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Crucial Investing Tips for 2018

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In the early days of 2018, it’s a good time to consider what’s the same and what’s new as the new year unfolds. With investing specifically, some basic principles remain unchanged, but there are some new kids on the block to pay attention to as well.

Let’s dive right in with a few investing tips for 2018.

Crypto Currencies

Everyone is curious about crypto currencies right now. With the sudden rise in Bitcoin during 2017 and other digital currencies being discussed like Ethereum and LiteCoin, there’s certainly good speculative money to be made. The old idea of “buying on the dips” is likely to prove useful to handle the ups and downs of these internet currencies.

Just be careful about the fees involved with each purchase as small batch sizes sometimes, especially in the case of Bitcoin, become quite expensive to complete. Be aware of how you’re buying the bitcoin and where it’s being stored too.

While it’s common to use an intermediary to make the purchase, it’s possible to hold a balance in a digital wallet like Electrum which is open-source and cross-platform (they have multiple desktop client and mobile apps too). This way, it’s not tied to a digital wallet provider and not at risk from the digital currency robberies that have taken place previously; this is the way Bitcoin was originally intended and set up where an intermediate was not required.

Fast-moving NASDAQ Technology Stocks

NASDAQ stocks are primarily technology based. They’re often quite expensive, but they go through periodic price adjustments where there’s often good opportunities to pick up bargains. At stateschronicle.com, they cover NASDAQ stocks that have recently fallen in price and are worth researching ahead of a possible purchase. Obviously, always perform your own due diligence before diving in.

Re-balancing a Portfolio

When setting up a portfolio, you create allocations for each planned asset class. These are based on your level of equity exposure that you’re comfortable with along with a sensible mix of non-correlated assets where some zig when others zag in the markets. Balancing a portfolio in this manner helps to mitigate steep moves upwards (or downwards) and smooths out the bumps.

For instance, in 2017 U.S. stocks had a banner year having risen over 21 percent. However, investors who put an equal amount into international stocks would have enjoyed over 27 percent return on their foreign investments. A 50/50 split would have achieved 24.5 percent return pre-costs.

 

Rebalancing a portfolio is a semi-regular action that sells down investments that have risen in price and buys more of what has been in the doldrums. While it may seem counterintuitive to sell your winners, the idea is to keep reasonably close to your planned asset allocation while avoiding any whipsaw with inflated investments coming crashing down. By rebalancing, the accepted risk levels of a portfolio are maintained too.

Investing in 2018 isn’t much different to other years except there are more opportunities for smaller investors to buy different types of alternative investments including dabbling in digital currencies. Keeping a sensible eye on maintaining a proper balance to your portfolio avoids overdoing things.

Keeping your small business in the green

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One of the biggest worries you’ll have with running a small business is keeping it afloat. Will you get all those contracts you’ve forecast? Will clients pay on time? Will you have enough funds in the pot to further expand and develop your company, to take on staff and to create new products and services? It all comes down to running a strong company, planning and strategy – and adapting where you need to. Particularly, if you’re starting with relatively little cash in the bank in the first place.

Feeding the cash monster

Running a small business, on the face of it, may seem straightforward – including with the finances. You make a sale, you take the payment. Simple? Not necessarily. How you run your cash flow is vital in determining the success of your business. There can be lots of costs associated with running a venture, some you may not encounter until they are staring you in the face. Effective financial planning is very important.

If you had some start-up capital to kick off your business, make sure you don’t blow it. As part of your business planning, you need to look at the priority areas for spending – and stick to your targets and goals.

If you’re putting some of your own money into the business to get it going, think carefully. Make sure you’re leaving enough to cover all of your personal bills and expenses. You may want to think about consolidating your finances into one personal loan, to free up a little more cash to invest. Have a look at an online platform like Bonsai Finance, to see what’s out there.

When you’re running a small company, you need to leave yourself some wriggle room. By that, you need to have some cash in the bank all the time. Why? Because your clients may not pay on time, or contracts may get cancelled. But, you still have the bills to pay – and you don’t want to find yourself in a predicament.

Do you need an office?

When you start up your business, have a think about where you are going to be based. If your company doesn’t need a storefront, do you need to have an external office? Could you work from home to begin with? If you have a spare room, why not convert it into an office? If you sign up to a serviced office, for example, you could be locked into a contract for months. And what happens if your venture doesn’t work out? It could be a costly mistake.

If you do need a storefront or other trading premises, make sure you do your homework. Not only into how much it’s going to cost you and for how long, but also the location and nearby facilities. If you’re relying on customers dropping in to buy your products, for example, have you picked the best area in terms of your target audience? Is it the most visible location? Will your location bring in the revenue you’re looking for?

Know who you’re selling to

You would know that selling ice in the Arctic probably isn’t the most profitable business venture. But, joking aside, you really need to know your client base – to keep up your revenues, and to stay in the green.

For all companies, it’s vital that they have a profile of their customers in mind in everything that they do. They are real people, or real companies, and you need to understand their personalities, needs and desires. And, when you have them, you need to look after them – so that they come back time and time again.

This isn’t just about you and your business planning. It’s about equipping any staff you have with the skills and knowledge that they need to sell to your client base.

As with all things now, trends are changing all the time. Make sure you keep up with your marketplace. Your customer profiles and wants may change, depending on all sorts of circumstances, make sure you keep up with them and adapt your approach accordingly.

Get social

A great way to connect with your clients, and new potential clients, is through social media. If you’re running a small business, you need to make sure that you not only have a website, but profiles on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Get your follower numbers up and spread the word about how great your company is.

Social media can be a useful marketing tool, to promote new products and services – and to highlight promotions and incentives. Think about adding some photos and videos now and then. But make sure the standard is good.

With social media, you need to make regular posts to make an impact. You need to be adding content most days, if not every day. Your profiles can also help drive up traffic to your website, so make sure it’s all connected up.

Stand out from the rest

Running a successful business is all about moving forward, not standing still. As well as keeping up with your customers’ changing needs, always keep an eye on the competition – to see what they’re offering. And always think of new ways to win new business. Could you refine some of your existing products or services? Are there some new ones you can offer? And are there any add-ons you can create?

If you’ve been running a small business for a while, is it worth having a re-think about your company branding and image? Does it look tired and out of date? Has your business developed down a different path? Has your client profile changed?

If things have changed, consider updating your website, logo and overall branding. You need it to reflect what you do, and it needs to look great. Don’t think you’re all alone with this. If you don’t have a marketing person in-house, then think about hiring in a consultant for a few days to give you some top tips and advice – it could make the difference when it comes to future sales!

What Should You Do Before Starting A Business?

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If you like the idea of being your own boss and starting a business, then there are a number of things that you need to think about and do, before you leap right in. Just jumping in at the deep end can mean that you make avoidable mistakes, or even lose a lot of money. Taking the time to step back and think about what you need to do first is always the best option.

Do Your Research

Before you begin any major product, and particularly before you sink your life savings (or someone else’s) into a new business, you need to do your research. You should look into the industry you’re planning to become join, and see how unique your business idea is. You may need to change your plans slightly, or even put things on hold until you can come up with something different. Even if you do have an idea that’s different, it’s always good to be aware of your competitors and keep ahead of them whenever possible. This is also the time to consider your target market. Once you know who they are, you will be able to target your marketing and design ideas towards them.

Legalities

When you start up a business, there will be certain legal aspects that you need to deal with. Firstly, you’ll need to choose what its legal structure will be. That could be a limited company, an LLP, or you might want to work as a sole trader. Each option has different tax implications, and the liability of the owner will change too.

Speak To Consultants

It makes no difference if this is your first company, or whether you’ve run many different businesses before, it’s always worth speaking to consultants about various aspects of your business. Financial consultants and marketing experts such as the ones you can find at http://netwaveinteractive.com/marketing-services/marketing-consulting/ have many years of experience in their sectors, and this kind of investment can pay huge dividends when it comes to an understanding of how business works. Starting off on the right track with a consultant behind you can prove to be an extremely shrewd move.

Look At Your Finances

Starting a business is not a cheap prospect. There are many different start up costs, so understanding where the money for these will come from is the first thing to look at. You might consider asking your bank for money or going to investors. You might want to look at crowdfunding. There will be an option that works for you, so take your time in finding it. Whichever route for funding you choose to take, you will need to write up a detailed business plan. Your business plan will have to include all of your expected costs for running your business including electricity, rental or mortgage costs, staff costs, stock and machinery costs, and more. This is another reason why research is essential; if you can show that you understand how much you will be paying, and why it is worth paying that amount, then it will be far easier to find the capital. As well as that, it means you can budget more easily, and you’ll know how much profit you need to make.

Viral Marketing: What Is It and How Can You Use It?

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Digital marketing grew rapidly these past few years. There are more instruments to use and campaigns to run today, allowing businesses – from small businesses to giant enterprises – to achieve their marketing objectives in an efficient and measurable way.

While content marketing and social media are very popular, more businesses are turning to viral marketing as a way to generate buzz and attract a bigger audience. What is viral marketing and how can you use it? We are going to answer those questions in this article.

What is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is a type of marketing campaign that utilizes existing websites and networks of users to deliver key marketing messages to a wider audience. By targeting key users on different platforms, the same marketing messages can reach a vast number of viewers in a relatively short amount of time.

Viral marketing differs from conventional content or social media marketing in one particular way: this type of campaign relies on the content of the campaign to be interesting enough for it to go viral. When the campaign is configured properly, a simple marketing message can get thousands of shares and re-shares across multiple platforms.

In most cases, viral marketing uses video content. Audio-visual contents work better in attracting user engagement and persuading the audience to share the content with more people. At the same time, video content adds that extra dimension for a bigger chance of going viral.

How Can You Do Viral Marketing?

From the definition of viral marketing itself, it is easy to see the elements you need to prepare for a successful viral marketing campaign. For starters, you need to determine the platforms you want to target for the campaign. Aside from popular social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, we also have sites that specialize in viral and funny content such as apextribune.com.

Understanding the platforms you’ll be using and the audience you want to target is important. The insights will help you tailor your content perfectly; once again, the goal of fine-tuning the message is to increase its chances of going viral once viewers start seeing it.

Once the campaign is carefully formulated, you can start executing the plan and let the audience to the rest. Keep in mind that not all content will go viral upon impact. That brings us to the next part of this article: how to go viral.

How to Go Viral

There is no definitive secret or recipe to going viral. The biggest challenge of viral marketing is getting the campaign accepted by the audience the right way. Only then will you see the impact of the campaign amplified to new heights.

That said, you can take steps to increase the chances of your campaign going viral. Adding gamification, understanding the audience’s taste and preferences, and using content that relates well to the target viewers are some of the tips you can use to get started. Do it right and viral marketing can catapult your brand and your products or services like no other digital marketing instrument.

If You Want to Work From Home, These Things Will Help You

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If you’re about to embark on a home working adventure, you need to be sure to think about the challenges you’ll face and how you’ll deal with them. It might seem like a great way to get away from your dour office and skip that morning commute, and that’s all great. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that working from home is all fun and games because that’s definitely not the case.

There are many of ways in which working from home can become unworkable for you if you fail to approach it correctly. We’re now going to delve into some of the things that will help you to get your home working experience right the first time.

Ergonomically Designed Office Furniture

The furniture that you use every day of the week in your home office is clearly going to have an impact on how you experience your. If you don’t feel at all comfortable when you’re working at home, you’ll feel annoyed and your work will ultimately suffer. That’s why you need good office furniture that has been ergonomically designed to fit the needs of your body each day.

A Dedicated Work Area

A home office is going to be essential because without a dedicated working area, you’ll really struggle to get your head down and focus on your work when you’re at home. That’s clearly a pretty big issue and it’s not something you can ignore. Your workspace should be apart from the rest of your home if possible. It’s not a good idea to just work on your laptop on the sofa or at the kitchen dining table. You’ll quickly realise why those arrangements are bad.

Strict Rules for Yourself

When you don’t have a boss looming over your shoulder and getting you do to all the things that need to be done, the task falls to you. Without proper structure, you’ll just get distracted and you’ll end up failing. That’s why you should set strict rules for yourself that you can follow each day. It’s entirely up to you to decide on those rules but it’s definitely worth giving some thought to.

Locks on Your Office Door

If you’re trying to work from home and you have a family to think about too, you’ll have to find a way of shutting them out and making sure that you don’t get distracted by them. Something as simple as putting a lock on your office door in order to shut people out while you work might not be such a bad idea. There tend to be more distractions for home workers than office workers, so bear that in mind.

Some Form of Financial Security

There are many ways to become financially secure, and that security will be really important if your home working is tied to a new freelance or sole trader career. This is the case for many people who work from home, but it can be risky and precarious if you’re not careful. You might want to save before starting on this path, or you could turn to investing. AlgoTerminal’s backtesting software can help you plan your investments and see good returns. It’s definitely an option to consider.

Time Away From the Home When Work is Done

When you spend your work time at home and you spend your spare time at home, your home can start to feel like a bit of a prison for you. Having time away from your home is definitely important so make sure you do try to get out of your house when your work is done and you have some spare time on your hands. Otherwise, you’ll get sick of the site of those four walls.

A Plan B

Working from home is one of those things that always seems like a great idea, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it works out that way. It’s certainly not an arrangement that works for everyone who tries it, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting that it’s not right for you. If that’s the conclusion you arrive at, you need to have a plan B. So make sure you think about that now rather than leaving it until later.

Working from home can be really positive for you if you approach it in the right kind of way. Approach it incorrectly and it can quickly become a real nightmare for you, so make sure you think carefully about all the topics covered here. They might really help you make a success of your home working future.