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Bharat Bhise – The Benefits of Working Online

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Since the internet has boomed and many people have looked to launch their own online business or look to the internet for job opportunities, there are a huge number of people who work online from home. My friend Bharat Bhise was the person who introduced me to the numerous benefits of working online and it is thanks to Bharat that I am able to enjoy all of these advantages. If you are able to launch your own business or find a job which involves you working online, here are just some of the wonderful benefits that you are going to be able to count on.

Anywhere, Anytime

The biggest benefit of working online is location independence, all you need is an internet connection and you can work from anywhere in the world. Bharat and I love to travel and we have worked from beaches, hotel rooms and airports all over the globe. This ability to switch on and get to work no matter where you are or what time of the day it is, can really give you a better lifestyle and a more comfortable working life.

No Commute

Not having too physically go to an office or workplace has a huge array of benefits in itself and one of those is that you no longer have to commute. Think of the hours or even days that you spend each year on the commute, the money that you spend on transport costs, and the general unhappiness that traveling to work brings, waiting in lines and waiting in traffic for example. Working online removes all this, simply wake up, open up your laptop and away you go, very simple and easy.

No Asking

Need to go to the doctors or the dentist? Need an early finish to pick your kids up from school? In a normal job you will normally have to ask your supervisor for these small favors and unless you get on with them well they can be difficult things to ask and the approval you get will usually mean that you have to pay something back. When you work online you have eh flexibility to manage your life as you see fit, and that means heading out whenever you need and ensuring that your personal life is taken care of, without the need to ask permission.

Save Money

When you work online one of the first things which you’ll notice is how much money you save, and this comes from a number of factors. First of all as we have mentioned, the money for transport to and from work is no longer needed. On top of this you will be spending less money on food and drinks throughout the day, because you have the option of working from home each day, where you can properly prepare meals and drinks at far lower cost. These cots savings will really add up over the year.

Why not have a look and see if you can’t find an online income, where you too will be able to enjoy these benefits?

 

How to Save Money on the Cost of a Hotel

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When you go on a trip or a vacation there are 2 big spends that you are looking at making, the first is on the flight or the mode of transport which you are going to be using and the second is on the hotel. We have already spoken on the blog about ways in which you can save money on your flights and today we are going to look into how you can save money on your hotel. It doesn’t matter if you are looking for a budget stay or a touch of luxury with someone like Auro hotels there are many ways in which you can ensure that you are able to bag yourself a room without paying top dollar, and here are some tips on doing just that.

Credit and Loyalty Cards

Many of he big hotel chains have partnership deals with credit card companies and you can use your credit card and put your money to work for you. Often they will allow you to earn points every time that you spend and you can then use these points to take dollars off the cost of a room at your favorite hotel. Something else which many hotels have done is to join together and offer a loyalty program which means that when you stay in any one of their hotels you will get bonuses and points or money off coupons which you can use with other hotels in the group.

Booking Late

There is a common misconception when it comes to flying that if you book late then you can get cheaper seats, this is not true and when flying you should look to book as early as possible. When it comes to hotels however, things are a little different. Now if you leave it right until the last minute then you may very well be able to get yourself a huge saving on your hotel room, as the hotel doesn’t want empty rooms. There is a snag here however and if you do decide to leave it until the last minute, you may very well find limited availability.

Coupon Codes

The internet is awash with opportunities to save money on hotel rooms and one of the best ways to do so in to do a quick search for coupon codes online. These coupon codes are free to obtain and they can give you some huge percentage savings on the overall cost of your stay. Simply type ‘coupon codes for X hotel’ and you’ll see a number of results, all of which will offer some great savings on the hotel that you want to stay in. Although these coupons are widely available they aren’t taken advantage of anywhere near as much as they should be, and you can really save big when you use them.

There you have it, 3 quick tips on how you can bag some great savings on your next hotel room.

 

5 Red Flags to Watch Out For When Selling Minerals

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We are delighted to have the great Adam Ferrari with us today who has been helping us to answer all of your mineral related questions. Adam is an expert in the field of buying and selling minerals and we are very happy that he accepted our invitation to give us some support on this subject. Today we are going to specifically focus on what red flags you should keep an eye out for when selling minerals beneath your property, so that you can ensure that you don’t make any mistakes. Once your due diligence is done, a valuation is reached and an offer is made, here is the details which you have to keep an eye out for when selling minerals.

Lowballing

If you receive an offer which is way below the valuation then this isn’t just an error that someone has made, this is someone looking to capitalize on a seller who doesn’t know their value. If you are selling to a reputable and large company then they will always have done their homework and brought you a reasonable offer, if you get lowballed like this then alarm bells should start ringing.

Bank Drafts

If you are selling to a reputable and well known business then they will pay for the exchange of your mineral deed via cashiers check, certified check or perhaps even a wire transfer. When payments are made like this for the signed deed, the funds will be in your account right away. If they pay via banker’s draft however it may take days or weeks before that is available. Before selling ensure that you are not getting paid in this way as it raises many potential issues.

Reading the Fine Print

You should always read the fine print for any deals like this and one ting in particular to look out for is the mineral acre v royalty acre, two very different deals. You may think that you are selling a non-participating royalty interest when in actual fact your are selling your minerals. If you are in any doubt get a lawyer to look over the agreement.

Time Pressure

You should be given sufficient time to review your offer and consult with any advisors and experts. This is why an offer which has an expiration time is something which should be a cause for concern. Any pressure on time such as 24 hour offers or immediate acceptance should be refused on the grounds that you don’t have enough time to properly review, don’t be pressured into your decision.

Title Search

A title search should always be carried out ahead of the finalization of the deal to ensure that you own the property in question and to look through the history of the ownership of the property. If you are asked to do this or if it not done then this should raise concerns ahead of the deal.

Keep an eye out for these red flags when you are selling minerals.

 

Little Things that Will Have You Missing Your Childhood

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For most people, childhood is recalled with fondness and a bit of cringing. It wasn’t too long ago that families were all loaded up into station wagons and kids didn’t worry about wearing seatbelts. If a turn was taken at too high of speed, the children would slide across the car and almost out the window. Of course, some things like this have changed for the better.

But there are other things that most of us would trade years off of our lives to go back and experience just one more time. With the holidays upon us, it is the appropriate time to once again think about childhood and family memories.

The Smell of Grandma’s House on Christmas Day

No matter how nice of a house your grandparents had back in the day, it was always a big deal to come over on Christmas morning and spend time with them. The smell of Christmas dinner would hit you even before you fully opened up the front door. Even today, just catching a familiar whiff of a smell can transport you back in time to those days. Being able to sit down with your grandparents just one more time and talk as adults would be an amazing experience, especially if they passed away decades ago.

The Toys

If you have ever wandered around a flea market only to come upon a toy that you had thirty years ago, you probably freaked out for at least twenty seconds and started telling everyone within earshot that you had this same toy when you were a kid. Isn’t it strange how a simple familiar item can transport you back to playing on the floor in your parents’ house at the age of seven years old?

Who knew zooming those small cars around on the kitchen floor when you were young would create such memories that they would never leave you? The great news is that you can experience these toys with your own children. In fact, you can buy diecast cars near you that look just like the ones you had when you were little.

The Anticipation

Children are always anticipating something new coming around the corner. It might be the holidays, the new school year, or even going sledding down the big hill in the backyard. Whatever the case, nothing was as wonderful as the anticipation. Wouldn’t it be great to have that feeling once again in life? Of course, you can, but it will just be through the magic of your own children’s eyes.

3 Tips to Make Your Marketing Visuals Stand Out

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So much of marketing today is visual, and it’s important to focus on making those visuals stand out. You’re always in a race against others in your industry, and if your visuals aren’t at the top of their game, you’ll lose the race.

The problem with this race is there are millions of competitors. You’re likely sharing your content on social media where visuals are commonplace. If you want yours to be noticeable, you’ll need to employ a curated strategy. Here are some tips any business can use to improve the visuals in their business.

1. Hire It Out

Sure, there are many programs that make creating visuals from scratch simple. However, it’s still a time-consuming process, especially if you’re not well-versed in the methodology of design. You might also fail to properly space, color, and word your images as well because you’ve never studied the art.

Outsourcing your design to a media creation agency can save you a lot of time, energy, and mistakes. In many cases, the company will also market your visuals for you, bringing greater traffic and revenue to your company. With a great company, the return should be high enough that it will pay for your contract and then some.

2. Mix Copywriting and Graphics

If you’re trying to describe complex data or lengthy lists of statistics, an infographic can be a valuable tool for conveying the information to your customer base. It’s still a popular form of visual presentation, and a 2017 study found that consumers found them very helpful and preferred them to slideshow presentations, articles, commercials, and blog posts.

The written word is often the most efficient method of sharing information, but combining it with your visual graphics will help make it more consumable. It breaks up the information and uses helpful colors and pictures that make it easy to internalize.

3. Try Sharing Original Artwork

There are many run-of-the-mill graphics and advertisements out there used to sway consumer opinion in a certain direction. These can be effective and appealing to your audience, but they can often blend in with the many other digital pieces your competitors create.

Original artwork in a watercolor, sketch, or even a sculpture can draw the eye. Consumers aren’t used to seeing this type of artwork on their social feeds, and they’ll pause to take a closer look. Pair your artwork with useful tips, tricks, and information, and you’ll succeed in grabbing your target audience.

Don’t let your marketing strategy become humdrum with outdated visuals and marketing tactics. Go back to the drawing board and create stunning pieces that inform and attract your chosen audience. You’ll easily see the return in increasing social media follows and greater revenue for your business.

7 Business Security Stats to Know in 2020

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Cybersecurity has simply blown up in the last 5-10 years, and that says something about the state of internet security. There wouldn’t be so many wildly successful cybersecurity firms if it weren’t for the thousands of breaches that pop up all over the internet.

If you’re a business owner, you likely have many accounts on the internet and files stored in the cloud. Ecommerce business owners have even more to worry about because they accept credit cards. No matter what type of business you operate, you should know what the business security landscape looks like for 2020.

1. Every 39 seconds, there’s a hacker attack.

This means that one in three Americans experiences a cyber attack each year. Most of the time, these hacking attempts are successful because users don’t use secure passwords. Hackers might hack your information for many reasons, but monetization is the most prevalent.

2. Half of all cyber attacks target small businesses.

Don’t operate under the false assumption that hackers won’t touch your business because it’s small and you don’t have much to steal. Hackers love small businesses because they often operate with significantly fewer security layers than larger companies.

3. A data breach can take 6 months or more to detect.

If you’re not paying close attention, you might not know that you’ve been attacked, and a lot of businesses don’t. By the time it’s discovered, it’s often too late to do anything, and many companies lose their ability to continue operating.

4. More than 60 percent of businesses that experience an attack shut down within 6 months.

Some of this has to do with the financial aspect–it’s extremely expensive to handle the aftermath of a cyber attack. Businesses might also close their doors because their reputation has gone down the drain or they discovered the cyber attack so late that they couldn’t undo any damage.

5. Three industries are attacked more often than others.

No industry is immune from cyber attacks, but the three industries that have problems more than others are government, retail, and technology. These companies tend to use fewer layers of protection, making them easy targets to hack.

6. The cost of cybersecurity is to exceed $6 trillion by the end of the year.

2020 will be a record year for cybersecurity spending. This sum accounts for the businesses that pay for both security against cyber attacks as well as steps they take to mitigate it.

7. Almost all cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error.

That’s right. More than 95 percent of breaches occur because a human being made a mistake. They might have ignored security protocol or used the same password for everything. It could also be as simple as someone sharing a piece of confidential information with a neighbor.

This statistic is perhaps the most important because it underscores the importance of training employees each year on the risks of security attacks.

 

How You Can Really Know if Your Small Business Needs an Accountant

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The task of managing your accounts is difficult enough if you are doing it for yourself – what more if you have to do it for your business? And managing business accounts is not a joke, as anyone will confirm, especially since you also have to make sure that you are raking in a profit at the same time. Even small business owners who are just starting need to stay on top of their accounts and financial records, and they need all the help they can get. Fortunately, this is where you have the option of hiring an accountant. But how can you really know if your small business needs an accountant? Here’s how you can find out.

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  • Assess your business and your role in it

The first step in determining whether or not an accountant can really help you with your small business is to assess your business – and this also comes with assessing what your role is in it. For example, are you self-employed? Then your bookkeeping and accounting needs may be relatively simple. If you are operating as a sole trader, your bookkeeping and accounting needs may not be that difficult, either, since you basically just have to keep a record of your incoming and outgoing expenses. But you also have to inform HMRC that you are a sole trader, and this comes with paying your taxes and NI (National Insurance) and making sure you pay them on time. You also have to do a self-assessment on your taxes every year.

But if you are a limited company, you have to file your accounts at the tax office and Companies House, and your accounts should include both a loss and profit account as well as a balance sheet. If you aren’t sure how to come up with these, then an accountant is worth considering as well.

And even if you decide that you can do your accounts on your own, have you considered the time you would be wasting if you had to do it all yourself? It takes a lot of time and effort, which you could very well spend doing other things to grow your business. If you have to prepare your accounts and take note of everything as well as make sure your deadlines are met, you won’t be as efficient, so it is worth thinking about having an accountant do all these things for you.

  • Determine your peace of mind

Aside from thinking of the above, you also have to think about your peace of mind, as the expert accountants from www.gsmaccountants.co.uk attest. What is it worth? Even while you think you can take care of your accounting and bookkeeping tasks yourself, do you believe that you could avoid making mistakes and be sure that everything is done properly and correctly? Bear in mind that incorrectly filled forms can cost you in fines and penalties, and if you are late, you will be faced with even more fines and penalties too.

Also, an accountant is not just there to take care of your financial records – they can also help you by giving you advice on what you can do to expand when you’re considering taking out a business loan, when you are audited, and more. Your accountant can even help you save on your expenses and outgoings by coming up with ways through which you can leverage your tax allowances.

At the end of the day, accountants can do a lot for you and your business; they can guide you and give you highly-useful advice, and they can also be your best partner as your business grows.

 

5 Tips to Successful Debt Consolidation

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Do you have a few different debt accounts open? Are you having a tough time managing them all? Or maybe you know you can get a lower interest rate on a new, larger loan. Whatever your specific reasoning behind wanting to consolidate your debt, it is likely a great idea! Here are five important tips to help you successfully consolidate your debt.

Know The Amount

Before you look into debt consolidation options, figure out exactly how much debt you have. Add up all your credit card balances, car loan balances, student loan debt and even the money you may own to your family or friends. Once you have this total number, you will know how much you need to apply for in order to fully consolidate your debt. Do not take out more than this or you will just have excess debt to pay off for no reason! Also, be sure to take out enough so that you truly can consolidate all of your debt into one easier payment.

Decide When to Consolidate

Maybe you have a while before you need to consolidate your debt or maybe you want to pay off some debt immediately in order to avoid fines and fees. Consider your time frame and this can help determine the kind of loan you apply for to help with your debt. If you need instant money, look for fast cash loans or same day loan to help you get immediate cash. If instant money is not necessary, take your time and shop around for loans.

Know Your Score

Take a look at your credit report and learn what your current credit score is. The better your score, the more likely you are to get a loan to help you consolidate your debt. If your credit score is low, thoroughly look over your credit report and see what is bringing that number down. Dispute any mistakes that you find on your credit report and also start working to bring your score up. A higher score will help you get a better loan to consolidate your debt.

Direct Payment vs Cash Loans

When applying for a loan to consolidate your debt, some lenders may pay the other debt collectors directly. You will still apply for the loan but the money will go right toward your existing debt and never pass through your hands. This can be a great option and much easier since the lender is paying for you. However, you may feel better if you get a cash loan and then divvy up the cash yourself.

Know The New Rates and Monthly Payment

When you consolidate your debt using a loan, you will have a new monthly payment in addition to new interest rates to learn. Figure out what your new monthly payment will be, how long you will be paying of your new debt and what the specifics of the loan term are. Before you sign on to get instant money and consolidate your debt, be sure that doing so will save you money!

5 Reasons To Refinance Your Mortgage

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As a homeowner, you’ve probably heard people talking about refinancing your mortgage often. A lot of people may not be sure if it’s the right route for them, and as a result, they’re uncertain about whether to go forward with it. In some cases, you may not understand exactly what refinancing your mortgage involves.

In a nutshell, refinancing your loan is something people do with the intention of keeping more money in your bank account. Here are some of the most important reasons why you should consider refinancing too.

Lower Your Mortgage Rate

One of the most obvious perks to refinancing is to lower your current mortgage rate. It’s logical that if you’re paying more than what’s being offered by lenders, that you should consider refinancing. By paying a lower mortgage each month, you’ll have more money to put aside in savings, or even just enjoy living a more comfortable lifestyle.

Cash-out

If you are in need of money urgently, then refinancing is a great option for you. A cash-out refinance provides the chance to take your equity as cash to use for whatever you need it for. This can be a better option financially since mortgage rates are much lower than traditional personal loans. Rather than multiple debts, you’ll have one single payment to make each month.

Shorten Your Loan

A lot of people don’t think about the actual number of years attached to how long it will take them to pay off their mortgage. However, a simple equation on a calculator can quickly demonstrate just how long you’re really looking at.

Do you really want to be paying your mortgage for the next 50 years when you could cut that time down significantly? It’s in your best interest to find a loan with a lower interest rate so that you can pay it off even faster!

Pay Off Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt has a much higher interest rate than mortgages do. If you have a significant amount of credit card debt, then lowering your monthly mortgage payments can help you pay off your credit cards faster. The result? More money in your pocket to pay your mortgage off faster! What better goal than to be entirely debt-free?

Buy-Out Your Ex

If you own your home with an ex, then it’s in your best interest to get them off of the loan. You can do this by refinancing. Usually, when people get divorced, the person who keeps the home should refinance. This doesn’t only apply to divorced couples, either. You may need to refinance if you bought the property with anyone else from a relative to a friend.

 

3 Entrepreneurial Ways To Get Ahead in the Gig Economy

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It might seem to you like the gig economy is everywhere these days. But you might not necessarily know how to use that to your advantage. That’s why it’s good to think of how the modern financial world is operating through the lens of the entrepreneur. If you’ve never studied entrepreneurial techniques and you don’t understand how it connects with the gig economy as it stands, then keep reading to find out a few different ways to benefit from the progress the world has made in this direction.

Entrepreneurs can create opportunities for themselves in several ways, but here are three that might make the most sense to you. First of all, you can use money to make money. Whenever you leverage the idea of purchasing something later against buying something now, there’s an opportunity for profit.

Second, everything that you can analyze will help you make money. If you are the best at analyzing some aspect of some industry, that gives you an immediate competitive advantage. Third, figure out how to utilize your passion wisely, and the gig economy is ripe for the picking.

Use Money To Make MoneyFemp

Using money to make money is a great way to expand your financial portfolio. One way to do this would be to participate in an ATM program. You rent the equipment for cost, and you reap the benefits of your effort and energy. Another way to use money to make money would be through stock market analysis and trading, so this is a direction that many financial analysts go.

There are many different ways to loan money to get profits back on your investment as well, so it’s up to you to research the ones that make the most sense.

Analysis Is Your Best Friend

The more you know about a topic, the higher your ability to make money on it conceptually. For example, if you learn how to analyze advertising, you can make passive income by having a website with automated promotions. It takes some setup and some tech-savvy, but once you have things rolling, you’ll find that you enjoy the idea of making money while you sleep. Very little maintenance is required in most cases, which means that your legitimate, long-term income has nowhere to go but up.

Utilize Your Passion Wisely

In the gig economy, your passion can be your best money making opportunity, as well. For example, if you like driving and talking to people, you can sign up for Uber or another ridesharing service. You like being on the road anyway, so why not make money doing it? Once you get the essential infrastructure in place, you can make driving a car your full-time career, or you can participate in it on the side. Both aspects of the gig economy concerning part or full-time employment can give you more options than with other jobs.