How to Keep Up With Your Business Finances

When running a business, it can be incredibly difficult to understand your finances. However, keeping up with your business’s finances is of the utmost importance and should be one of your main priorities while running a business.

Although it can be easy to lose control of your finances, there are many ways in which you can be sure that you are able to track your expenditure, understand your taxes, and know your profits, some of which are explained below.

  1. Hire an Accountant

One of the most profitable steps that you can take if you struggle to understand your finances is to hire an accountant. Accountants can deal with all your finances for you, and prepare you for the tax year. Not only this, but chartered accountants such as Howlader & Co build a professional relationship with you that can help you to get the most out of your business financially and ensure that your business can be tax efficient. This helps businesses to ensure that they are paying the right taxes, know how much profit they are making, and organize their finances accordingly, taking away the stress of dealing with the complicated tax system alone.

  1. Understand Your Taxes

However, if you plan to control your business finances alone, you should first ensure that you understand your taxes as a business. Unlike during employment, when taxes are taken straight out of your payslip, running a business means that you have to maintain an understanding and submit your own taxes.

Income tax is based on the earnings of your business, and so calculating this is the first step to understanding how taxes work. However, there are many more implications which you need to consider, and these can affect how much tax you should pay.

  1. Track Your Expenses

To ensure that you are ready for the tax year, you should track your expenditure throughout the year. This will not only help you when it comes to submitting tax forms but also means that you will know how much money you have to spend and invest. The best ways to track your expenses include using apps and spreadsheet templates to create simple and yet effective methods of tracking your expenditure.

  1. Project Your Revenue

Not only this but when it comes to understanding your business finances, it can also be helpful to project your revenue. This will help you to adapt your business plan to the amount of money that you have available to spend, and will help you to prepare for any obstacles – or profits – you have in the future, allowing you to invest in your business accordingly.

  1. Write Invoices on Time

Writing invoices and sending these to your clients on time will ensure that you receive payment as soon as possible, reducing the number of outstanding payments that you have. You should establish a timeframe for payment in your invoice template, as this will give you a reference point so that you know when you will be receiving money and ensure that your money is not outstanding for long. If you have not received payment within a week, then you should ensure that you follow up on these invoices.

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GOLD OR REAL ESTATE: WHICH ONE IS THE BETTER INVESTMENT?

To buy gold or real estate, that is the question. If you are savvy enough with these things, it may sound as though we were comparing apples to oranges. And up to a certain point, we are. However, before we delve into which is the better option, let us begin with the features they hold in common. Both forms of investment share at least three features. The first one is rarity, next is durability and lastly scarcity. Given these similar characteristics, it may be hard to decide, but it is way nobler to know the differences between the two before you trade cash for gold.

In the real estate corner, most of the people who study these things will tell you that real estate does well. In fact, investment in real estate would afford an investor income in rent, for example. However, the crash of 2008 was enough to remind us all that housing prices too can fall. Real estate was also at the heart of the Asian crisis in the mid-90s, the lesson here being that no investment option is really foolproof to the vagaries of outrageous fortune. Then again, gold is a lot more portable than real estate. Gold’s suitability in this case becomes even more pronounced during times of calamity, natural and man-made.

Investing in gold, investing in the long-haul

Gold as a commodity is best for the long-haul. The numbers show that gold is a good asset to hold, and has less volatility than stocks. It is even more attractive of an asset when planning for retirement or if you are planning to pay for your kids college fees. Even in the event of a downturn, it is unlikely that gold would lose all of its intrinsic value. Visit www.buyandsellgoldsilver.com for more information.

In tough economic times, such as when there is high inflation, the price of gold typically goes up. This is because in such situations, investors trade cash for gold as a way store value and protect their wealth. Gold is viewed as being a stable commodity whose price is not really affected in such downturns. Experienced investment managers will tell you that gold serves as a good foundation in an investment portfolio, and that is due to its lack of volatility in the markets.

Diversified Portfolio

Ultimately, the best approach in developing an investment portfolio is to have a diversified one. You would buy gold and complement it with investment in equities. Ideally, this would be for the long-haul. Real estate would then top up these investments to enable you earn some extra income, especially in times when the housing markets are strong.

It should be clear to you by now that each of these investment options have their pros and cons. You may want to invest in something that guarantees you a quick return, or you may have specific preferences. Discussing your needs with a good gold broker or investment manager will be an important first step in determining how to trade cash for gold, equities or real estate.

 

 

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Student Loan Debt Makes Home Purchase Almost Impossible For Millennials

The Burden of Student Debt Affects the Real Estate Market

Student loan debt has become a paralyzing financial burden for many young Americans. Today, millenials are now moving past their college years and entering the phase in their lives where they are looking to be homeowners. However, being the generation with the most student debt in America does not make the home buying process very easy. Millenials are least likely to own a home compared to generations before them. In 2014, only about 36% of household heads between the ages of 24 and 32 years old owned a home. That is down from 45% in 2005. One of the big factors to this low-rate of homeownership is the amount of student loan debt they have.

While homeownership may be lowering, the amount of student debt continues to rise. This can be attributed to the increasing costs of higher education. The average college student graduates with about $30,000 in both private and federal loans. The more education costs the more students take out loans to pay for their education. This has created a never-ending cycle of debt that affects other aspects of life such as buying a home. The amount of student loan debt now surpass that of credit card debt with the total student loan debt being $1.56 trillion and credit card debt being $1.03 trillion. Here are some ways that student loan debt can make it difficult for millenials:

  • Debt-to-income ratio

    – The number one issue that comes up when trying to purchase the home is the debt-to-income ratio. That is the amount of money you owe to lenders versus the income your bring in. The average income of college graduates is about $59,000. However, the average monthly payment of a student loan is about $350. This becomes a large chunk of monthly expenses. Banks are often wary of those with large amount of debt, especially debt like student loans which are seen as “unsecured debt”. Meaning that this debt is likely to be paid throughout a lifetime. Often, banks would prefer candidates whose expenditures are not more than 36% of their income. However, that can be difficult if your income is only $50,000. This ratio also can be affected by the cost of housing in your specific area. Those that live in higher cost areas can find it even more difficult to secure a home loan.

  • Credit Score

    – Another aspect that strongly affects homeownership for millenials is their credit score. About 8% of student loan borrowers were denied a mortgage because of their credit score. Those between the ages of 19 and 34 years old on average have a credit score of about 625. This is much lower compared to previous generations such as Generation X who had an average of 650 and Baby Boomers whose average was 709. However, as mentioned previously millennials also have a larger amount of debt compared to these generations. Millennials’ debt-to-income ratio is directly affecting their credit scores. Often, borrowers acquire a large amount of student loan debt and upon graduation found it difficult to find stable income to payoff the debt and defaulted into their loans. This caused their credit score to lower and made it difficult to be approved for a mortgage.

  • Down Payments

    – Getting approved for a mortgage can be a difficult first step to homeownership. However, the burdening reach of student loan debt does not stop there. Saving up for a down payment for a home can be difficult when you have such huge loan debt to pay every month. Often some would-be homeowners choose to take out a short-term loan to get immediate cash to use as a down payment . This might be particularly appealing for those living in states with lower student loan debt and lower costs of living. Millennials can access an online car title loan to get immediate cash that they can use as a down payment for their home. Since it is a short term loan, unlike a student loan, it can be paid off quicker and easier.

    Higher Cost of Living – Another aspect of student loan debt that is affecting millennials’ homeownership is the higher cost of living. While millennials seem to be earning much more than previous generations, the increase of income has not combatted the rapidly increasing costs of living. Millennials not only pay more for education and housing than previous generations but they must spend more on other expenditures as well. The cost of childcare is about 2% more than previous years, which might not seem like a lot but when broken down that is about $150 on average for child care compared to about $85 a week in 1985. Millennials also spend more on health insurance, transportation, and entertainment than previous generations.

Homeownership and student loan debt can be a tumultuous relationship. Student loan debt often paralyzes millennials from acquiring an integral part of the American Dream, owning a home. Millennials do have a challenging future when it comes to purchasing a home. However, with careful budgeting and dedication to paying off debt, the dream of homeownership can be a reality.

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5 Top Financial Technology Trends

Lately, there has been a lot of buzz in the financial services space over the quick and radical changes in the sector brought about by its shift to a new, digital model that will fundamentally transform everything.

In this piece, we take a look at the trends shaping the financial services industry to bring you up to speed on events.

  1. Digital Transformation

Our world is becoming very tech-inclined with a growing reliance on technology and online resources. This, coupled with increased competition from fintech and regtech firms whose business model revolves around a variety of new technologies has forced traditional financial institutions to invest in digital technologies to remake processes and become more efficient.

  1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain

AI and Blockchain continue to expand the frontiers of technology, enabling companies to solve even harder problems and disrupt the financial services landscape with huge competitive advantages. AI, for one, is taking the financial services industry by storm.

Several financial services firms now rely on artificial intelligence to cut cost, save time, and add value. For instance, wealth management institutions now use robo-advisors to analyze and understand client investment, spending, and general behavior regarding money management so they can customize the advice offered to customers.

Similarly, the blockchain, the technology which runs cryptocurrencies, continues to power innovation in the financial services sector. It offers an opportunity to speed up and simplify cross-border payments, ensure greater trade accuracy, improve online identify management, and ensure transparency in financial operations.

Through smart contracts, transactions and agreements are executed automatically once the conditions coded in them are satisfied. This help eliminates the need for an intermediary and leads to a reduction in cost.

  1. Digital-Only Banks Influence in the Financial World Continues to Grow

Digital-only banks and fintech companies are threatening to replace traditional banks as the focal point of the banking experience. As technological advancements continue to expand and consumers become more comfortable using the internet, their expectations for instant and straightforward digital interactions will continue to increase.

By their very nature, digital-only banks possess the tools necessary to offer consumers what they expect and prefer. Not operating from any physical location means they attract low transaction cost, which allows them to distribute resources better to provide customer experiences that are uniquely differentiated.

For instance, DBS Bank, a Marina Bay-based digital-only bank offers up to 7% interest rates on savings accounts, unlimited access to ATMs, zero balance requirements, etc., all of which can be difficult for legacy organizations to provide.

  1. Big Data Continues to Drive Modern Business Operations

Organizations continue to find new ways to leverage big data. This data now enables companies to create real competitive advantages by providing large amounts of information to assist with their research, marketing, etc. It is predicted that the Internet of Things will make big data even bigger by providing plenty of storage space as well as by offering the big data itself.

  1. Banks and Financial Institutions Embrace Cloud-Based Offering

Cloud innovation has been a thing in the financial services industry for a while now. However, it wasn’t until recently that banks started to embrace it. The innovation was generally not well received by traditional banks due to security issues. Brick and Mortar institutions feared that entrusting data to cloud will make it more susceptible to hacks.

Today, however, the technology is becoming more widely accepted, as banks now use cloud computing for non-critical functions like email, human resource, customer relationship management (CRM), customer analytics, as well as for development and testing.

Businessman hand working with a cloud computing diagram on the new computer interface as concept

 

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Top 4 Technologies in Contact Centers in 2019

Contact center solutions have evolved from answering the phone to fully managing every aspect of operations including customer relationship management (CRM), data analysis, and market research. In spite of this, some still believe that contact center operations have failed to take full advantage of cutting edge technologies that could ensure better customer service delivery.

The good news is that we are in the era of technological breakthroughs that will change contact center operations as we know it. In this article, we provide insights into some of the technologies that will benefit contact centers in 2019.

  1. Call recording and voice analysis

Quality customer service delivery is a key prerequisite for ensuring customer satisfaction. Capturing, storing, and analyzing data about every interaction a client has with your call center allows you to react promptly and tailor your customer service program in a way that increases loyalty.

This is because collecting information about your customers provides you with the data you need to understand what they like or why they were not satisfied. Call recording and speech analytic programs like Recordia enable you to collect and interpret data so that you can improve the customer experience.

Technologies such as speech analytics enable call centers to process speech/audio to understand what a customer wants and how they feel when they call the customer care.

  1. Omni-channel technology

Today’s modern, tech-savvy consumers are very demanding in their quest for a great customer service experience. They expect to be able to reach businesses on any platform, anywhere, and from any device.

To increase customer loyalty, sales, and overall profitability, more and more companies are deploying omnichannel customer service techniques that provide clients with seamless interactions across all channels including telephone, email, social media, chat, text, etc.

  1. Chatbots

Chatbots are increasingly being implemented by companies in contact centers to raise the level of customer service, stay in touch with anyone who shows interest in their products or services and convince them to buy.

A chatbot is typically used in dialog systems to provide some human feel to automated communications to build a rapport with the client and ensure better sales. Also, it allows organizations to automate customer service live chat conversations and conducts conversation through both audio and text methods, allowing for personalized customer service that creates engagement at a higher level.

Chatbots complement human agents by responding quickly to simple queries online, freeing human agents up.

  1. Business Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence

AI-powered digital solutions are one of the essential technologies that are gradually making their way into contact centers. More and more businesses are incorporating these technologies in an effort to transform customer service interactions to improve the customer experience, loyalty, brand recognition, and the bottom line.

AI-powered intelligence agents, through their pre-emptive problem-solving approach, ensure customer satisfaction and increase in sales, thanks to their ability to continually digest data from dozens of information streams to make sense out of prior interaction and customer preferences.

This enables them to deeply understand the clients and serve up personalized content and product recommendations that will boost sales.

 

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Financial Security: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials Face Mixed Fortunes

 

Baby boomers, Gen X, and millennials have very different financial experiences. When compared to baby boomers or Generation Xers, millennials have it rough when it comes to finances. They enter the labor force when full-time jobs are few and far between, making the strive for financial independence, marriage, or retirement even harder.

In addition, they have an overwhelming student loan debt that prevents them from achieving their financial goals. Even worse, those who are already working are barely making enough money to cover their bills. Never mind savings. Data from Smartasset show that the average salary of the millennial today is about 20 percent lower than the average salary that a baby boomer earned at the same age.

These unique set of financial challenges make it difficult for millennials to build up rainy day savings or establish themselves financially. For instance, a study by the National Institute on Retirement Security found that 66.2% of working millennials have no retirement savings because they hold off savings in favor of paying off student debt or buying homes.

In contrast, prior generations, Gen Xers and baby boomers exhibit far more financial confidence, thanks to their higher salaries, employer-sponsored retirement plans, and years of soaring markets, which enabled them to plan their financial future.

A Sea of Financial Traps

Another reason why the financial prospects of millennials are less than those of their parents is that they often make bad investments. The quest to live in the here and now and to enjoy life to the fullest has millennials spending money they don’t have to buy items they don’t need.

For instance, some millennials consider buying a new car as against a used one a status symbol. Same goes for luxury cars, expensive houses, premium cable package, leased cars, etc. It’s either these or they are overspending or living a frivolous lifestyle that makes it harder for them to put money toward their top priorities.

The lack of basic financial education also comes at a cost, as does lack of financial goals, their spending without a plan, falling for scams, taking on more student loan than is necessary, rushing into investing or not investing at all. All of these issues delay the ability millennials to secure their financial future. Even worse, it makes them more susceptible to economic vulnerability.

Staying on Track

Millennials will do well to consider measures that will help them climb out of debt quickly, especially if they are to make progress towards their financial goals of building a stable future. Good thing is, they have time in their favor, and so can make the most of that time to improve their finances.

To stay on track, one should first of all design strategies that will prevent them from falling into the bad habit of spending too much or living beyond their means. If you’re the kind of millennial who doesn’t have much or is in debt, your goal should be to earn more and spend less.

This means cutting costs, saving a certain amount every paycheck, establishing a side hustle, having a realistic budget, and buying only the things you need. Also, you should consider hiring a finance expert to help you set financial goals and advise you on how best to invest your money.

About investing, you might want to avoid investing in depreciating assets like cars, which tend to lose 75 percent of their original value within the first 3-4 years. Don’t put a brand new car in your garage if you think that will strain your budget. Instead, consider getting a used car and saving the balance or investing it in a profitable venture.

 

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Essential Information For Real Estate Investing

Where To Begin Investing in Real Estate

There very well may be more pieces of advice pertaining to real estate investing than there are pieces of property available. While land is limited, opinions are not. Because dumb luck isn’t dependable, the best piece of advice is to make sure you understand the basic principles of a good real estate investment. Here are some essential tips to increase your chances of profiting.

Learn Everything You Can About the Location

Emerging neighborhoods or established areas that are growing or becoming trendy represent good opportunities. Don’t get swept up in hype and overpay if you’re late on the scene, however — prices may have peaked. Still, location typically is even more important to investing success than the condition of the actual property. Also research income, employment and age demographics — and even local crime rates.

Adhere to the 1 Percent Rule

If the primary objective of your investment is to generate rental income, the monthly rental income should be no less than 1 percent of the purchase price (e.g., a $250,000 property should rent for at least $2,500 a month). This will create an annual 12 percent return — minus overhead, of course (repairs, taxes, etc.) — and typically lets you recoup your initial investment in a reasonable timeframe.

Understand Taxes and 1031 Exchange Opportunities

Taxes are complicated. Property taxes will offset some of your revenue. Your income taxes may be further reduced by a property depreciation write-off. An investment strategy called a 1031 exchange also has tax implications, allowing you to defer capital gains taxes when you sell one investment property and re-invest the proceeds in a subsequent investment property. Consult a tax professional for help with these scenarios.

Here are more basics that are less complicated, but still important:

  • Understand the big picture. Track the performance of the U.S. economy as a whole. The best real estate opportunities may present themselves during a recession or the initial stages of recovery.
  • If you have a real estate investment portfolio and not just one property, spread the risk among different industries and locations.
  • Have a plan. Outline both short- and long-term goals before getting started. Have a budget and an ownership timeline in mind, especially if you are rehabbing a property.
  • Trust experience. Talk to other investors, join real estate investment groups — just don’t rely on any sources making get-rich-quick promises.
There are no guarantees when it comes to real estate investing, but sticking with tried-and-true principles beats flying blind. For more tips, see the accompanying infographic.

 

Author bio: Dalton Sullivan is Associate VP at Precision Global Corporation, a venture capital company. Sullivan has vast knowledge of 1031 exchanges as well as senior housing investing. He has a passion for business development, real estate investing and building lifelong, professional relationships with investors.

 

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3 E-commerce Trends You Must Prepare for in 2019

 

So what’s new in 2019?

Apart from a few technological novelties, the main prediction for this year is that there will be no big surprises in the industry. The journey will be smooth for both retailers and their customers, and we’ll finally get to reap the results we’ve started predicting a couple of years ago. In other words, this is your last chance to jump in on the trends established in 2018. Wait for the new ones to emerge, and you’ll be missing a huge opportunity.

Here’s what to invest in ASAP.

  1. Social Media Conversion

87% of customers say that social media help them decide what to buy. Though other social commerce statistics are just as staggering, you don’t really need them to confirm what you already know. You are a customer yourself, the same as you are a social media user. 2.77 billion of us are. But just in case you are a rare social media ghost (SMG), here’s another crucial fact: 90% of followers try to reach out to brands via social media. And why wouldn’t we? Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram are already such an important part of our everyday lives. We use them as communication channels, news sources, collaboration tools, and entertainment platforms, all at the same time.

Why wouldn’t we use them for shopping too?

Convenience, real-time accessibility, and 24/7 availability are the three fundamental pillars of social commerce. They allow us, as customers, to browse products and services without tab-switching. To e-commerce brands, they offer a clean, split-second, on-the-spot conversion. It’s a no-brainer, really. If you’re not selling on social media, you’re not doing e-commerce right.

Here’s how to leverage social commerce in 2019:

  • Add a Shop Now Button to Your Facebook Page

The most popular social network now allows you to list products directly on your Facebook page, along with a convenient Shop Now button for instant conversion. You’ll need to connect your PayPal account as well, but all this takes minutes to complete.

  • Post Shoppable Content and Stories on Instagram

Because Instagram has been acquired by Facebook back in 2012, the on-site conversion options are pretty much the same on both networks. You can add a Shop Now button to the images and videos you post, as well as on your carousel ads and stories.

  • Use Buyable Pins to Boost Pinterest Conversions

A Shop the Look Pin on Pinterest doesn’t differ much from Facebook’s button. Only instead of Shop Now, it says Buy It. The CTA is very effective in both cases, but the payment system is not the same. On Pinterest, customers can use Apply Pay and credit cards.

Immersive Experiences

The power of social commerce lies in engaging visual content and CTAs. When taken together, these two elements offer unmatched convenience. But one thing social media cannot provide is a lifelike experience that enables you to try products and services. You know, like in brick-and-mortar stores. In fact, the inability to see, touch, smell, test, and try out products pre-purchase has long been the only disadvantage of e-commerce. Until now. With the advent and commercialization of VR and AR technology, online shopping has taken a huge leap forward. Take IKEA, for instance. The company’s Place app relies on AR technology to provide customers with a sneak peek of how IKEA products would look in like in their own homes. This fully immersive customer experience is pretty revolutionary stuff that you’ll need to compete with in 2019.

  1. Amazon Advertising

The third e-commerce trend for this year indicates that you’ll need to include an Amazon Advertising course to your corporate training software and that you’ll need to that soon. For 68% of customers, surveys say, Amazon is the only online shopping site that matters.

Not enough to convince you? Then consider this:

80% of online shoppers scroll through Amazon reviews before they make a purchase. You can hardly succeed on Amazon if you don’t get serious about advertising on this platform first, which is why we’ve compiled a short list of three tips for implementing this marketing strategy into your overall e-commerce goals. Pay close attention:

  • Follow Amazon’s Best Practices

Make sure to meet Amazon’s guidelines when creating content for your brand’s product detail pages. Avoid heavy blocks of text and use attention-grabbing imagery to boost your conversion rates. Also, conduct a competitive analysis and borrow the most effective practices.

  • Use Multiple Amazon Ad Types

There’s AMG, AMS, AAP/DSP, and ACoS. Other Amazon ad types include sponsored ads, display ads, and video ads. Use as many of them as you can to increase your daily Amazon sales, as this will get your products ranked higher on Amazon’s product listings.

  • Master Amazon Search Terms

Forget everything you know about keywords and Google-based SEO because these rules don’t apply on Amazon. The platform has its own searchability system based on so-called search terms. Learning how to use them is crucial for effective advertising on Amazon.

Wrap Up

Social commerce, mixed reality technology, and Amazon Advertising will rule online shopping in 2019. As e-commerce concepts and trends, they are not new. The only novelty is if you don’t learn how to use them now, you may not get another chance in a year.

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An Untraceable Currency? Bitcoin Privacy Concerns

Bitcoin is frequently portrayed being an untraceable technique of payment that facilitates illegal activities by allowing crooks to create and receive payments without being tracked. This depiction implies that users transacting in bitcoin can completely do so anonymously that their identities will never be exposed. However, that isn’t fundamentally the way it is. Although bitcoin provides better privacy when compared with traditional-payment connecting a 3rd-party intermediary for example a credit-card provider, it’s nevertheless not as anonymous as a cash transaction. A person’s identity could potentially be exposed in bitcoin transactions in fact, there are many ways.

A general idea of the Blockchain

Bitcoin isn’t anonymous. As we explain below, it really is pseudonymous an important distinction. It can also be a decentralized, peer-to-peer currency that is digital having no third-party intermediary for instance, a charge card issuer, vendor processor or bank that is involved to verify a transaction between a customer and vendor. Since there is no party that is third there must be another way to confirm a transaction between two users and avoid the double-spending problem i.e., a means of guarantee that an individual does maybe spend bitcoin they have formerly transferred.

This is where the Blockchain, the undoubtedly revolutionary aspect of cryptocurrencies such as for instance bitcoin, is necessary. A Blockchain is just a public, distributed ledger, by which every transaction is documented. A Blockchain ledger is distributed across a group of computers thousands of them, each with its own copy of the Blockchain transactions unlike traditional payment systems in which the ledger is maintained by a single third party.

Each block of deals in a Blockchain is complete by users within the peer-to-peer network, known as miners, who compete to resolve a complex problem that is computational. 1st successful miner to validate the deal broadcasts it to the network that then checks the results. Once checked, the new deals are added as a new block to the Blockchain. The miner who first successfully verified this transaction gets rewarded by the network with newly created bitcoins in the case of bitcoin. At the time of 2016, the reward was reduced from 25 to 12.5 bitcoins, and it is expected that the reward will be further reduced to 6.25 bitcoins in 2021 July.

Tracing Bitcoins Back to Individuals

Encryption might make the impression that these transactions are visible however unmatchable to specific individuals. However, bitcoin isn’t as untraceable as encryption may indicate. Tying an encrypted transaction to a real person may be it’s not really a risk that is remote. There are numerous ways this could occur. Users who count on a bitcoin trading exchange such as Bitfinex and Binance or Kraken to switch money for bitcoin have to divulge their information that is personal to exchange to produce a free account. The information collected by the trade varies, however normally includes, at a minimum, a user’s first and name that is last and, possibly, a phone number. The trade may additionally collect a user’s ip. If these exchanges had been subject to a data protection breach, a user’s personal information could be exposed. In addition, some exchanges that are centralized to manage users’ bitcoin funds and users’ private keys on their behalf.

You can find additionally wallet that is on line providers that control users’ wallets on their behalf. A wallet is really a software program that stores an accumulation of a public that is user’s personal key pairs. The storage space of personal tips makes these central exchanges, and online wallet providers, prime targets for crooks because, as discussed above, you aren’t access to a user’s personal key should be able to develop a bitcoin transaction that is valid. A hacker who accesses a user’s private key can send all of that user’s bitcoins to him or herself, or even to any intermediary of their choosing.

Summary

Although bitcoin is a decentralized and unregulated payment method, users should recognize that this does not mean that their bitcoin transactions are private and hidden from scrutiny. The public nature for the Blockchain coupled with the increasing threat of government regulation can result in the identification of users involved in transacting the currency.

 

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Russell Ruffino Challenges Price-Based Advertising Model

 

For many small businesses, price wars become a dilemma. At the end of the day, business owners often believe that advertising low prices will bring droves of new business through the door. Nonetheless, Russell Ruffino challenges this concept, and has done so with smashing success.

Who Is Russell Ruffino?

Before we get into why price-based advertising simply isn’t the way to go these days, it’s important that you understand just who is behind this idea. Russell Ruffino was your average Joe. Working as a bartender for $500 per week, he was in the midst of the rat race, working paycheck to paycheck at a job that he simply didn’t enjoy anymore.

After several years in the rat race, Ruffino was fed up. He was ready to do something meaningful with his life, and soon, walked away from his job. In doing so, Ruffino founded Clients-on-Demand, which quickly grew to become a multi-million-dollar company. Today, Ruffino enjoys a level of success that most can only dream about, and he has gotten there by challenging the status quo in everything that he has done.

Russell Ruffino Is Onto Something With Price Based Advertising

In following Mr. Ruffino, I’ve learned that there are several problems with allowing your business to get involved in the price war. Among the largest are:

The Types Of Customers That You Will Attract :

When your advertising is centered around the price of your product or service, the people that you are actually targeting are bargain shoppers. Sure, it’s great to make a sale, but are bargain shoppers really the types of customers that you want to tailor to.

Think about it, the bargain shopper may be brought in by a great ad about a great product at a great price. However, when you price your product or service at a bargain, you’re not making very much money with each sale. So, you quickly become reliant on repeat business from those that see your ad.

The problem with that is that most bargain shoppers simply aren’t loyal. If they can save a dollar going to your competitor and buying a product or service of lesser quality, they generally will. So, you find yourself going through a constant revolving door of paid ads, small earnings and a need to produce more paid ads to generate more pennies.

Customer Service Becomes Inadequate :

When running your business based on the price of your service, you may drive quite a few new customers through the door. However, you’re not going to make much money from each customer. So, your business quickly becomes a volume business. That sounds great, but volume isn’t a good thing.

Russell Ruffino explains that by pricing your product or service higher, you will have the opportunity to make more money with each customer. As a result, you will have more time to spend with each customer, giving you the ability to provide the top-quality service that high-end clients expect to see. This ultimately leads to repeat business and referrals of other potential high-end customers.

So, How Do You Find Clients That Are Willing To Pay The Big Bucks?

Believe it or not, this process isn’t quite as difficult as you may think. In fact, finding the high-end clients that can take your business to the next level is as simple as making a few ads on social networks with fine-tuned targeting.

The idea here is not to target the masses. Instead, it’s important to target people that actually need your product or service. For example, if you’re a business consultant, instead of advertising to everyone, go to social media and only advertise to business owners, CEOs and other members of upper management. By tuning your ads to your high-end customer base, you may pay a little more on a pay-per-view basis, but you will have the benefit of knowing that everyone that sees your ad has the potential to be a meaningful customer.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a small business owner that is getting tired of the price war, it’s time to walk away from it. Instead of competing based on prices, it’s time to compete based on quality. Simply provide the best product or service that you can, and when you do, target your marketing efforts to those that are in NEED of this product or service. In doing so, you can escape the price war and start increasing your margins, allowing you to provide better customer service, improve your opportunities to scale, and stop wasting time on customers that simply aren’t going to make you the big bucks.

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