Most young people dream of professional success and glorious careers. What they often neglect in that regard is the importance of good studying and self-development.

Some of the biggest authorities in all fields of work emphasize that consistency in learning is what made them so productive and outstanding.

One of the best football players in history, Brazil-born Pele, cleverly noted: “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”

A vast majority of famous people are well aware of this fact and they nurture all sorts of daily habits to help them achieve their objectives.

A long time ago, Nelson Mandela stated: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

So, in this article, we will show you the best study tips of famous people you can use for your own success:

Daily routines which increase odds of success

What keeps you going and gives you the motive to study depends on your personality. However, the general goal is to secure a fruitful future through learning, making knowledge your personal capital for the future.

According to John F. Kennedy, the goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth. But, how do you improve knowledge and the results of your studying?

Some daily routines are common to many famous persons and we decided to present you our top 5 picks. Let’s take a closer look here.

Get up early

People often say that the early bird catches the worm.

If you get up early, you have more than enough time to plan the day, determine your short-term goals and schedule your activities. Doing so, you will enhance the quality of studying because the brain is always fresh after sleep.

It is not a surprise to discover that many famous persons get up very early. The list includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and Xerox CEO Ursula Burns.

All of these people know that they have to seize the day and use it only to complete important duties. Just like Tim Cook once said: “You can only do so many things great and you should cast aside everything else.”

Read a lot

Reading is the essence of the learning process and some extremely successful individuals claim that it sets the cornerstone of their career achievements. Billionaire Warren Buffett, TV host Oprah Winfrey and extravagant scientist-businessman Elon Musk are some of those who strongly believe in the power of written works.

Allegedly, Buffett used to read as much as 600 pages each day in the early stages of his career while Musk claims that he literally learned how to build rockets from the books. Needless to say, this is an essential suggestion for all students, teachers and young business people.

See Also: 7 Reasons To Start Reading Books? Here’s why!

Work overtime

It’s a widely known fact that Mark Cuban, the owner of Dallas Mavericks, didn’t go on a vacation during the first 7 years of his private business. At the same time, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer used to triple her weekly working hours while she was a member of Google’s team. These people know that they cannot replace hard work with intelligence, talent or intuition.

Sometimes you just need to unplug and do what you have to do. Michael Jordan, the best basketball player of all time, knew this very well as he used to take thousands of jump-shots each week even in-between seasons.

His famous quote precisely describes the principle of hard work: “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.”

Exercise regularly

One of the most popular Latin phrases claims that a healthy mind is in a healthy body. This couldn’t be more accurate because training gives people physical and mental strengths to deal with the most difficult challenges. Young people should know this just like Hillary Clinton, Haruki Murakami and Richard Branson know it.

These and many other famous persons conduct regular daily exercises and never skip training sessions. They do all sorts of exercises to remain healthy and in a good shape. They do yoga, swimming, jogging, cardio training or weight lifting.

Body fitness is simply a prerequisite for professional success and that is why you should follow these examples and exercise regularly.

See Also: 19 Ways to Get Motivated to Exercise

Work gradually but steadily

Some people don’t want to nurture the “all or nothing” approach in their lives. Instead, they prefer incremental work processes in a long period of time. This is especially characteristic for famous writers like Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway or Stephen King. They all had a writing routine that kept them fruitful and productive.

For instance, Hemingway used to write for a few hours in the morning and then he would stop just to let the ideas flourish inside his head until the following day. On the other side, Twain and King used to set the minimum number of pages they ought to write each day and they would do it without exemptions.

The most important thing in this model is to force yourself to start again on a daily basis. Just like Twain used to say: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

Conclusion

Success doesn’t come easy. It’s the product of dedication, talent, hard work and a lot of learning. Some of the most famous people in the world often emphasize how passion towards studying enabled them to become successful.

Through learning, you gain valuable knowledge and also create the habit to work consistently. These are the basic preconditions of success, so do your best to follow these 5 study tips and find out which one suits your character the most.

 

The post How to Study Better – Tips and Tricks from Famous People appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2x5112X

The cost of starting a business has never been lower, thanks to the internet. And with most startups not having enough budget, making it big in the industry can take a lot of work.

Here’s our guide on how to start your business on a budget.

Sell your skills

Set your business up around your own skill set. If you’ve worked for 20 years in a particular industry, utilize all that valuable knowledge and experience to establish your own business.

If you’re in the service sector and can sell your skills (e.g. accountancy, marketing), rather than having to invest in stock, premises and equipment to run your business, you’ll be off to a flying start on your own. You could start making a profit in your first month of trading.

Ask for help

If you have friends and family with skills that could benefit your business, ask them for help and advice. If they won’t do it for free, the least they could do is supply it at mate’s rates. As the saying goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Outsource sensibly

As a new business on a tight budget, it seems unlikely you’ll be able to hire a team of staff to help straight away. You’ll have to be prepared to roll your sleeves up and be everything to your business- from being the CEO to the accountant to the cleaner.

That’s all you.

When you reach the stage where it makes sense for you to start outsourcing, you’ll know. If demand for your time becomes unmanageable or time spent performing non-profit making activity is negatively impacting your productivity, it’s time to outsource.

And you can outsource everything these days. Popular freelancer sites like People Per Hour, TopTal, or Upwork let you search for a freelancer to complete almost any business task virtually. You can outsource your bookkeeping for £15/hour or hire someone to run all your social media accounts for five days for £10.

Outsourcing in this way makes sense for new businesses as there is no long-term commitment compared with hiring full-time staff.

See Also: A Practical Guide to Hiring and Managing Freelancers

Embrace the home office

It might not be the slick city center office you had dreamed about, but it’s free. You could look at coworking spaces or cheap shared office space, but that will add dents to your budget as well as time.

See Also: 8 Ways To Set Up An Awesome Home Office

Invest where it counts

You don’t get a second chance at a first impression, so make it count. You can register a professional domain name which will serve as your web address and email address. With a .uk for just £4.49/year, you’ll be able to get a good investment you can use in building your brand and reputation.

Get a free website

Websites don’t have to be expensive and free websites don’t have to contain lots of annoying adverts. You can, for example, get your website hosting from a company like Certa Hosting for £3.99/month and you’ll get a website builder free of charge.

If you worry about managing your site, you can create and maintain a professional-looking website using simple drag and drop technology. Most hosting companies offer scalable resources, too. This way, as your business grows, your website can grow with you.

Smart marketing

Unfortunately, it’s not usually the case of ‘build it and they will come’ when opening a new business. You need to tell people you exist, tell them what you do and remind them regularly. Luckily, there are lots of ways to do this for free:

• Social media – Leverage the power of social media to launch your business and collect followers.
• PR – Get the local media on board. Write a press release announcing your launch and send it to the editors of relevant newspapers, magazines and websites. Make good contacts there and let them know every time you have news to share.
• Collect data – Build a database, but be aware of data protection laws.
• E-mail marketing – A professional email marketing campaign is a click away at companies like MailChimp where you can have up to 2,000 subscribers and send 12,000 emails per month.
• Design posters, flyers and social media posts like a pro and for free with a tool like Canva.

Conclusion

Savvy shopping, lean operating and concentrating on what you’re good at is the recipe for success, particularly for businesses starting on a budget. If you’re just starting out, keep one eye on your bottom line and the other on expanding your business. It’s the best way to ensure that your business stays successful, sustainable and profitable.

 

The post How to Start a Business on A Budget appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gxyHeH

Managing a business is easier said than done. When you run your own business, you need to give it all your time and attention. It’s a job that is both demanding and fulfilling.

Eventually, you’ll want to turn it into a business that can run without you. This, unfortunately, is the harder part.

The first obstacle you need to anticipate is manpower. For small businesses and start-up companies, it is usually the owner that does most of the work. To help you out, here are the top business productivity apps you can rely on for help.

1. TMetric

This is a time tracking app that can help you manage projects and your team at the same time. It can track your team’s work activities which you can view in a simple timeline mode.

If you have remote employees or you’re not in the office most of the time, you can use this app to check on your team’s productivity. As the project leader, you’ll be able to view what sites your members visited or what apps they’ve used in a specific period of time.

Tmetric is completely free and can be integrated with other tools like Trello, Basecamp, Jira, Asana, and RedMine. Compared with other time tracking apps, this one is very user-friendly and does not require training to understand.

It’s a simple click-and-go app with powerful features at no cost.

See Also: Top 7 Ways to Improve Your Productivity 

2. MailChimp

For a business to grow, its mailing list should grow as well. It’s a great way to continuously generate leads and sales.

MailChimp is an easy and professional way to send emails to your subscribers. Its intuitive interface allows even the most non-techy users to make it work.

For small businesses, the free version is a good starting point. You can send up to 12,000 emails a month to a mailing list of up to 2,000 contacts.

MailChimp has a huge directory of integration. Popular platforms include WordPress, Shopify, and Magento.

3. Wave

This app is pretty straightforward. It’s a free accounting software that covers invoicing, payroll, bills, and other factors that involve money. It’s specifically tailored for small businesses.

Wave gives business owners an easy and efficient way to manage books. If you want to handle accounting work yourself but don’t want to spend money for more advanced apps, this is a great solution.

You can securely link your banking accounts, send unlimited invoices, and pay as many bills as you want. It is a Canadian-based company with over 2.5 million users.

You can securely link your banking accounts, send unlimited invoices, and pay as many bills as you want. It is a Canadian-based company with over 2.5 million users.

4. Tasytt

Welcoming a new team member can take a lot of work, particularly when it comes to orientation and training. This is a common experience and issue for most small businesses.

As a solution, you can try a tiny but powerful app called Tasytt. It streamlines your company’s training process so you know who’s reading what and for how long.

See Also: 8 Top Marketing Tips for Small Businesses 

In addition to onboarding new team members, it’s  a great tool for training existing team members without having to set up individual meetings, too. By creating ‘flows’, which are basically tasks made into a smaller set of activities, you can easily track your team’s progress and productivity.

BONUS: You can also consider this free automated timesheet template as an additional resource to help you track time across your teams and stay more productive.

 

The post 4 Free Business Productivity Apps To Help You Grow Your Small Business appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gxTfYm

A recent survey showed that almost a third of the US population cannot cook. Decades of TV dinners and ready meals have left many of us unable to find our way around a kitchen. However, with some basic skills, you can find that cooking can be an enjoyable and healthy pastime.

Follow these cooking tips for beginners and easily become a master of the stove- even if you have never cooked before.

How to boil an egg

Let’s start with something simple- a perfect boiled egg.

It’s great for a quick snack or as an add-on to your salad. It is one of the simplest things to cook- put on a tight lid if you know how.

Cooking an egg to the perfect level of hardness can seem like a mystery. The trick, however, is in timing.

Put a pan on the stove with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat slightly to a simmer where the water bubbles gently. Add the eggs carefully and then start a timer. You need to leave them for 6 minutes if you want a runny egg yolk. Leave them for 8 minutes if you want the yolk to be set softly or 9 minutes if you want a hard boiled egg.

Cook a perfect steak

Similar to a perfect egg, cooking a perfect steak is a matter of timing. You need to heat a pan to be smoking hot. Don’t put any oil in the pan. Instead, rub your steak with some oil then some salt and pepper.

Place your steak in the pan and leave it alone! Resist the temptation to move it about. Wait for a minute or so until it is ready to be turned. Depending on the thickness of the steak, you need to cook it for about 1½ minutes per side for rare, 2 minutes for medium rare and about 2½ for medium.

However, rather than just relying on time, here is an additional test. Pinch your thumb and first finger, if you feel the flesh between your thumb and finger, this is what a rare steak should feel like. When you touch your middle finger to your thumb you will get the feel of medium rare and your ring finger will give you the feel of a medium cooked steak. You can use this as a way of telling if your steak is cooked perfectly every time.

Remember, allow your steak to rest for a few minutes before serving to allow it to reabsorb the juices and be totally delicious!

Handle a knife safely

Your kitchen can be a dangerous place. It’s filled with hot pans, sharp knives and more. Because of that, knowing how to handle a knife is vital. You also need to know how to select the correct knife for the job.

Your knife must be sharp! A blunt knife is more likely to slip and cut you. Treat your knives well and keep them razor sharp. Wash them by hand as your dishwasher will blunt the blades.

Remember that you always need to keep your fingers clear of the blade when cutting. Do this by curling your fingers so that the knife is guided by your knuckles and your fingertips are clear.

Speed is not essential. Practice will allow you to work faster and more accurately with your knife.

How to cook rice perfectly every time

Rice is a staple for many meals. However, wet or burnt rice will easily ruin a dish.

For perfect rice, you need to wash your rice until the water runs clear. Take a medium sized pan and put in about ½ a cup (90g) per person. Cover with water so that it’s about an inch above the rice and bring to a boil.

When it’s boiling, keep an eye on the rice as you need to look for holes in the surface of the rice. As soon as you see this, put in a tight lid and switch off the heat. Leave the rice for 10 minutes and serve immediately.

Make a pasta sauce

A tomato ragu is a simple pasta sauce which you can use to create a delicious and quick pasta dish, meatballs or some grilled chicken. It is a very versatile addition to many dishes.

Finely chop onion, carrot and celery and place them in a pan with a little olive oil. You want to gently heat this so that they soften without browning. Patience is everything here!

Add a tin of plum tomatoes, a sprinkle of basil, a bay leaf, salt, pepper and water. Mix well and simmer for at least 30 minutes or longer if you can. Make sure you stir it every so often and then serve with your favorite pasta or meat.

Become a BBQ master

Mastering a barbecue is a great skill and there is more to it than firing up the grill and hoping for the best.

Step one, preheat your grill. Placing meat on a cold grill will leave you with undercooked food. Heat the grill for ten minutes or so before you place your first items, ensuring it is searing hot.

Check if your meat is at room temperature. You should take it out of the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before you start cooking. You can use a meat thermometer. It may cost a few dollars, but it will save you from having burgers that are burnt on the outside, raw in the middle.

For ground beef, you need to ensure that you have an internal temperature of at least 160℉ to ensure that any bacteria is killed. There is nothing worse than being remembered for poisoning your guests!

Oil the grill using a brush so that nothing sticks. Use wood chips to add a smoky BBQ taste. You can wrap some corn on the cob in foil with butter to add to your steak and burgers.

Bluff your way with wine

There has never been a better time to enjoy a good wine. There is such a great selection available at affordable prices.

If you know nothing about wine, you should start by trying out a number of different wines. Many specialist shops will have taster sessions to help you understand wine better. While you are there, remember to jot down the names of the bottles you enjoyed.

Start with some classic wines, such as a Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Rioja. From there, build your selection as you try more new tastes.

Make life simple with batch cooking

We have all been there. We get home from work and want something to eat but we can’t be bothered to cook. So, we reach for a take-out menu.

If you keep on experiencing this issue, then the answer is batch cooking. It’s the art of creating additional portions when you cook meals. It is perfect for dishes like chili con carne, casseroles and soups. You can portion them off into plastic boxes and freeze them until you need them for quick dinners.

Remember to package the meals carefully. There should be no excess air in the packaging as this can cause freezer burn.

Make your own bread

Making bread is something that’s deeply satisfying, particularly if your home starts getting filled with the delicious scent of warm bread. It may not be something you want to do every day, but it’s a great thing to do on the weekends.

The recipes are pretty simple. Basically, you’ll need yeast, warm water and flour kneaded together.

Enjoy cooking

Probably the best tip for anyone who wants to get into cooking is to enjoy it. Look at your time in the kitchen not as a chore, but an opportunity to chill out after work or as a weekend activity. Put on some great music, grab a beer or a glass of wine and enjoy creating some great dishes!

The post 10 Cooking Tips For Beginners To Help You Master The Kitchen appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2vxCRxH

Business Intelligence (BI) is a process for analyzing data and presenting relevant information to business executives. It’s meant to help them make better business decisions and improve their overall performance. There are many benefits to using Business Intelligence for every business. Despite that, it’s still important to know what it can and cannot do for your venture.

While BI used to be exclusively for the ‘big boys’ (since they had the money for IT specialists and data centers), it’s now possible for small businesses to utilize BI to fulfill their different needs. This guide will cover some of the benefits your small business would get from using BI tools.

Large corps are no longer the sole users of BI

Times have changed since only large corporations could utilize BI to make more informed business decisions. It’s quite simple – if it can help large corporations make better decisions, why wouldn’t it be able to help small businesses do the same?

Technological boom in the past ten years has made this possible. Now, small businesses can successfully utilize BI to help their growth and financial decisions.

BI’s impact on business growth

Every small business owner should be interested to know which products/services are successful and where. This is particularly important if expansion is in the plan. Business Intelligence allows you to this and more, by pinpointing popular trends in certain areas or within a certain population.

By relying on raw data instead on your instincts, you’ll be sure to lower the risks of decision making. It’ll be quite easier for your small business to reach that next stage of expansion.

Future planning

The best thing about utilizing Business Intelligence platforms is that it allows you to prepare yourself for the future. Adjusting your small business in line with the data you get from BI can help you reach your business’ full potential.

It’s also important to note that some businesses are already shifting from traditional BI towards predictive analytics. Being very cost effective, it’s no wonder that firms like Picnet software development company started using predictive analytics instead of the classical BI. It also saves a lot of time since it only uses extracts of internal data to get the same results.

BI helps you organize

You can easily deduct what’s working and what’s not regarding your management and staffing structure through BI analytics. You can also use it to better control your inventory since it will point out which products/services are most popular in a certain time frame. It will allow you to stock up on certain items and avoid any chaotic situations. This will ensure that your business stays cost efficient.

And if you ever reach that point where you no longer consider your venture to be a ‘small business’, then you can consider creating an analytics team to help you process the data.

The security aspect

The security of most SMBs today is highly dependent on the exploitation of Big Data, though not directly. The thing is, many cyber security companies today employ big data analytics to battle the ever-growing stream of cyber-attacks.

What started out as a military technology aimed at battling terrorism has lately been commercialized and available to a broad spectrum of public companies. The system is based on a machine-learning model that analyze vast amounts of data, looking for suspicious patterns in “behavior”. Though it comes with a price, it is nothing compared to the price of losing one’s business in the aftermath of a major cyber-attack.

The importance of such systems is emphasized by the fact that 60% of all cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses. The reason being the lack of defensive possibilities. Malware, DDoS and plain hacks can lead to customer distrust, loss of important data and hefty legal fines.

See Also: 9 Stats About Small Business Digital Marketing in 2017

Conclusion

Investing in Business Intelligence will make it much easier for you to understand how your business is progressing, why it’s progressing at that rate and where you’ll be if you don’t make any changes. This will make decision making so much easier and you’ll never have to rely on your business intuition. As you already know, low risk and high reward is the winning recipe for most startups and that’s exactly what BI brings to the table.

See Also: How to Ensure Growth in Small Business

 

The post Are There Benefits to Implementing Business Intelligence for Small Business? appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2vEPCm1

If you are looking for the perfect career option, you might be thinking about majoring in finance. However, you could be wondering what your job opportunities will look like if you do end up getting this degree. Luckily, this is a career field that has a lot of different opportunities. These are some of the potential careers in finance you can look into.

Financial Planner

Some people need a lot of help with their personal finances. They might be having trouble meeting their financial goals or might just be looking to make the most out of the money they’ve saved and worked for. For these individuals, a financial planner can be incredibly helpful.

After majoring in finance, you can choose to help people with their personal finances by becoming a financial planner. In this job, you will help people determine how to handle their money, achieve their financial goals and plan for their future. You’ll need a broad and varied view of finances and be able to advise on a variety of financial topics.

Budget Analyst

Many businesses and non-profit organizations like to have someone who will take a second look at their budget to help determine where they can make cuts and changes. As a budget analyst, you can help these businesses and organizations to improve the way they spend their money.

Office Secretary

If you love the idea of working in an office, you might like the idea of being an office secretary. With this type of job, you will help with handling finances, but you may have to wear a lot of other hats as well. This could be a good fit for someone with a finance degree. Someone with a human resources degree or general business degree might also find this as a good job choice.

Accountant

One of the most common jobs that people with finance degrees look for is a job as an accountant. Of course, there are all sorts of different accountants.

You could choose to primarily work with individuals who need help with their taxes or you could work for a business and handle their payroll, budgeting, taxes and more. You could even open your own accounting firm and provide accounting services of various types to those who need them.

Credit Analyst

If you choose a career as a credit analyst, you will generally work within a bank or lending institution. Your job will be to take a look at the credit profiles of individuals who apply for various types of loans. After assessing their profiles, you’ll determine whether or not they qualify for the loan.

Insurance Actuary

If you choose a career as an actuary for an insurance company, your job will be to calculate risks. As you might already know, insurance companies generally base their customers’ rates by the chances of them filing a claim.

Professor

If you are passionate about finance and would love to share it with others, you can always consider working as an instructor at a college or university. By teaching finance classes, you will be able to improve your own education and share your knowledge with the rest of the world.

As you can see, engaging in these careers in finance can be a wonderful thing as they can open up a lot of doors for you. If you think you might be interested in one of these careers or another career in finance, consider looking into your options for attending a school with a good finance program. After that, you can start working your way to achieving your career goals.

 

The post Where a Career in Finance Can Take You appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2wPnSPI

When you are running a business, you have a lot of hard decisions to make.

Should you hire more people or keep running on a skeleton crew? Should you expand to that new location or keep your business small? Can you afford to sink your cash into merchandise or should you hold on to it a while longer?

No one has a crystal ball, so making business decisions can be a very stressful thing to do. One thing that can help is paying attention to what is happening within the economy, both locally and nationally.

Local Economy Matters

If you live in an area where there is a general push to support small businesses, that can definitely help your small business to do well. Doing business in a place where the cost of living is low can also help you to keep your business expenses low. You won’t need to pay someone $100,000 a year for working at a drive thru when the cost of living is low.

Living wages are, by definition, lower when the cost of living is low. In essence, this means that the cost of doing business can be kept lower in these areas as well.

It’s also important to pay attention to things like foreclosures and bankruptcies in your local area. Some areas have a greater concentration of economic issues or have those issues earlier than the rest of the country.

See Also: How to Ensure Growth in Small Business

National Economy Matters, Too

Do you know what the DOW closed at yesterday?

Well, I don’t.

It’s not every person’s responsibility to keep track of every single thing that happens in business. However, as someone who is aspiring to be successful, you need to be observant of the situation, especially if you are making business decisions.

Looking at economic trends can give you an indication of which way the overall economy is headed. Maybe things are still going great in your small town but foreclosures are up across the nation. There’s a good chance it’ll affect your town, too.

There are many different economic indicators you can look at to determine how the economy is doing. There’s even a lipstick indicator. When lipstick sales go up, it generally means the economy is in a downturn and people are still treating themselves in smaller ways.

Some of the most common economic indicators in the United States economy are:

Consumer Financial Stress- When spending goes down and debt loads go up, that’s a good indicator that the economy is heading for a downturn.

Housing Starts- When people build more new homes, the economy may be on an upswing.

Bankruptcy- More bankruptcies can mean that people are ready to put their debt behind them and move forward.

Foreclosures- As with bankruptcies, foreclosures can indicate that people are ready to move forward and get on the right track. High foreclosure rates and high numbers of foreclosures at a specific area can also indicate that there is stress in the banking system, as we saw in the foreclosure crisis of 2008.

Knowing Where The Economy Is Headed Helps You Make Better Business Decisions

Imagine you are in the restaurant business. You want to open a fancy French restaurant in the hottest part of town. Rent will be high. Overhead will be high. Meals will be pricey.

If the economy is headed upward, you have a better shot of making it work. However, if everyone around you is having their houses foreclosed and filing for bankruptcy, it’s obvious that they wouldn’t have extra cash to spend on an expensive meal.

Legal Intakes Can Clear Up Confusion

When you have two or more economic indices that seem to be contradicting each other, you may need a little more information to make sense of it all. Legal indices track legal intakes across the country and can help clear up any confusion about two indices that seem to be at odds with each other.

If foreclosures are up but legal indices show they are old foreclosures moving out at the same time housing starts are up, that’s a pretty good indicator that the economy is on an upswing after all.

See Also: Changing Trends in the Way Families Buy Homes

Your Business Depends On Sharp Decision Making

Making the best possible decisions for your business means you need to be well informed. Learn more about economic indices from this infographic.

 

The post How To Make Better Business Decisions By Paying Attention To The Economy appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2wP0baf

When we look back across our lives, it is often the most prominent of events and landmarks that we remember: a kiss, a birthday party, a new job, or a sporting achievement. Yet it is the way we live our day-to-day lives that truly defines who we are and how we feel. Happiness breeds happiness, and it is important to start with the fundamentals.

All around the world, ordinary people and famous achievers alike have developed ways to buoy their daily experience for thousands of years. Whether due to the local climate, religious and cultural tendencies, or just a chance habit that caught the imagination of others in that region, every place has its own techniques to share on how to make regular life just that little bit nicer.

So let’s take a look at things folk from around the world do to give their day that tweak it needs, and how you can adapt these ideas to your daily life.

Japan

The Japanese have a relatively new ‘tradition’ to reconnect with their souls. It’s called ‘shinrin-yoku’, or forest-bathing, and was developed in the 1980s in an atmosphere of suffocating cityscapes and omnipresent technology.

To practice shinrinu-yoku:

• Go for a walk in the forest, or a wooded area of your local park
• Take time to think about every sound you hear while you walk
• Appreciate the smells and the texture of the trees
• Reconsider your existence in the context of our ancient natural world.

Hawaii

The Hawaiians have a particular method for dealing with problems in everyday relationships: ‘Ho‘oponopono’. Whether it’s your partner, a friend, or a colleague at work whom you feel has done you wrong, Ho‘oponopono is a means of figuring out things by yourself rather than responding rashly and making things worse.

Allowing resentment to build will ultimately hurt you more than the person to whom it is aimed. Instead:

• Take a deep breath
• Find ten minutes to think things through
• Be grateful for what you have
• Forget your own needs for a moment and consider the other person’s point of view
• Express your own feelings calmly
• Work towards mutual forgiveness.

Norway

‘Friluftsliv’, or ‘free air life’, is the Norwegian practice of spending time in the outdoors. Aside from the benefits of fresh air, subjecting yourself to decent amounts of natural daylight can help you to regulate your sleep and stay in touch with the natural rhythms of the world around you.

If you spend most of your time indoors:

• Establish a morning and/or evening ‘outdoors ritual’, such as walking the dog
• Use every coffee break at work as an opportunity to get some fresh air
• If it’s warm enough, eat lunch outdoors; otherwise, take a stroll through the park before you eat indoors
• Look beyond the borders of your town. It’s usually easy to find a national park or natural area to visit on the weekends.

Germany

If the Norwegians are all about heading into nature by themselves to ‘re-connect’, Germans are more about reconnecting with each other. ‘Gemütlichkeit’ is that particularly German manner of celebrating togetherness with a frothy beer, a song and a dance.

To get some of this goodness in your own social life:

• Be careful not to take the people you live and work with for granted
• Never miss a chance to raise a toast
• Take time to greet people properly and say meaningful goodbyes, even if you see them every day.

Spain

The famous Spanish siesta is an endangered animal. Sadly, even as experts more frequently recommend an afternoon nap to boost workplace productivity, many business managers are concerned that lost time and energy is bad for profit margins.

To take a healthy, effective siesta:

• Nap for no more than thirty minutes
• Sleep in an armchair or sofa rather than a bed
• Make sure you do it regularly and not just as an occasional treat.

See Also: Get Strong, Sleep, Repeat: The Importance Of Sleeping

France

We are a generation of multi-taskers – but often, allowing our work and personal lives to overlap means doing a bad job at both and truly enjoying neither. A little daily ritual to demarcate the various areas of your life can help you more accomplished and relaxed. The French do this by taking a small drink between work and the evening meal: the apéritif.

To leave work behind for the day:

• Change into a new set of clean clothes as soon as you get home
• Switch off work notifications on your phone
• Pour yourself a drink of something special – it doesn’t have to be boozy!

Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil

In 1909, the French Society of Hygiene told us: “Yerba mate raises morale, sustains the muscular system, augments strength and allows one to endure privations.” What they did not mention is that drinking this special tea in the company of friends is also good for the soul.

To tap into the South American ritual of mate-tea drinking:

• Always offer a drink to everyone in the room when you’re brewing up
• Try to establish a ‘tea tray’ culture for meetings at work
• Try the real thing – yerba mate can be found in lots of health shops and some regular grocery stores.

Turkey

‘Keyif’ is all about idle moments of relaxation and contemplation. Remind yourself to take a couple of these each day – the manner of doing so is different from individual to individual.

To identify your moment of mindfulness:

• Slow down – take the long route from A to B, and never be in more than a hurry than you need
• Pay attention to what makes you happy, be it the sound of the breeze in a tree you walk past each day, or a particular seat in a café that makes you feel calm
• Try watching a few ASMR videos for some ideas on how the mundane can become almost transcendental.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Bosnian people like to break up their morning with a slow coffee, brewed in a special pot and served with sugar or candy. It’s thick and tasty like Turkish coffee, but just as important is the symbolic side: taking time to discuss the day’s events or a business proposition.

• Enjoy tea or coffee as an experience in itself, not something to fuel you while you work
• Use your coffee break to talk to other people, rather than staring at your phone
• Look into buying a Bosnian coffee set online – it will change your life!

See Also: How to Supercharge Your Afternoon With a Napuccino (aka a Coffee Nap)

Nigeria

‘Ubuntu’ is the philosophy of putting the community ahead of the individual. Individuals become stronger in a healthy, happy community.

• Try asking questions or listening rather than interrupting when you think somebody is wrong
• Consider the benefits for your group as well as yourself when making decisions
• Look at each group task as an opportunity to learn or to teach.

Try just a handful of these happiness techniques from around the world, and you are sure to see your quality of life improve!

 

The post Happiness Techniques From Around The World That Can Change Your Life appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2xqWG7d

As the world of online trade and digital media continues to boom, the prospect of making a living over the internet has become an attractive one. However, despite how encouraging it is, not all people have the guts to start. Many of them are deterred by the prospect of having to start from scratch.

Building a successful website can seem like a daunting task to someone who has never done it before. In addition to a great design concept, you also need a comprehensive business plan, the know-how to improve your searchability and the right strategy to bring traffic to your website.

Fortunately, you can bypass a large part of the work by buying an online business that’s already existing. Once you find one with potential, all you need to do is keep it running and focus on its growth.

However, as is the case with any business venture, entering the world of E-commerce without sufficient prior knowledge could be disastrous. Some websites may appear to be promising acquisitions but require more work than you’d ever bargained for. Others may have a bad history or even be blacklisted.

Yet, these are not enough reasons for you to give up your dream of becoming an internet entrepreneur. Simply take some time to research your potential purchases and ensure you are fully prepared to work on your goal.

Of course, before you do any of this, you need an idea of the type of business you would like to own. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to be passionate about your endeavor.

Purchasing An E-commerce Site

If you are convinced to buy an online business, a good place to start is by browsing listings on an established marketplace, such as Exchange. There are numerous e-commerce business brokers to explore, with listings at all price points across a huge number of industries. (And if you’re into buying a website, check out Empire Flippers.)

However, it is not as simple as just finding an affordable existing site and expecting to turn it into a profitable venture. Unfortunately, some of the seemingly more affordable options may have hidden problems that could severely hinder your success. For example, the site may have been previously blacklisted or be under an AdSense ban.

As such, there are a few factors you ought to investigate before you start buying an online business.

The Good and the Bad

The true value of an online business lies in its potential for growth. When people purchase an existing business, it is generally either of the two reasons:

1. They have a passion for the industry and wish to grow the business as a long-term venture.

2. They plan to flip the website, increase its traffic, ranking and profitability before selling it.

Whichever you aim to do, you will need to investigate several factors in order to get a full measure of the business you are considering. Take, for example, the presence of an active community.

Check comments and forums in order to determine how many people are regularly using the site. Be aware of the site’s bounce rate- the higher it is, the more people simply navigate away from it.

Go over all links, titles and headings and check them for relevance and functionality. Factors, such as keyword density and authoritative functional backlinks, can impact the success of a website. Consider using the Wayback Machine to explore the site’s history and get a feel for how it could be improved.

The Right Price

For your investment to be worthwhile, it is vital not to overpay for your chosen business. However, determining the true value of an acquisition can be challenging, particularly if you are new to website brokerage. Fortunately, there are a few factors which can help you put together a more accurate picture of a site’s current value.

Existing revenue streams, such as AdSense, sales and donations. Do not be fooled by a recent spike in revenue. Instead, look at a site’s long-term performance to get a fairer idea of how the business performs on average.

Volume of traffic and its sources. Be sure to scrutinize traffic referrers. You could be fooled into thinking a site has high traffic but it may just be coming from dubious sites rather than Google or legitimate sources. Check also that you have traffic coming from websites, social media accounts and subscribers. Mailing lists can also be very valuable- if put to good use- as they allow you to connect with a site’s community and raise awareness about your site.

Page rankings. The better the site ranks in searches, the less work you may have to do to get it noticed. However, it is important to determine how many pages rank highly and for what reason. This will enable you to figure out how to optimize the site going forward.

Age of the domain. Older, established sites can have more favorable rankings as they’ve had time to build up a reputation and become more trusted by Google and other search engines.

Running costs. Don’t purchase a site without investigating the cost of keeping it online. Calculate the combined cost of the domain, hosting and security packages. Weigh these things against the potential profitability of the business.

Now that you have an idea of the site’s performance, the next step is to look for recently sold websites with similar statistics and within the same industry. This will give you a rough sense of what may be a fair price to offer.

Flipping, Clipping and Drop Shipping

Once you’ve found the business you want and have negotiated the terms of sale, it’s time to get started on making the website your own.

If there is existing content, you already have something to work with. However, you may need to reorganize and refresh the site’s content in order to boost SEO and generate a consistent, coherent voice throughout the website.

See Also: Get One Step Closer To Success: How To Make A Difference in e-Commerce SEO

Reach out to suppliers and make sure you know exactly what role you have to play in ensuring that the business runs smoothly.

If you have purchased a drop-shipping enterprise, your main responsibilities will be communication and increasing sales through marketing. Alternatively, if you sell a service or digital product, you will need to ensure that this remains up-to-date and relevant.

Engage with the site’s existing community to let them know what to expect going forwards. Pay attention to their feedback and work to build on what you already have. The first step could be to optimize the site’s layout, ensuring it displays and functions correctly on mobile devices and across all major browsers.

One way to speed up this process is to invest in an e-commerce CMS. Not only does this give you access to a range of tools with which to improve your domain authority, you can also uniformly rework the site’s aesthetic without interfering with sales.

Onwards and Upwards

Ultimately, it is not difficult to find and buy an online business. However, even the most promising venture requires time and effort if it is to continue to be profitable. You need to be prepared to continuously create content and keep your website up to date.

Make sure you have thoroughly considered the time and attention you will need to give your new enterprise. Ensure that you have a full understanding of its maintenance and running costs before you seal the deal. After all, whether you adopt a struggling business and transform it into a successful one or you purchase a more established website and make it even better, this transaction is only the beginning.

Nevertheless, if you keep these tips in mind, you can approach the world of website brokerage with confidence. From there, you will be able to seek out a business within your preferred industry and work towards developing the booming online enterprise you have always wanted.

See Also: The Average Joe’s Guide To Setting Up An Online Business

 

The post How To Buy An Online Business You’ll Be Successful With appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2ghJKvW

If there’s one trait all Japanese women share, it’s their fresh, glowing skin. It doesn’t matter if she is 20 or 60 years old, every Japanese woman seems to have a flawless, radiant complexion.

This begs the question, what is their beauty secrets to having porcelain-like skin? How do they manage to look younger and more graceful as they age?

While there’s no magic formula for youthful skin, these lovely ladies do have certain beauty secrets that help them maintain their fair complexions.

Here are some of Japan’s most treasured beauty ingredients, which are used in most of their makeup and skin products:

• Tsubaki flower

Tsubaki, also known as camellia, is a flowering plant found in southern and eastern Asia. The tsubaki flower offers a range of benefits for the skin.

The oil extracted from camellia seeds is rich in omega-6 fatty acids and numerous polyphenol antioxidants. Its creamy, non-greasy nature makes it a great moisturizer for rough skin. The oil also has many properties that keep your skin fresh, supple and moist.

Tsubaki flower oil contains vast amounts of omega-9 oleic fatty acid, which increases the skin’s ability to retain moisture. It is absorbed into the skin as easily as water and it boosts cell growth. It lends flexibility and support to the skin, too.

The oil permeates right down to the inner layers of the skin, nourishing it from the inside and hydrating any dry patches. It is a natural transdermal carrier that transports essential proteins (elastin and collagen) and nutrients, replenishing skin cells and repairing damage caused by heat, dryness and aging.

Camellia oil is free from irritants and is suitable for use on sensitive skin. It opens up the pores and allows the body to remove harmful toxins naturally through sweat glands.

• Yuzu

Yuzu is an aromatic citrus fruit of Chinese and Tibetan origin. It was first introduced in Japan during the Tang dynasty. Both the pulp and the seeds are beneficial for your skin.

The fruit is known for its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It has vast stores of vitamin C and flavonoids. Because of that, this fruit can help combat the harmful radicals that can cause premature aging.

Yuzu fruit is a popular skin revitalizing and nourishing agent. It tones the skin naturally and adds to its firmness and vitality.

Regular use of yuzu moistens and refreshes the skin layers. The oil extracted from yuzu softens and nourishes the skin, giving it a supple and radiant appearance. During winter solstice, it is an ancient practice to take relaxing and rejuvenating yuzu baths at home or in onsens.

• Sakura

Sakura, also known as cherry blossom, is one of the two national flowers of Japan (the other is chrysanthemum). It is one of Japan’s best-kept beauty secrets and is used extensively in skin creams and perfumes.

The sakura flower is rich in antioxidants and helps cleanse the body of impurities and pollutants that damage the skin. Its store of essential fatty acids fortifies the skin’s natural barriers, making it smooth and supple.

Sakura extract promotes a firm, mature complexion, regenerating the skin from the inside out. Its anti-glycation properties promote collagen formation in fibroblast cells.

Sakura extract cleans and whitens the skin and combats signs of anti-aging. It inhibits the production of melanin, a dark-brown or black pigment, thereby restoring uneven skin pigmentation. The extract also promotes skin cell growth and combats cell death caused by advanced glycation-end products (AGE).

It has powerful anti-inflammatory properties that help to soothe and heal irritated skin. Furthermore, sakura flower reduces the oxidative damage that causes signs of anti-aging.

• Ume

Ume is a flowering plant used in Japan for its medicinal and cosmetic properties. The common name for ume is plum blossom. The fruit is a rich source of natural antioxidants called phytochemicals. These substances help to combat the effects of oxygen radicals in the body, keeping the internal systems functioning smoothly. It prevents signs of premature aging, including wrinkles and fine lines.

The ume fruit has abundant stores of vitamin C, which detoxifies the body of impure chemicals. This property helps promote a radiant and healthy skin complexion. Ume contains anti-aging nutrients that help to reduce wrinkles and dark spots. You can find it in various Japanese face masks and creams that can help soothe, hydrate and rejuvenate the skin.

• Rice bran

Rice bran is a byproduct of rice milling. It contains vast reserves of antioxidants, vitamins B and E and essential fatty acids that combat harmful radicals in the body. It is rich in tocotrienols, which are absorbed into the inner layers of the skin. They form the first line of defense against free radicals. Tocotrienols also restore damage caused by oxidative rays, repairing the skin and slowing the skin aging process.

Rice bran cleans the skin from the inside out, causing it to appear fresh and healthy. The phytonutrient and oryzanol in rice bran acts as an effective sunscreen, protecting the skin against lipid peroxidation caused by UV light. Gamma oryzanol contains ferulic acid, which has anti-aging properties.

See Also: 10 Best Skin Foods For Healthy Glowing Skin

• Algae

Algae refers to a diverse range of photosynthetic organisms known for their nutritive and medicinal value. They are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds, such as chlorophyll and omega-3 fatty acids. This makes them ideal for treating irritated skin. They have potent antioxidant properties that help to eradicate free radicals and pollutants from the body.

Algae also combat the effects of oxidative damage to plasma and red blood cells. They support skin cell repair and growth, healing your skin from the inside out and cancelling signs of aging caused by dead skin cells.

• Green tea

Green tea is an herbal drink made from steaming or roasting fresh Camellia sinensis leaves. It’s a popular component of traditional Japanese medicine. Today, you can find it in skin creams and beauty masks.

Green tea is very beneficial for skincare. It contains a store of antioxidants that help in flushing out toxins from the skin. It has strong anti-inflammatory properties, making it ideal for soothing itchy skin and healing blemishes and scars.

Green tea is rich in tannin, an astringent that works really well in treating dark circles and puffy eyes. Its reserves of antioxidants and astringents help to soothe inflamed blood vessels under the eyes, thereby reducing swelling or ‘bags’.

The free radicals floating in the body cause the skin to sag, wrinkle and age prematurely. Green tea contains powerful antioxidants, such as vitamin C and catechins, which combat the dermal damage caused by these radicals.

The catechins present in green tea act as a defense against acne-causing bacteria. They also regulate hormonal imbalance in the body, one of the main causes of acne.

Furthermore, green tea acts as a natural skin toner that cleanses impurities, reduces large pores and hydrates the skin. Using it regularly can give the skin a fresh and healthy appearance.

See Also: How To Reduce Caffeine In Green Tea

These ingredients are some of Japan’s biggest beauty secrets. Using them regularly will keep your skin healthy and radiant as you age.

The post Unlocking Japan’s Secrets to Healthy Skin appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gbobgE