Archives for March 2022

The nature of small businesses means that balancing costs against profits can be tricky, particularly if you’re still in the process of getting properly established. Here’s how you can save costs so you can enjoy more security as a business.

It’s always been difficult for small businesses to become comfortably profit-making, particularly with businesses having to pay certain costs, whatever their size. Prices of everything are going up globally too, meaning more financial outlay for businesses. While increasing your own costs can help to counteract this to an extent, it is often not enough for small businesses to enjoy the same profits and success as before.

Here are some other ways to save money as a small business so you are not paying unnecessary costs that could impact your business success.

Think About Your Office Space

As business becomes increasingly remote and digitalized, a key area you can look at that costs you money is your office space. If remote working is going well for you as a business, do you even need an office anymore? Or do you need an office space that is as big as you currently have, if you can get by with employees doing a combination of home working and office working throughout the week? Closing your office or downsizing is a great way to save costs as a business. If you need the option of doing some work in an office sometimes, look at co-working spaces or building an office in your yard. These can both work out to have lower costs in the long-run.

Consider Location

Something else to consider as a business is if you need to be in the physical location you are currently in. If people are visiting your office less due to remote working, does your location even really matter at all? Working in prime locations mean rents and business rates are often higher. If you run a physical shop but many of your customers are now buying from you online, could you switch your business model to being online only? Freeing yourself from a physical location can be a great way to slash costs.

Switch Bank Accounts

Business owners often accept some of the everyday business costs and fees, but scrutinize these to see if they are really necessary. One important area to look at is your bank account. Are you being charged monthly account fees, additional charges for foreign transactions, or fees when you deposit money? There are bank accounts out there that do not charge for these types of transactions, in which case it might be time to switch business bank account. You’ll essentially get the same service for less, which is a no-brainer for a small business.

Review Staffing

Nobody likes to let good staff members go, but keeping staff on the payroll is becoming increasingly tricky for businesses. There are significant costs involved in this, including taxes and employee benefits. Look at all your business functions and what your staff members do on a day-to-day basis, and decide whether you could save costs by outsourcing any of the work. It is often much more cost effective to work with external agencies and freelancers on work such as digital marketing and managing the payroll.

Negotiate With Suppliers

Once you have a long-standing deal with the suppliers you work with as a business, reviewing your agreement with them can become a forgotten task. It is always a worthwhile exercise to look at what you are paying all your suppliers on a regular basis, and getting quotes from other companies to see if there are some more competitive options. You may have long-term and trusted relationships with your current suppliers, but you must look after yourself and your business first. If you are paying over the odds for something, you need to rectify it.

Review Advertising Costs

You may have an established process and budget for advertising your business, but how often do you review what is actually working? Many businesses throw a lot of money at a selection of advertising tools, and as long as they get the business, they don’t look into which specific elements are working. Pinpointing what advertising is actually working for you may be a way to save unnecessary costs, without impacting your business. Also look into some lower cost alternatives, such as local flyers or increasing your organic social media activity. You may well get some refreshing benefits from trying something new.

Look At Petty Expenses

Often a quick win for small businesses wanting to save on costs, cutting down every day petty expenses can really help to turn a company around. Cut down on the coffee shop takeaways and buy coffee wholesale to make at home or in the office instead. Buy stationary supplies in bulk too, and keep an eye on things like printer ink levels, so you don’t end up buying a quick replacement cartridge from a local store at double the price you could get it for elsewhere. These things really do add up and make a difference.

Social media is one of the most important tools at a small businesses’ disposal these days. Even before the pandemic, it was one of the easiest ways to reach customers, advertise services, and build up a brand presence. Today, more than 72% of Americans use at least one form of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or more recently, TikTok. 

However, social media is deceptively difficult to get the most out of. The sheer volume of content out there makes it difficult for small businesses to stand out. They don’t have the resources or the budget to create campaigns on part with those done by big companies and ad agencies. But the great thing about social media is that it’s an equalizer. With a bit of know-how and savvy, you don’t need to spend a lot to get the bang for your buck you’re looking for. Here are some ways you can make social media work for you. 

Talk to an expert

You don’t have to do everything yourself. It often is less expensive than you think to get reputable social media marketing experts to help you out, especially when you’re first starting out. It’s often better to let someone who knows what they’re doing help you get set up. If you go completely wrong from the start, it will be expensive and time-consuming to correct whatever mistakes you made. There is truly an overwhelming amount of information out there to navigate — why not get someone to help you out? Most companies will be able to tailor a quote based on your specific needs, so you won’t need to spend more than you can afford. 

Take courses

Here’s the rub: social media companies want you to use their platforms to advertise. So they want to do everything they can to help you out. Companies like Google, Facebook, and even TikTok all have courses available on their websites that teach you how to use their platforms for advertising your business. They give advice on what kind of content works, how to optimize your ad placement, and how to make the best use of your budget. You can even take a test and get a certification on how to use things like Google AdSense. Not only is this a great way to learn the ins and outs of how to advertise on social media, you’ll also pick up a new skill that can be applied in a lot of different contexts. 

Plan it out

Don’t think of social media posts as individual units. They all form part of your brand campaign. Looking at the big picture will help you make sure that your advertising is both cohesive and comprehensive. For example, you don’t want to keep posting about the latest promotion that you have. You also want to advertise the benefits of your products, your store information, and other things you think your target audience might want to hear. Your plan should cover the whole breadth of what you want to communicate to your audience.

What, where, when

Don’t think that photos on Instagram are the only type of posts you should use. Instagram itself has Stories and Reels, which are short form videos. Posts on Facebook have more space for text as compared to Instagram. Diversify the type of content you have, and it’s more likely to reach a wider audience. A post on Facebook and a video on TikTok will reach two quite distinct audiences. That’s good if your target audience is broad. But if you’re only targeting younger people, consider skipping out on Facebook entirely and focusing on TikTok. With limited resources, it’s often much better to have a focused approach that is more precise in targeting the kind of customer you want. Lastly, have a content calendar so that you can keep track of your campaigns. It’s also a good way to see if your posts are frequent enough, too condensed, or too sparse. 

Use the data

The magic word in social media marketing is “analytics”. Every time you post an ad or a post, you can see how it performs. The type and detail of statistics you get varies from company to company, but generally you can tell how many people saw your ad, clicked on it, and what type of person engaged most with it. You can use this information to tailor your ads. There is a famous principle in advertising called A/B testing. This is when you post two versions of the same ad to see which does better. For example, you can post both a photo and a video about the same thing and see which one does better. If the video does better, you know to focus more on videos in the future. This will help you create the most effective ads for your business, rather than throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. 

If you dream of seeing your small business operating abroad, how do you go about making it a reality? It takes a little research and planning, but if you do it right, your business could reach new heights.

The practicalities of whether or not your business could operate internationally firstly depend on what kind of business you run. If you operate a service-based business that operates remotely and digitally, you have far less to think about. In this scenario, your focus will be on aspects such as how taxes and banking regulations work between different countries, and if you can feasibly deliver your services while based in a different country. 

If your business has physical products, your concern will be more focused on how you will actually deliver and distribute your products, and if there are any safety regulations or alternative standards your products need to meet in different parts of the world. First and foremost, you’ll be looking into things such as postage, pallet shipping and international regulatory standards.

If you’re serious about getting your physical products out there in different countries, here’s a breakdown of what you need to consider.

Is There A Market?

This first step is not one to brush over. Before you invest time, effort and money trying to sell your products abroad, you need to have a good idea about whether or not people will actually want to buy them. Start with some of your own basic market research, finding out about your competitors in different countries, and whether any similar items are readily available. Depending on your findings from this initial research, you may then decide to go on to work with a market research company to properly assess whether there is space in the market for your product. Yes, you will spend money on this, but it is far cheaper to find out at this early stage whether your product is likely to sink or swim.

How Will You Market It?

If you’re sure there is a market for your product abroad, the next thing to decide on is how you will market it. Every business owner knows that having a great product alone isn’t enough to sell it. You may have a go-to set of marketing tactics you usually use in your home country, but these may not be relevant in the country you want to sell in. It’s important to get some local expertise when making a marketing plan for your products abroad. Local marketing agencies or consultants will have information and statistics about the best marketing tactics and the most popular social media channels. The key is to make your marketing bespoke to your target country or countries.

Mail Direct Or Distribution?

The logistical side of how you will physically get your products from your home country to your destination country is a key consideration. If you’re thinking of mailing your products directly each time an order comes in, look into postage rates and delivery times between the two countries. Get accurate estimates with actual weights and packaging measurements of your items. If your items are particularly heavy or bulky, the postage costs will be higher than you might have imagined. Think about whether your customers would be willing to pay these postage costs, or if you are willing to absorb the costs yourself. Before going with a particular mailing company, look at some reviews to see how good their service is.

The alternative option to mailing your products directly is to work with an in-country distributor in your country or countries of choice. In this scenario, you would look into crating companies to send your products in bulk to your distributor. The way you work with a distributor can vary. They can simply process orders and fulfil them for you. Or they can work on placing your product in suitable outlets, such as physical shops and online stores. Each type of agreement incurs a cost, of course, which is usually a percentage of each sale. This can be an effective way of working in other countries when you are less able to be hands-on.

Measuring Success

If you manage to fulfil your business goal of selling your products internationally, you will need to have a method of measuring your success. It can take some time to get established with your new processes, so give yourself a target date of when you would like to start making profits. When looking at this, weigh up all the time and effort you put into selling your products abroad, and think about how much profit is enough to make it worth it. If you are working with some third parties, such as marketing agencies and distribution centers, have an agreement with them about how they will report to you. It can be harder to keep a handle on this when you are working at a distance, so be upfront about your expectations before you start working together.

Solar power is booming across the world, thanks to its ability to cut energy bills and tap into a naturally occurring source of energy. But what do you need to know about solar energy before you go ahead and get your panels installed?

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the solar energy sector is growing by 42% every year. Almost 19 million homes in the United States are now powered by solar energy, and 43% of electric capacity added to the electricity grid comes from solar power too. 

Installing solar panels is an attractive proposition for many people, because it means that your home can become more self-sufficient. Once you have covered the cost of the installation and some general maintenance, you can considerably cut down your energy bills too. However, there is a lot to know about the world of solar power before you go ahead and become a solar household. Here are some key things about solar panels you may not have known.

1. Roof Size

Depending on the climate conditions where you live and the energy needs of your house, you will need a minimum number of solar panels to be installed on your roof to make it a worthwhile installation. The solar panel provider you work with can calculate your requirements. There are some situations that could mean you don’t currently have enough roof space to make the solar panel installation viable. However, there are alternative creative solutions to this. For example, some people will have a garage or car port built too – if they have enough land on their plot – which can create sufficient roof space for the required amount of solar panels.

2. Solar Storage

When most people are starting their journey into the solar panel world, they often only think about the need for solar panels. However, to make solar panels work best for your household, you’ll need solar batteries too, in order to store the excess energy the panels capture. This means that you can use electricity from the solar panels at night, or during days when there is less sun. It’s a way to make your solar panel investment work as hard as it possibly can for your household. Some people even find they have so much excess energy, they are able to sell it over to the electricity grid, for other people to benefit from. If there are general power outages due to bad weather or other factors, a solar battery can be a bit of a lifeline too.

3. Durability

As solar panels will be sitting out on your rooftop through all weather conditions, it is important to choose solar panels that are likely to be more durable. You may need to think about the specific climate you live in and the likelihood of certain weather conditions to help you make your decision. Many solar panels are made of tempered glass, which is usually strong enough for many situations. If you think you need something even more durable, look for solar panels made from monocrystalline silicon, which is even tougher. Something else to look out for is the backing that the solar panels sit on. Ideally you will want something that is very resilient and doesn’t corrode easily, such as copper. All solar panels are made waterproof, so the effect of rain is not generally a concern.

4. Efficiency

Not all solar panels have the ability to capture the same amount of energy, so it’s important to do your homework to find solar panels that will maximize your investment in terms of efficiency. Firstly look at the wattage of the solar panels you are interested in. A higher wattage means greater efficiency. There are different ways that solar panel companies achieve this higher efficiency, which includes the kind of surface used and the placement of the wires in the panels. Generally speaking, a larger panel can capture more energy than a smaller panel. However, if you are limited in terms of roof space, you may be able to generate the required amount of energy through smaller but more efficient solar panels.

5. Lifespan

A great thing about solar panels is that their average lifespan is said to be approximately 25 to 30 years. This means there is good value to be had by homeowners who choose to invest in solar panels. Furthermore, solar panel technology is improving all the time as sustainability becomes a bigger factor in peoples’ lives. This means that the longevity of solar panels could increase over time too. Even the current estimates of a shelf life of at least 25 years doesn’t mean that solar panels stop working at this point, they just tend to work a little less well as time goes on. All in all, people buying solar panels for their home can expect many years of savings on energy once the cost of the solar panels has been paid off.

What is the best essay writing service on Reddit? Adam Huler has the most verified positive reviews than any other service. The most common reasons Redditors rated Adam’s service so highly were:

1.  Affordability

2.  Able to meet deadlines

3.  Delivers high-quality work

Finding a great essay writing service can seem like a daunting task. Below is a complete guide to finding and using an essay writing service to turn in quality, original work.

How to Choose the Best Essay Writing Service on Reddit

• You get what you pay for. Everyone wants the best quality work, but in this open market, the price of a great essay may be higher than you expect. Don’t expect to get quality work for than less than $15 per page.
• Make sure they can cover a variety of topics. Skip the boutique services that focus on one subject. If you plan on using a service more than once, they should be able to handle all your needs. You want to stick with one writer, if possible so that the tone and style of your essays are consistent.
• Ask for writing samples. If the site doesn’t have sample papers posted, ask for them! Just because a person promotes them self as a professional writer, that doesn’t always mean that their skills are up to par. You also want to ensure that your essay is written in such a way that it is consistent with your own style.
• Communication is key. As you are reading reviews, look for comments highlighting the user’s experience communicating with the service. If there are any negatives in that area, move on. You don’t want to waste time with a service that doesn’t communicate well when you are in a time crunch.
• Plagiarism reports are a must. Look for a service that runs their final drafts through a plagiarism checker before submitting the essay to you. You never want to submit an assignment that contains plagiarized content. A service that runs this check for you will always provide you with an original paper with properly cited sources.
• Guaranteed work will be of higher quality. Look for a service that guarantees their work. If they don’t guarantee their work, then they may not have confidence in it. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t either.
• Look for a 24/7 service. You want a service that you can reach at any time. This goes with communication, but you want to ensure that they are able to make edits on the fly. This will also give you a better chance of the service meeting your deadline.
• Free revisions are a plus. While not all services offer free revisions, it’s a huge plus if they do. If you receive your essay but feel a section is not as well developed as you think it should be, a free revision of that section could save you major dollars. Paying for a revision isn’t the worst thing in the world if it gets you what you’re looking for, but free is always better.

9 Best Essay Writing Service Reddit Recommendations

While there are hundreds of essay writing services out there, you obviously want to choose a service that comes highly rated. While I’ve already shared with you the best essay writing service reddit, there are others that also come highly recommended.

Listed below are 9 most frequently recommended best essay writing service sites mentioned on Reddit:

1. Huler1996.com

Huler1996.com touts his website as “the best essay writing service on Reddit.” This positive review from a customer of this service states that he received an excellent research paper well before the due date and for a very reasonable price. Another review from a customer that went to pay for essay on reddit service states that the initial contact after submitting an order was delayed, but ultimately got their paper before the deadline.

2. CrownedProWriters.com

CrownedProWriters.com There’s a limited number of testimonials available for this service, limited to one on Reddit and four on their homepage. They are all positive, so take that as you will. This Reddit review of Crowned Pro Writers says they were impressed with their consistent communication, quality of work, essay generator reddit, and good pricing structure. The testimonials on their homepage say that they provide timely and professional service and comprehensive and remarkable work.

3. Intelwriters.com

Intelwriters.com is another notable service mentioned in many ranking lists of top essay writing services. Again, their site provides testimonials, but I didn’t have any luck finding reviews outside of their site. I might try searching for the best essay writing service yahoo answers because they are only showing four and five-star reviews on this page.

4. GradeAcers.com

GradeAcers.com is another notable service mentioned in many ranking lists of top essay writing services. Again, their site provides reviews, but I didn’t have any luck finding reviews outside of their site. They are only showing four and five-star reviews on this page. A five-star review from “Christine” says that she got into her dream college based on the admissions essay they wrote for her. A four-star review from “William R.” says that he was able to get his essay on time and for a reasonable price. He also says that contacting their customer support was easy and available every time he needed them.

5. StudyZillas.com

StudyZillas.com is another option you could consider when looking for a paper writing service that you can pay to help with your paper. This essay writing website has the cheapest prices for their papers and they promise to send plagiarism reports for every completed. The service doesn’t have any reviews on Google and I haven’t seen anyone complain about the quality of the paper or support offered. Their writers are well trained in their chosen field of study which means you can easily put your faith in the way they treat your paper, no matter which academic discipline you’re from.

6. EssayTubi.com

EssayTubi.com comes up on the list as one of the best essay writing services around. They have many positive reviews regarding their services and the few negative reviews I found stated that their disputes were resolved. EssayTubi.com focuses in delivering outstanding academic reports on all possible subjects and are proud of their exceptional writing quality. This writing service’s promises to provide responsive customer support, professional writer, user-friendly policies, constant discounts, and absolute anonymity. They will need specific guidelines your professor wants used along with the task. This will enable their team of trusted writers to understand, answer, cope successfully with writing your research paper.

7. Power Writings

Power Writings is another notable service mentioned in many ranking lists of top essay writing services. Again, their site provides testimonials, but I didn’t have any luck finding reviews outside of their site. They are only showing four and five-star reviews on this page. A five-star review from “Christine” says that she got into her dream college based on the admissions essay they wrote for her. A four-star review from “William R.” says that he was able to get his essay on time and for a reasonable price. He also says that contacting their customer support was easy and available every time he needed them.

8. PaperHelp

PaperHelp had a lot of sources for reviews outside of their site. They really don’t suppress the good, the bad, or the ugly. However, their customer service tries to remedy negative reviews as much as possible. The rating site Trustpilot gives them an overall score of four stars out of five. One positive review from “Antony” states that he was skeptical at first because he’d never used a service like this before, but he chose this site because they have a “pay later” option. After receiving his essay back, he was very satisfied with it and paid in full. One negative review from “Mary Byrne” was disappointed with PaperHelp, stating that the essay was unusable as the writer was not a native English speaker.

9. ExpertWriting

ExpertWriting comes up frequently as well when looking for essay writing services. They also had reviews on sites other than their own, though not as many as PaperHelp. The site TopEssayServices.com gave ExpertWriting four out of five stars. A five-star review from “Stan” says they had “good prices and very friendly support.” A three-star review from “Edward” simply states “It took too long to get it ready.” The site essay websites gives ExpertWriting just under five stars out of five. 

Your computer has been behaving badly. It freezes and crashes without warning and sometimes will not even boot up. The first thing to do in this case is to find out whether you are facing a software or hardware issue. There are a variety of diagnostic tools that you can use to scan your computer for software errors. If these turn up blank, you may have a hardware problem.

Finding Fault

Once you have determined that you are dealing with a hardware problem, you will need to figure out which piece of hardware is faulty. Referring to the blue screen error log file can provide information on the type of issue that caused the computer to crash. You can then search online for the error code or file name to see which piece of hardware it relates to.

If your computer has not been having blue screen errors but has been behaving erratically or slowly, you can use benchmark utilities to stress test your CPU (central processor) and graphics card to see if similar issues occur. You can also use analytic and diagnostic tools to check the health of your hard drives and RAM (primary memory).

When all else fails, the best way to find out if a component is malfunctioning is to exchange it for another one and see if the situation improves. That said, there is an element of trial-and-error involved and you will need to have a stockpile of spare components on hand. Taking your PC to a professional computer repair store might be a better option.

Hard Drive

There are many causes of hard drive failure such as power surges, virus infections, software bugs, file corruption, overheating, and manufacturing defects. They result in several types of hard drive failure including mechanical, electrical, logical, and firmware failure. The most common type of failure on HDDs (hard disk drives) is a mechanical failure, where the moving parts of the drive degrade and become defective.

Specific programs can be used to identify bad sectors in your hard drive and repair the majority of errors that are encountered. If you have lost data due to a hard drive crash or failure, certain methods of data recovery can be performed by professional computer technicians. In the most severe of cases, lost data on a damaged hard drive may not be recoverable.

Graphics Card

Your display stuttering, artifacting, or blacking out at random are early warning signs that your graphics card might be close to a meltdown. You may also hear your CPU making a strange buzzing sound or the fans revving more than usual. Many reasons can lead to a graphics card failure including poor installation, overheating, insufficient RAM, low power supply, physical damage, and just plain old dust.

If you have installed the latest drivers for your motherboard and graphics card to no avail, you may need to repair the physically graphics card itself. The heatsink and power cable must be removed from the card and the card thoroughly and carefully cleaned. In some cases, chips must be heated and soldered or thermal paste applied to improve the connections.

RAM

The gradual decline of computer performance as you open more programs is a common sign of a RAM problem. RAM malfunctions can stem from power surges, electrostatic discharge, overheating, a faulty memory module, or a defective motherboard memory slot. Incorrect overclocking of your computer can also lead to excessive heat in the system and stress damage on your RAM sticks.

To see if it is a memory module issue or a RAM issue, test one memory module at a time with a new RAM stick. If the memory modules function well, then it is your RAM stick that is faulty. If you have multiple RAM sticks, install one at a time and use a diagnostic utility to identify errors. Damaged RAM sticks can rarely be repaired; they are mostly replaced.

Motherboard

Certain motherboard issues like improperly seated components or insufficient power supply are pretty straightforward to fix. However, if you have an electrical failure, fixing your motherboard can be a bit of a nightmare. One bad move and you could destroy the intricate circuitry of your motherboard forever.

Motherboards contain several capacitors and connections that carry power to its various components. If the motherboard accidentally touches other metallic components (such as the computer case), the capacitors could bulge, blow, or leak fluid. Broken capacitors can be replaced, but only by a professional computer technician who is experienced with a soldering iron.

PC hardware repair is a technical affair. It involves a whole lot more than just switching up computer components. Although tech hobbyists and computer professionals can do their hardware repairs at home, inexperienced tinkerers can make problems worse. Leave the hardcore repairs to the experts and keep reading for more info to find a reputable computer repair store near you.