Dealing with money issues is something most American adults are quite familiar with. While most people are adamant about living on a budget and spending within their means, there are financial situations that can derail these good financial habits. Having a bad credit score is something nearly 68 million Americans have to deal with.
Your credit score is a way for lenders to see how much risk is associated with lending you money or approving you for a line of credit. The lower your credit score is, the harder it will be to get the financial tools needed to prosper. Read below to find out more about how bad credit can affect your life.
Getting Car or Home Loans Can Be Difficult With Bad Credit
For most adults, buying a home or car is something they view as a priority. Getting approved for the loans needed to make these purchases can be difficult if you have less than stellar credit. While you may be able to get approved for a loan to purchase a home or car with bad credit, these loans will have a higher interest rate. This means you will be paying back a lot more to the lender due to your high credit risk.
Taking the time to look at your credit report before applying for a loan is a great idea. By doing this, you can see if there are inaccuracies that need to be addressed. If you see errors on your credit report, using a tool such as DisputeBee is vital. With the help of this program, you can automate the credit report dispute process. Having errors removed from your credit report allows you to improve your score. The better your credit score is, the easier it will be to get a great loan to use for the purchase of a home or vehicle.
People With Bad Credit May Pay Higher Car Insurance Premiums
Some people think that bad credit only affects their ability to get approved for loans or credit cards, but this is far from the truth. When you go out in search of insurance for your home or car, companies that provide these policies will consider a number of factors before providing you with a quote. Often times, an insurance company will check your credit score.
If your credit score is on the low-end of the spectrum, you may have to pay a higher premium as a result. Instead of having to pay more for credit and insurance, you need to find a way to fix the problems on your credit report. Doing things like paying down your credit card/loan balances and remove inaccuracies can help to improve your credit score in a relatively short amount of time. Seeking out the help of a credit repair professional can help you develop a plan of attack. These professionals will be able to give you sound advice on what needs to be done to get your credit score back on track.
Problems Renting a Home or Apartment
Another problem that you may face if you have a low credit score is renting a nice home or apartment. Most landlords will put a potential tenant through the paces before approving their application. This process generally involves checking your credit score. If your credit score is low, it may give a landlord the impression that you will not pay your rent on time. This is why fixing the issues on your credit report is so important.
Now is the Time to Take Action
As you can see, having a low credit score can affect various parts of your life. Instead of waiting to take action, you need to find and fix the issues on your credit report immediately. The time and effort invested in improving your credit score will be worth it in the long run.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/credit-card-1583534_1280.jpg8531280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-01-27 20:00:132020-01-27 21:36:33What Is Bad Credit and How Can It Affect You?
The ideal client visit consists of a charming account manager, an easy journey and a productive meeting. However, as any fellow account manager will know, these visits don’t always run smoothly. Clients can be uncooperative, traffic can slow down proceedings and sometimes resolutions just aren’t made. The best way to get the most out of your client visit is of course to have an agenda, but to also sometimes anticipate the worst and prepare for resolutions.
Use Reliable Transport
Not being able to find somewhere to park, getting stuck in traffic and having no available corporate cars to use can all hinder a client visit day. The best way to dodge any transport incidents is to use reliable transport that is very unlikely to cause any hold ups in your day. A corporate taxi service might be your best bet in this instance, as they will have extensive experience in working with companies. You won’t get any resentment about making multiple trips or putting the money on business expenses.
Write Down Your Biggest Anxieties First
Of course, you want to keep your client on-side, but this can be achieved through basic niceties and cordiality. When you are drafting your itinerary, write down your biggest anxieties first. You do not want to leave any unresolved issues to a catch-up email. Write them down, find a way of raising them in a way that isn’t too confrontational, and make them a priority. You don’t want to get to the end of your meeting and still have major stress points still unaddressed because you ran out of time.
To avoid sounding too negative, start your meeting with a status run-down. If you have had previous client meetings, discuss your progress since then. Give a practical but optimistic evaluation of where you are and what needs to be finished in time.
In fact, one of the best ways to ensure those hot topics are discussed is to send the agenda over to the client first. While you can’t always guarantee that they will take the time to read it first, you have at least tried to secure some sense of organization. Getting the agenda to them beforehand gives you the best possible chance of having a truly productive meeting.
Don’t Pander to the Manager
If you have a senior member of staff visiting, it can be quite tempting to want to make a really good impression by giving them plenty of eye contact and conversation time. However, remember that this could backfire on you if they have invited other employees. Giving all members of the visiting company equal air time in terms of discussion will show you are polite and considerate. Ignoring less senior visitors could impact your company negatively.
When it comes to client visits, it is important that you don’t set your expectations too high. As we all know, clients can be tricky and unreliable. It’s therefore in your interest to plan as much as possible and anticipate difficulties before they arise. Planning your agenda and sending it to the client beforehand will put you in the best possible place to achieve your ambitions for the visit.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/hand-1870179_1280.jpg9681280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-01-27 16:00:082020-01-27 15:18:29How to Ensure That Client Visits Run Smoothly
It’s a new year and it’s time for another long hard look at your employees. What did they do that you liked or hated last year? Were there arguments among managers? Were junior employees left without leadership? Were there petty squabbles among employees that set deadlines back? Now is the perfect time of year to bring more cohesion to your workforce. From top to bottom, your employees need to forget about last year’s fights and look forward to the future together. It’s vital that your workforce remains a solid team so you can grow even larger and more successful than the previous decade. Yet, you may not have the time or the budget to take employees out on a day of team-building activities. It’s still possible to have them indoors at your office?
A personal piece
Inform your employees that you’re going to be holding a show and tell activity tomorrow. Instruct them to bring something along that matters to them a great deal, or has had a huge impact on them. Employees will sit in a circle and you’ll go around the room asking each person to show that special item. This is to evoke an image of who an employee is outside of work. Sharing something personal about yourself with colleagues will help you to understand why they are the type of person they are. It allows colleagues to feel more connected with the people they work with for 8 hours a day. The aim is to increase the bond between employees and therefore increase cooperation and productivity.
Futuristic racing
Move all the desks and chairs out of the way and call in TLC to set up their team drone racing challenge. They set up neon glowing bars that have been intricately shaped differently to present a gateway challenge. Entering the gates with a drone will be like reaching a checkpoint. You need to complete a set amount of laps in the first place to be declared the winning team. It’s fun, building friendships and isn’t dangerous at all. The courses can be set up within the size of a medium-sized room, so clearing a whole floor will be more than enough room. Employees have to work together as it’s two versus two affairs. You have to avoid bumping into each other while trying to block the other team’s drones on the circuit.
Scavenger hunt
Group your workers into pairs of four. One team will need to hide one item of each member’s workstation around the entire office. The other team will need to find these items. From a humble pencil holder to a keyboard, anything can be used as a prop. The team on the scavenger hunt is given a couple of minutes to find everything before returning to the starting point before the clock runs out. It takes cooperation and effective communication between colleagues, otherwise, they won’t be able to cover the most amount of ground in the shortest amount of time.
Team-building activities don’t have to be extravagant, they can be done right in the office. Futuristic drone racing is incredibly good fun and something employees won’t forget easily.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/helena-lopes-PGnqT0rXWLs-unsplash-scaled.jpg17072560StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-01-26 15:00:542020-01-26 15:21:35Do Team-Building Activities At Work Have To Be Boring?
Transcription is necessary for the field of Academics. Whether you are a student, professor, or researcher, you will find yourself with the impossible task of transcribing a significant amount of audio file into written text. Fortunately, hiring a transcription service is just as easy. But to make sure that you find not only the best but also the most reliable transcription service, it is essential to take note of the following tips.
Is the transcription service an expert in the field of academics?
Transcribing files for different fields require varying levels of expertise. When it comes to university transcription, you are looking for a company that has extensive experience working with similar clientele. There are some vendors today that prefer to focus on one particular industry. For example, there are transcription services that specialize in the medical and legal fields.
It is possible to find a vendor that can claim versatility. But before you confidently trust their services, take time to check their history with academic transcription. If possible, look for feedback from past clients and focus on the essential aspects of the service they provide. Finding a transcription service with an extensive background in your field means you will not have a hard time explaining technical jargon.
Ask about their data privacy policy
Transacting with a third-party will always expose you to some level of risk. This is especially true with online transcription services. It would help if you were particularly vigilant about the vendor’s security and privacy policy. If the document contains proprietary information such as research papers, unpublished work, and dissertations, ask the vendor how they handle keeping your information secure.
Do they provide a secure network for sharing files? What is the level of encryption? Does the vendor use a transcription software or rely on human transcription? Asking these questions will help you determine whether or not there is a guarantee that they can keep your data secure.
What is their turnaround time?
Scheduling is essential, especially if you are concerned about meeting deadlines. Does the transcription company follow a specific turnaround time, or are they amenable to requests? Will they accept rush projects? How long will it take them to complete a particular volume or load? Anytime you are outsourcing transcription; you need to verify whether they can meet deadlines. Otherwise, your work will also suffer if it takes them a long time to get the job done.
Ask for samples
If the firm allows it, ask for examples of their archived academic transcription projects. You will gain better insight into the quality, accuracy, and level of professionalism by viewing their past work. If there are references available, you may also try to contact previous clients and ask about their experience with the firm.
What type of transcription software do they use?
Most transcription companies today make use of some computer software to enhance efficiency. You must know this aspect of their service so that you have some understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. How do they handle quality assurance? Do they have human transcriptionists available to edit or double-check automated transcription results?
With the help of these tips and other best practices, you can find an excellent university transcription service that best fits your needs.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/four-people-watching-on-white-macbook-on-top-of-gl.jpeg7501000StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-01-24 17:00:262020-01-24 22:29:22Tips in Choosing a Transcription Service for Universities
The importance of SEO has surged in recent years, and if you’re looking to attract more customers to your website, you simply can’t afford to ignore it. When it comes to achieving the coveted first page positions in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), having a solid SEO strategy in place is essential. These days search engine results are more crowded than ever before, and winning your place in the rankings will require patience, hard work, and an understanding of how to properly optimize your website. With that in mind, below you will discover how to develop your very own successful SEO strategy.
Conduct a Full SEO Audit for your Website
When it comes to getting started with SEO, having solid foundations in place is an important first step to take. Without a strong platform, all other SEO efforts will essentially be wasted, and getting your website to rank highly in search results will be difficult. If you’re looking after a website with thousands of pages, then it might be worth considering an investment in website auditing software such as the industry-standard Screaming Frog or Deepcrawl to speed up this process. If you’re in any way unsure about how to carry out this process, it might be best to get in touch with professionals who are adept at creating and tailoring an SEO strategy to your business.
Start building links as soon as you can
One of the most important elements of any successful SEO strategy is link building, and this needs to be taken into account when trying to get more clicks from Google. Google’s ranking algorithms are complex and multi-faceted, but time and time again links have been proven to play a huge part in determining the position of a page in search results. There are, of course, many other factors to consider, but incorporating link building into your SEO strategy is a must.
Invest wisely in keyword research software
Taking the time to understand your user needs and learning what people are actually searching for is the bedrock of a good SEO strategy. Without in-depth knowledge and data on your customers, how else are you going to create valuable content that they can relate to? The Google search console provides an insight into which keywords are used to drive people to your site, and it’s completely free. Alternatively, sign up to SEMrush or Ahrefs for a more detailed picture of the search landscape.
Top tip: Be on the lookout for question keywords, as this can inform the content strategy of your blog pages.
Keep up to date with industry news and announcements
SEO changes faster than the weather, and in an industry as dynamic as SEO, it’s important to stay as up to date as possible. In 2019 alone, there were thousands of updates to Google’s ranking factors. Subscribe to newsletters, read blogs and be on the lookout for important news from Google about updates so you can ensure your SEO strategy is on-trend.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/lukas-blazek-mcSDtbWXUZU-unsplash-scaled.jpg16952560StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-01-24 15:00:052020-01-24 21:58:46How to Develop a Successful SEO Strategy for Your Business
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What Is Bad Credit and How Can It Affect You?
/in Practices for Professionals/by StrategyDrivenDealing with money issues is something most American adults are quite familiar with. While most people are adamant about living on a budget and spending within their means, there are financial situations that can derail these good financial habits. Having a bad credit score is something nearly 68 million Americans have to deal with.
Your credit score is a way for lenders to see how much risk is associated with lending you money or approving you for a line of credit. The lower your credit score is, the harder it will be to get the financial tools needed to prosper. Read below to find out more about how bad credit can affect your life.
Getting Car or Home Loans Can Be Difficult With Bad Credit
For most adults, buying a home or car is something they view as a priority. Getting approved for the loans needed to make these purchases can be difficult if you have less than stellar credit. While you may be able to get approved for a loan to purchase a home or car with bad credit, these loans will have a higher interest rate. This means you will be paying back a lot more to the lender due to your high credit risk.
Taking the time to look at your credit report before applying for a loan is a great idea. By doing this, you can see if there are inaccuracies that need to be addressed. If you see errors on your credit report, using a tool such as DisputeBee is vital. With the help of this program, you can automate the credit report dispute process. Having errors removed from your credit report allows you to improve your score. The better your credit score is, the easier it will be to get a great loan to use for the purchase of a home or vehicle.
People With Bad Credit May Pay Higher Car Insurance Premiums
Some people think that bad credit only affects their ability to get approved for loans or credit cards, but this is far from the truth. When you go out in search of insurance for your home or car, companies that provide these policies will consider a number of factors before providing you with a quote. Often times, an insurance company will check your credit score.
If your credit score is on the low-end of the spectrum, you may have to pay a higher premium as a result. Instead of having to pay more for credit and insurance, you need to find a way to fix the problems on your credit report. Doing things like paying down your credit card/loan balances and remove inaccuracies can help to improve your credit score in a relatively short amount of time. Seeking out the help of a credit repair professional can help you develop a plan of attack. These professionals will be able to give you sound advice on what needs to be done to get your credit score back on track.
Problems Renting a Home or Apartment
Another problem that you may face if you have a low credit score is renting a nice home or apartment. Most landlords will put a potential tenant through the paces before approving their application. This process generally involves checking your credit score. If your credit score is low, it may give a landlord the impression that you will not pay your rent on time. This is why fixing the issues on your credit report is so important.
Now is the Time to Take Action
As you can see, having a low credit score can affect various parts of your life. Instead of waiting to take action, you need to find and fix the issues on your credit report immediately. The time and effort invested in improving your credit score will be worth it in the long run.
How to Ensure That Client Visits Run Smoothly
/in Marketing & Sales/by StrategyDrivenUse Reliable Transport
Not being able to find somewhere to park, getting stuck in traffic and having no available corporate cars to use can all hinder a client visit day. The best way to dodge any transport incidents is to use reliable transport that is very unlikely to cause any hold ups in your day. A corporate taxi service might be your best bet in this instance, as they will have extensive experience in working with companies. You won’t get any resentment about making multiple trips or putting the money on business expenses.
Write Down Your Biggest Anxieties First
Of course, you want to keep your client on-side, but this can be achieved through basic niceties and cordiality. When you are drafting your itinerary, write down your biggest anxieties first. You do not want to leave any unresolved issues to a catch-up email. Write them down, find a way of raising them in a way that isn’t too confrontational, and make them a priority. You don’t want to get to the end of your meeting and still have major stress points still unaddressed because you ran out of time.
To avoid sounding too negative, start your meeting with a status run-down. If you have had previous client meetings, discuss your progress since then. Give a practical but optimistic evaluation of where you are and what needs to be finished in time.
In fact, one of the best ways to ensure those hot topics are discussed is to send the agenda over to the client first. While you can’t always guarantee that they will take the time to read it first, you have at least tried to secure some sense of organization. Getting the agenda to them beforehand gives you the best possible chance of having a truly productive meeting.
Don’t Pander to the Manager
If you have a senior member of staff visiting, it can be quite tempting to want to make a really good impression by giving them plenty of eye contact and conversation time. However, remember that this could backfire on you if they have invited other employees. Giving all members of the visiting company equal air time in terms of discussion will show you are polite and considerate. Ignoring less senior visitors could impact your company negatively.
When it comes to client visits, it is important that you don’t set your expectations too high. As we all know, clients can be tricky and unreliable. It’s therefore in your interest to plan as much as possible and anticipate difficulties before they arise. Planning your agenda and sending it to the client beforehand will put you in the best possible place to achieve your ambitions for the visit.
Do Team-Building Activities At Work Have To Be Boring?
/in Managing Your People, Talent Management/by StrategyDrivenA personal piece
Inform your employees that you’re going to be holding a show and tell activity tomorrow. Instruct them to bring something along that matters to them a great deal, or has had a huge impact on them. Employees will sit in a circle and you’ll go around the room asking each person to show that special item. This is to evoke an image of who an employee is outside of work. Sharing something personal about yourself with colleagues will help you to understand why they are the type of person they are. It allows colleagues to feel more connected with the people they work with for 8 hours a day. The aim is to increase the bond between employees and therefore increase cooperation and productivity.
Futuristic racing
Move all the desks and chairs out of the way and call in TLC to set up their team drone racing challenge. They set up neon glowing bars that have been intricately shaped differently to present a gateway challenge. Entering the gates with a drone will be like reaching a checkpoint. You need to complete a set amount of laps in the first place to be declared the winning team. It’s fun, building friendships and isn’t dangerous at all. The courses can be set up within the size of a medium-sized room, so clearing a whole floor will be more than enough room. Employees have to work together as it’s two versus two affairs. You have to avoid bumping into each other while trying to block the other team’s drones on the circuit.
Scavenger hunt
Group your workers into pairs of four. One team will need to hide one item of each member’s workstation around the entire office. The other team will need to find these items. From a humble pencil holder to a keyboard, anything can be used as a prop. The team on the scavenger hunt is given a couple of minutes to find everything before returning to the starting point before the clock runs out. It takes cooperation and effective communication between colleagues, otherwise, they won’t be able to cover the most amount of ground in the shortest amount of time.
Team-building activities don’t have to be extravagant, they can be done right in the office. Futuristic drone racing is incredibly good fun and something employees won’t forget easily.
Tips in Choosing a Transcription Service for Universities
/in Tactical Execution/by StrategyDrivenTranscription is necessary for the field of Academics. Whether you are a student, professor, or researcher, you will find yourself with the impossible task of transcribing a significant amount of audio file into written text. Fortunately, hiring a transcription service is just as easy. But to make sure that you find not only the best but also the most reliable transcription service, it is essential to take note of the following tips.
Is the transcription service an expert in the field of academics?
Transcribing files for different fields require varying levels of expertise. When it comes to university transcription, you are looking for a company that has extensive experience working with similar clientele. There are some vendors today that prefer to focus on one particular industry. For example, there are transcription services that specialize in the medical and legal fields.
It is possible to find a vendor that can claim versatility. But before you confidently trust their services, take time to check their history with academic transcription. If possible, look for feedback from past clients and focus on the essential aspects of the service they provide. Finding a transcription service with an extensive background in your field means you will not have a hard time explaining technical jargon.
Ask about their data privacy policy
Transacting with a third-party will always expose you to some level of risk. This is especially true with online transcription services. It would help if you were particularly vigilant about the vendor’s security and privacy policy. If the document contains proprietary information such as research papers, unpublished work, and dissertations, ask the vendor how they handle keeping your information secure.
Do they provide a secure network for sharing files? What is the level of encryption? Does the vendor use a transcription software or rely on human transcription? Asking these questions will help you determine whether or not there is a guarantee that they can keep your data secure.
What is their turnaround time?
Scheduling is essential, especially if you are concerned about meeting deadlines. Does the transcription company follow a specific turnaround time, or are they amenable to requests? Will they accept rush projects? How long will it take them to complete a particular volume or load? Anytime you are outsourcing transcription; you need to verify whether they can meet deadlines. Otherwise, your work will also suffer if it takes them a long time to get the job done.
Ask for samples
If the firm allows it, ask for examples of their archived academic transcription projects. You will gain better insight into the quality, accuracy, and level of professionalism by viewing their past work. If there are references available, you may also try to contact previous clients and ask about their experience with the firm.
What type of transcription software do they use?
Most transcription companies today make use of some computer software to enhance efficiency. You must know this aspect of their service so that you have some understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. How do they handle quality assurance? Do they have human transcriptionists available to edit or double-check automated transcription results?
With the help of these tips and other best practices, you can find an excellent university transcription service that best fits your needs.
How to Develop a Successful SEO Strategy for Your Business
/in Marketing & Sales, Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenThe importance of SEO has surged in recent years, and if you’re looking to attract more customers to your website, you simply can’t afford to ignore it. When it comes to achieving the coveted first page positions in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), having a solid SEO strategy in place is essential. These days search engine results are more crowded than ever before, and winning your place in the rankings will require patience, hard work, and an understanding of how to properly optimize your website. With that in mind, below you will discover how to develop your very own successful SEO strategy.
Conduct a Full SEO Audit for your Website
When it comes to getting started with SEO, having solid foundations in place is an important first step to take. Without a strong platform, all other SEO efforts will essentially be wasted, and getting your website to rank highly in search results will be difficult. If you’re looking after a website with thousands of pages, then it might be worth considering an investment in website auditing software such as the industry-standard Screaming Frog or Deepcrawl to speed up this process. If you’re in any way unsure about how to carry out this process, it might be best to get in touch with professionals who are adept at creating and tailoring an SEO strategy to your business.
Start building links as soon as you can
One of the most important elements of any successful SEO strategy is link building, and this needs to be taken into account when trying to get more clicks from Google. Google’s ranking algorithms are complex and multi-faceted, but time and time again links have been proven to play a huge part in determining the position of a page in search results. There are, of course, many other factors to consider, but incorporating link building into your SEO strategy is a must.
Invest wisely in keyword research software
Taking the time to understand your user needs and learning what people are actually searching for is the bedrock of a good SEO strategy. Without in-depth knowledge and data on your customers, how else are you going to create valuable content that they can relate to? The Google search console provides an insight into which keywords are used to drive people to your site, and it’s completely free. Alternatively, sign up to SEMrush or Ahrefs for a more detailed picture of the search landscape.
Top tip: Be on the lookout for question keywords, as this can inform the content strategy of your blog pages.
Keep up to date with industry news and announcements
SEO changes faster than the weather, and in an industry as dynamic as SEO, it’s important to stay as up to date as possible. In 2019 alone, there were thousands of updates to Google’s ranking factors. Subscribe to newsletters, read blogs and be on the lookout for important news from Google about updates so you can ensure your SEO strategy is on-trend.