to offer, from gaining a better understanding of your customer, knowing more about their needs, and to have an improved customer experience for everyone.

How to Map Your Sales Territory Effectively

Posted on by John Brooks
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Businesses spend a lot of time and money to create the perfect products and services to sell to clients. However, it can be difficult to determine if the business is thriving without the use of a sales territory map. We will be discussing the benefits of using a sales territory map and how to create one.

What is a Sales Territory Map?

This type of map is a way for your employees to assign sales based on the area. It gives the sales team a plan of action in regard to where they will be focusing their efforts, and which areas still require claiming. This will make it easier to determine where your team is at all times and to ensure that sales reps are not overlapping each other while they work. Your team members will also appreciate the use of a sales territory map because they will be receiving new leads at a consistent pace. This gives them more opportunity to collect bonuses and earn promotions. The benefits of using a sales territory map include increased sales, rising above the competition, identifying new customers, and better serving existing customers.

Using Mapping Software

Mapping your sales territory can be done with the use of mapping software Maptive.com, powered by Google Maps, is a good example of mapping software that can help you achieve data leads and improve your sales numbers. There are a few different steps that should be followed in order to achieve your ultimate sales territory map.

Step 1: Create a Custom Map

Creating a custom map is simple, as all you have to do is enter your location data into the software. When creating a sales strategy, the data will usually include information about the item or service purchased and the area where the customer lives as a minimum. This data can be manually entered or imported from a spreadsheet.

Once the data is uploaded, you can customize your map. For example, you can use the filters to show certain data types and hide outliers to analyze the numbers accurately. You can also use tools to help you organize and analyze your data to suit your needs.

Step 2: Use the Boundary Tool

Maptive offers users a boundary tool, which makes it easier to divvy up the information. You can create boundaries based on zip/postal codes, cities, states, or countries. If these options don’t work for you, you can create custom boundaries and draw them in yourself. This is a good method for sales teams who have previously worked within certain areas that are not contained in established boundaries.

At this point, you can incorporate demographic data into your selected regions. This data includes statistics about the population’s: race, age, education, gender, median family income, and others. By examining this data, your sales team can determine who their customers are, and how they can adjust their advertising to appeal to potential new clientele.

Step 3: Use the Heat Mapping Tool

Heating mapping is another tool that you can try out. This tool allows you to plot your sales on the map so you can see which areas are generating more revenue for your company. The data is coded with colored circles, indicating how dense the sales are in that area. When the sales density increases, the circle changes to red. Any areas on the map that are not red are opportunities for you to expand your marketing campaigns.

Step 4: Use the Route Optimization Tool

After using the boundaries and heat mapping tools, you will better understand which areas are doing well and which ones could use some more attention from your company. This is when you can use the route optimization tool to your greatest advantage. This tool will allow your sales representatives to plan the best route that they can take between client meetings. On a typical day, the sales rep might be attending meetings all over town. This tool will cut their commute time in half, giving them more time to spend with potential clients. You will be able to plan the shortest route to get to multiple locations, and you can also check the projected ETA to ensure that it is the most efficient use of time.

Energize your Storefront with Attractive Textile Frames

Posted on by Marunis Nutma
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Attractive textile frames can feature your products and bring in new customers. You can change them easily, making eye catching displays that draw people to your business. Drukbedrijf has recently expanded its range of textile frames. In addition to free-standing and wall frames, you can now also choose LED and ceiling frames. This way you can provide every place in your store, showroom, store window, office or other space with a beautiful visual design.

Change your Advertisements in Minutes

The advantage of a textile frame with a canvas is that the cloth us super easy to change. This way you can change prints every action, promotion or every season. On the textile frame there is a mechanism that allows you to easily tension the fabric into the frame. So a textile frame is ideal as a temporary advertising tool!

Eyecatcher: Textile frame with LED

Are you in retail and would you like to have your shop window to light up the evening? Then opt for a textile frame with LED lighting! With the help of the uniformly distributed lighting, the colors of your fabric come to life. Even in the dark! A textile frame with lighting is available as a free-standing textile frame and as a wall frame.

Advantages of a free-standing textile frame

You can use a freestanding textile frame as a display for in a store or store window. Another way to use the frame freestanding is as a partition. Ideal to create more privacy or divide up a space.

Textile frame with photo

And textile frame is not only ideal for business use. You can also use it to freshen up a room at home! Printing on a textile cloth gives a sleek and razor-sharp end result. A textile frame is ideal if you quickly get bored of an interior piece, because you can change your image or design regularly. The textile cloths with tendon can be ordered separately.

In addition to various textile frames, you can also contact Drukbedrijf for all your other printing work. For example, you can have the super popular tissue paper (translation: vloeipapier) printed with your own design. This relatively new product is popular because it gives your packaging a more luxurious look in no time. Because the online print shop excels with challenge. Contact them for special customization. No challenge is avoided!

How a Website Downtime Can Affect Your Business (and How to Prevent It)

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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When it comes to owning a website, it’s vital that you do everything on your end in order to ensure that your website is fully functional and hence doesn’t suffer from any regular bouts of downtime. Downtime leads to many drawbacks that are ultimately going to affect your SEO, increase the bounce rates, as well as tarnish your companies credibility and sometimes even lose your loyal customers. All of this is going to cost you sales and revenue, which is something that you definitely want to prevent.

All of that being said though, what are the main causes of downtime, and what can you do exactly in order to prevent it? 

In this article, we are going to discuss the most prominent reasons why websites go down, as well as how can you ensure that you minimize the possibility of that happening.

What’s dangerous about websites being down?

As we have previously mentioned, website downtime is pretty much synonymous with profit loss. The exact amount of money that a business will lose as a result of downtime varies from website to website. 

One of the more extreme examples is when one minute of website downtime in 2018 caused Amazon.com to lose around $1.57 million every minute. Now, surely, most sites aren’t going to see such a drastic loss as Amazon did, but even though that is the case, no company can really afford to just throw away profits like that, especially since they could easily be saved – considering proper planning and failsafes aren’t being overlooked.

What circumstances cause website downtime?

Website downtime is, in most cases, curated by similar factors. Once you get to understand them, you can take all the necessary measures in order to minimize the possibility of the website downtime happening for longer than a couple of minutes, even seconds. 

The most prominent factors that result in a website downtime include planned downtime due to different upgrades or tweaks, hardware or software malfunctions, malicious attacks from a third party, as well as different issues caused by your hosting providers. It’s crucial that you keep these issues in mind, as well as that you take time to understand why and how do they happen in order to be able to begin to develop a plan that’s going to minimize your website’s downtime, or so that you can improve a plan that for dealing with such scenarios if you already have one.

Make sure that you have a plan for these scenarios

It is vital that you remember the fact that your website’s uptime isn’t something that should solely be ascribed as the responsibility of your hosting provider. As experts on this topic from magento maintenance services explain, planning on how to minimize website downtime starts as early as website design. Basically, a proper website designer is going to make sure that all the necessary precautions and measures on their end have been made even before the website has actually launched.

Another important precaution regarding planning is to partner with a quality website monitoring service. Basically, they are going to be able to will notify you the very moment that your website downtime has occurred in order for you to be able to immediately go to work so that you can fix the issue or perhaps put a failsafe plan into place if the issue has happened to be a result of your hosting service. Magento as an ecommerce platform can be used to specifically cater to you and your business and customer needs.

Take time to look for quality providers

It’s vital to note that quality providers aren’t only going to notify you of a total website failure, but they are also going to ensure that you are notified of any existent trends that could indicate that your site is going to go down. They are also going to notify you of any performance issues, and the best of providers will even allow you to put failsafes into place automatically.

Communication is vital

Make sure that you remember that you alone are able to put the above-mentioned failsafes and precautions into action and still happen to encounter unexpected downtime in addition to already planned downtime that your site encounters. So, what’s the best way to handle these issues? Basically, it all boils down to communication. 

Make sure that you utilize social media platforms in order to communicate any issues regarding both planned and unplanned downtime with people that visit your website. When it comes to unplanned downtime, it’s best that you maintain transparency throughout the incident. It’s crucial that you provide updates regarding how the issue is being handled as well as when the site can be expected to be up again. 

In case of planned downtime, you should post a notice to the pages of your site days prior to it happening in addition to doing so on social media. The more you communicate with your audience, the higher the chance that they are going to be forgiving when the downtime occurs.

To wrap things up

In the end, it all comes down to taking time to do all the research necessary in order to be well informed about both the reasons and the results of these scenarios. Doing so is going to enable you to plan in advance, hence making the possibility of downtime affecting your company way lower.

Could You Be a Victim of Identity Theft Without Even Knowing? Software and Tools to Protect Yourself

Posted on by Claire Ward
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There are plenty of people who want to do malicious things with your data. Criminal organizations will go to great lengths to get your hands on your personal information, such as your bank accounts, date of birth, and credit card numbers. There are many tools and signs you should be aware of to prevent identity theft in the future.

Useful Tools you can Use to Protect Yourself

Identity theft can strike when you least expect it, so it’s essential you stay ahead of hackers by being prepared. You can use powerful identity theft protection software, like Identity Guard, to keep an eye on your statements, so you can notice small data breaches before they become severe. Here are some other ways you can protect yourself:

  • Make sure all of your software and apps are updated
  • Only download apps from reputable companies
  • Avoid jailbreaking your phone and other cracking risks
  • Lock your SIM card and your phone with a passcode
  • If your phone is breached, use its integrated kill switch
  • If you lose your phone, contact your phone company
  • Keep copies of important files off of your smartphone
  • Use a VPN on unsecured WiFi or avoid them altogether.
  • Check security settings on all websites (must have an SSL)
  • Don’t click on random links unless it’s from a trusted source

Common Signs of Identity Theft

It’s possible you’re already a victim of identity theft. Any intelligent criminal won’t just steal all of your money at once – that’s too obvious. Instead, they will make small security breaches that will go unnoticed until it’s too late. Check for these signs your information is compromised.

You Receive Odd Collection Calls

If you already have a credit card in collections, this won’t be a cause of alarm. However, if the collection agency asks about a card you didn’t open, that’s a telltale sign of identity theft. Let the collection agency know the card isn’t yours, so they stop contacting you, then immediately place a fraud alert on your card to prevent this in the future.

You’re Denied for a Loan or Credit Card

Bad credit means you’ll have fewer options for loans, but if you are positive you have good credit, this will come as a surprise. Lenders need to tell you if you’re denied due to your credit report, but you’ll be entitled to a free credit report once you’re rejected. Take advantage of this to see if you’re a victim of identity theft.

Your Credit Report has an Extra Card

Always look at your credit report every month to determine if all of your credit cards are accounted for. An extra card on your report is an obvious sign of identity theft. Take action immediately by initiating a credit report dispute to get the account removed from the report. Call the company and report that fraud occurred.

You’re Getting Unfamiliar Hard Inquiries 

Credit reports will contain soft and hard inquiries where hard inquiries result from an application either you or a fraudster filled out. Unfamiliar hard inquiries that someone applied for a credit card in your name is a sure sign of fraud. Be sure to put a fraud alert on your credit report to warn businesses they should provide credit products from you until further notice.

You Stop Receiving Your Credit Card Bills

Fraudsters will reroute your credit card bills to another address. While this is another clear sign of identity theft, it could also mean a porch pirate is taking your mail out of your mailbox. To prevent this from happening in the future, ensure that your mailbox is secure. You can prevent this from happening entirely by rerouting your mail to a post office.

How to Get Instagram Followers and Likes for Free to Increase Popularity

Posted on by Adriana S
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In today’s digital age, all organizations and organizations use digital stages to advertise their items and services. With regards to marketing things on the web, social media has gotten the top decision for digital marketers.

Instagram is viewed as the most mainstream social network for digital marketers. In the event that you likewise use Instagram for your business, at that point GetInsta is the most trusted app to get free Instagram followers without human verification. We should see more data about this app.

What is the GetInsta app?

GetInsta is an app intended for Android users who can use this application to increase genuine Instagram followers free on their Instagram accounts. Other than picking up followers, you can likewise get Instagram likes on existing posts rapidly and naturally.

The free app is 100% safe. Not at all like different apps to purchase Instagram likes, is the functionality of this app too easy, permitting anybody to effortlessly use it to rapidly get 50 free Instagram followers instantly on Instagram. The stage works with a basic strategy where your obligation is to like and follow the profiles of others and consequently you will get the likes and followers on your profile.

The stage has no limitations, you can get however many likes and followers as would be prudent by utilizing the application. The more you use the app, the more followers and likes you will get from their Instagram profiles and posts.

What makes this app special and well known among the other premium apps is that it is 100% free and requires no cash or membership expenses. The application costs nothing and gives you the best outcomes in a brief time frame. When you begin to pick up followers, the likes of your posts will likewise increment.

Aside from this, the free Instagram likes and free Instagram followers you jump on your profiles and posts are 100% genuine. Other than that, this application is totally safe and keeps your security avoided others. Utilizing this app is basic and anybody can undoubtedly begin with this application by essentially entering a couple of things on the primary page. How about we audit the key features of this app.

Key features

Easy to use

The app serves a natural interface where anybody can undoubtedly begin utilizing it to pick up followers and likes. It requires no extraordinary abilities, simply enter your Instagram subtleties and begin utilizing the app.

100% safe

The app is planned with cutting edge security protocols that keep your profile safe and hidden.

Genuine followers and likes

The app works with genuine Instagram users. You can get free Instagram followers and likes from genuine Instagram accounts rapidly and naturally. The followers and likes you get from this Instagram followers app are 100% genuine.

Free

The app costs nothing as it is accessible for free. You can get free Instagram followers and likes dependent on your presentation on the stage. You have to gather digital coins to acquire followers and likes on your posts. You will be indicated how you can pick up followers while utilizing this app. You can also choose to buy Instagram followers.

Supports many languages

The app supports in excess of 16 unique languages. You can use it in your favored language. You can even make changes to your profile by visiting the Profile area and you can make changes utilizing the Settings button.

What Canadian Businesses Need To Know About Taxes, Insurance, and the Link Between Them

Posted on by Charlene Brown
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Starting and operating a successful business in Canada requires several considerations that every entrepreneur should keep in mind. One of the main factors is that all businesses should comply with the insurance and tax laws to ensure that the operators meet the standard expectations.  Read on to learn more about taxes, insurance, and the link between the two.  

Corporation Income Tax Ratios

Each business has to be registered under the Canada Revenue Agency and is required to pay tax to operate legally.  For large corporations, that basic tax comprises 38% of the taxable income and is reduced to 28% after the federal tax abatement. After the tax reduction, your company’s net tax rate will be 15%. The net tax rate for small businesses comprises 9% of their taxable revenue. In other words, both small and large corporations operating in Canada are mandated to pay tax to the CRA. The rate is determined by factors like industry, size, and revenue generated by the business.  

Health Insurance and Taxes

There are mainly three types of health insurance in Canada: Private insurance sponsored by the employer, Public Health Insurance provided by the government, and Personal Health Insurance offered by private insurance companies. Health plans that are provided by private insurance companies are taxable, whereas public health insurance and private health insurance are not. However, public health insurance is funded by taxpayers in Canada, and different individuals and companies paying various taxes contribute to these public health plans. 

Business Insurance

Business insurance offers you protection against unforeseen losses that your business may encounter in its day-to-day operations. There are different types of insurance policies available, so you can choose the type that suits your industry, revenue, and size of business. The common types of business insurance include liability, commercial property, errors, and omissions insurance. The following factors determine the cost of your premium:

  • Annual revenue
  • Size and location of a business
  • Years of experience
  • Number of employees

Insurance is not required to operate a business but it is critical to get a policy for your company to protect it against unforeseen events like defective products, injuries, and damages caused by third parties. You need to speak with your insurance broker to get a policy that suits your business needs. The other thing that you must know is that you need to consider your profession before getting any business insurance. 

The other important aspect of business insurance is that it only covers incidents that involve third parties, and it does not cover you or your employees. It also does not cover cost estimates, contractual liability, or intentional criminal acts. There is a different insurance policy for the worker.  

Business Insurance is Tax Deductible

It is possible to deduct insurance premiums from your business expenses. You can subtract the following insurance premiums as business expenses: professional liability insurance, general liability insurance, cyber insurance, and commercial property insurance among others. By deducting various business expenses from your taxable income, you reduce your taxable income. You must include the cost of insurance for vehicles, rental property, manufacturing, and vehicles. 

Your premiums together with other deductible expenses should be signed before you start getting tax benefits from them. For instance, medical expenses and health insurance should be at least 10% of your gross income before you start getting tax deductions. However, there are certain insurances you cannot deduct as business expenses like homeowner’s insurance and and best cheap auto insurance. You can only deduct car insurance if you use the vehicle for your business. 

The Tax Act Business in Canada maximizes the deductions that you are entitled to get together with other business expenses. You must get more information about how taxes and insurance work before you start a business so that you do not violate the laws. Both tax and insurance are somehow related though the link is indirect. The amount you pay for taxes is somehow affected by other expenses related to insurance you pay for different elements of your business.  

Before you start a business in Canada, you must know that you will be required to pay taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency. The tax you pay largely depends on the size of your business and its revenue. Your business should be insured to protect it against unprecedented losses that it may encounter in its day-to-day operations. There are different types of business insurance policies that you can consider. As you can see, there is an indirect link between taxes and business insurance. Fortunately, business insurance and other expenses are deductible from your taxes. 

Keep Your Data Secure while Working at Your Home Office

Posted on by Aliza Betha
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With more and more coronavirus cases, companies have been encouraging their employees to work from home. Many of them noticed that there does not seem to be any sign of the situation getting better, so it is simply best to go with the flow rather than let the business fail. Many companies, such as the tech giant Microsoft, have openly said that they will allow their employees to work from home permanently, even after the crisis is over.

That is a significant change not only in people’s careers but also in their lives. Without a doubt, this trend is here to stay, and we should embrace it as what it is – new possibilities and a sign of advancement as humankind. The thing is, however, that such a massive change in life will bring even greater threats. It is also worth pointing out that we should not be using the future tense here as it is already happening.

Working from home is less secure

When you’re at your office, multiple IT people are continually working to ensure that everything is secure. That includes, but is not limited to, your computer, servers and, most importantly, networks connecting them. The problem is that you now work from home, so there is not anybody to help you with security. It means that you could potentially fall victim of cyberattacks much easier.

But how is it not secure

Now you might think, how is that even possible? If your employer lets you do this, then there should not be any threats possibly associated with it, right? Well, not really. In fact, there are so many cyber-related threats that the only way to avoid them would be to have someone overlooking you, as it is the case at your workplace. Otherwise, you’ll be exposed to a variety of attacks, most importantly network ones.

How does it work

When you want to connect to the Internet, you will most likely use a network to do that. It means that your connection goes through a router first, which then passes it further, ultimately connecting you to the World Wide Web. It means that the data you send and receive is transferred in the air. Therefore, that system makes it possible to intercept that data, and that is precisely how criminals exploit it.

Not only your data

Working from home, you have to connect to the Internet somehow, and that is when networks come in. It does not matter whether you got bored of working from your living room and decided to move spots to your favorite coffee shop or are comfortably sitting at your own home using your own network. You can become a victim virtually anywhere where there is Internet connection. Remember that if it is your company computer, the data that gets stolen is not yours and can be potentially worth millions of dollars.

How to protect yourself

While this threat is real and may sound intimidating, there is a simple solution to it, and you’ve probably even heard about it but still do not use it. It is a virtual private network or a VPN for short, and it is been all over the media recently, and for a reason. It is a convenient way to protect yourself from man-in-the-middle attacks and end this threat once and for all.

One extra layer

When using a VPN, you will connect to a server that can be located anywhere in the world. It will work as an extra layer between your device and the Internet, effectively making the data you send and receive invisible for those with malicious intentions. In addition to that, it will also protect you from other parties who might want to spy on you, such as your Internet provider or government agencies.

Best VPN software

With the abundance of everything nowadays, it might be hard to find the best tools available. Some are free, and some want you to pay, depending on what is available. The difference can be in the number of servers to which you can connect as well as their locations. In addition to that, some products offer extra features, such as data encryption, to further maximize your safety. That is why in the detailed review on NordVPN, you will find more information on one of the most popular software of this kind.

The bottom line

Just because there are threats does not mean you have to stay vulnerable. Even if you think you won’t need it as you do not use public networks, remember that your neighbors probably know you work from home and might want a piece of the cake. Therefore, it is good to always have VPN software on your work device as you never know when you might need it.

5 Rules For Beginner Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Timothy Miller
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Congratulations on setting up your business or company! As an entrepreneur, I don’t need to remind you that the most demanding stage of a business lies in the starting up. The rules you adopt at the beginning serve as the framework with which your company builds.

A business starting with three persons will surely not be all smooth and rosy. There are countless mistakes you can make in business that you can recover from. However, some mistakes are so dangerous that it may require a new startup or rebranding. According to myhomeworkdone.com, such errors may include incorrect accounting details.

Most businesses don’t survive the test of time because of many unwritten rules that many ignore. This article has written five of the unwritten rules that will help you as a beginner entrepreneur.

1. Have a Business Plan

Many local businesses do not have a picture of what they want to achieve within a stipulated time. The company is just starting, they say. Success in any business lies in how the entrepreneur sees the future of the company and the road map he puts in place to achieve them.

No matter how small your business is, put a beautiful and reasonable structure in place to guide you into what you want to become.

2. Be Frugal

I understand the pressure of trying to impress clients or customers. The pressure can be so intense that you may want to get a loan from banks or relatives.

Here is a piece of advice – don’t take up unnecessary expenses. Any idea that will not help your business, in the long run, is not worth considering.

Employ the minimum number of people that can get a job done quickly. If possible, give your employees a target that will provide them with a sense of accomplishment. Remember, don’t go on a spending spree to impress those who will not be impressed.

3. Build a Vision Carrying Team

When seeking employment, most job seekers are concerned about pay. That is sensible, you know, who doesn’t want a company that pays cool cash?

In as much as you are trying to attract the best employees out there with good pay, try and inculcate in them your vision for the company. You can use pre-employment testing linked here to assess whether potential candidates align with your company’s goals. Paint the beautiful future you see the company; the one you want them to be part of.

Act these visions out. Let them see you’re committed to making it happen so that your employees will not perceive themselves as tools or pawns with which you want to actualize the visions of your company.

4. Call for Help

The ‘CEO pride’ has sent many companies to bankruptcy. Most times, the thought of seeking for a business idea or advice is something some entrepreneur’s dread.

Let me get this straight, always call for help when you know you desperately need one. Get across to your mentor, attend seminars and exposés that will boost your confidence. Never be left vulnerable.

5. Safeguard Yourself and Your Venture

It can spell a lot of negatives for your firm if you suddenly fall ill. Eat well, take enough fruits, hydrate consistently and go to the gym where necessary. Your life is more important than business.

Many small businesses fold up after the demise of the pioneer. In the same vein, insure your business so that you won’t see its end while you’re yet alive.