Are you a helicopter dad?

Used originally by Dr. Haim Ginott, helicopter parenting is a term used to describe parents who hover over their kids’ lives like a helicopter. It has been added to the dictionary in 2011 and has since become common lingo among parenting experts.

Helicopter parenting can take many forms. The most common of which involves parents doing tasks for their children despite the latter being capable of doing the tasks on their own.

By helicopter parenting, we prevent our children from developing a healthy self-esteem and building the necessary skills they’ll need to transition into adulthood. It can cause a loss of intimacy with our kids as they grow older, too. Teens that feel suffocated by their parents report anxiety and the sense that their parents lack confidence in them.

Though it can be tempting to give our teens the same generous support we offered them when they were still young children, you need to change your mindset and behavior to get them on the right track.

Read on to discover 5 things you should stop doing for your teens today.

Pushing Your Timeline

In the same way that we might have hung up our toddler’s coat for them in order to hurry the routine, we might find ourselves rushing them when choosing their academic focus as a teenager. When we rush our children, we are prioritizing our own timeline for them over their unique process. Although your teen might eventually adjust to your timeline, in doing so, they could lose an important learning opportunity to trust their own instincts.

Give them a chance to take the initiative to do further research so they can gain confidence in their own decision-making process. Encourage them to explore what their own expectations are for themselves. Have regular conversations with them about what goals are important to them and why. Help them focus on their intentions and what motivates them.

Fixing Their Emotions

It’s not easy to watch our kids have a bad day or a bad week. However, teenagers need to learn how to cope with the full range of their emotions so that they can handle life’s struggles better. One of the most common ways that parents undermine their children’s growth is by trying to “fix” their children’s difficult moods.

Whether you do this by offering your crying toddler a cookie or lending your heartbroken teen your car, you prevent your child from processing the experience. An inability to sit with and handle disappointment leads to addictions and mental health struggles.

So, for the health of your teen, let them cry it out. If this is particularly difficult for you, consider seeking external support from a counselor or coach who can help you develop soft skills in emotional intelligence.

See Also: 10 Ways to Avoid Making Your Kid Resent You

Doing All the Day-to-Day Chores

Cleaning their room, packing their lunches and doing their own laundry and dishes are all excellent learning opportunities for your teens. One thing that household chores have in common is that they are repeated regularly. This makes them an excellent way for your teens to learn discipline and experience the natural consequences of falling behind.

With moving out of the family home on the horizon, it’s important for your teen to practice chores that will help them survive their day-to-day lives.

Once your teens take the initiative to wash their own dishes, don’t pick up the slack when they forget. Let the dishes pile up without nagging them, and give them a chance to catch up. If they bring the dishes up, inquire about what they find difficult with the chore. Offer to share what you do to stay on top of your own household work.

Tackling Their Complex Tasks

Life becomes increasingly complex as we grow up and gain new responsibilities.

While your teens won’t have you around at the office to help them prioritize for their first big project, they do have you around right now so consider this a unique training ground. Instead of taking over their application process, offer to be a sounding board. Guide them as they learn how to break down complicated challenges into more manageable tasks. This shift in mindset is about learning how to do things with your teens rather than for them.

You can take this lesson to the next level by letting them apprentice with you in some of the more complex household planning. Why not invite them to join you in learning about how life insurance works when you switch plans? Not only will this prepare them for the future, but it will also give them the chance to watch how you tackle detailed tasks.

Keeping Control of Their Finances

Because most teenagers do not have to pay for living expenses yet, they may lack proper budgeting skills. Use this time to teach your teens on how they can keep track of their finances, especially those who work part-time.

Once your teenager is ready to start his college applications, he should also be ready to start thinking about how he can pay for his education.

Begin by sitting down with your teen and teaching him the basics of budgeting over a series of conversations. Go over things as many times as he needs until he feels comfortable with handling his finances. This will not only teach him the necessarily skills to be financially responsible, but it will also help him feel more confident with his own capabilities.

Strategies for a Better Future

While the teenage years may not be a walk in the park for anyone, there are simple and effective strategies you can use to improve your relationship with your teens while helping them mature into happy and well-adjusted adults. Begin by making one of these 5 shifts and pay attention to how your teenager reacts. Soon enough they’ll be out on their own, and you’ll have the pleasure of knowing you helped them get there.

See Also: The Problem of the Perfect Parent

The post Slowly Let Go Of These 5 Things When Your Child Becomes A Teen appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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In the dark ages of the 1980s, people used to have to drive to the store and buy their own toilet paper. They would then load it into their cars and drive it to their homes and carry it inside.

It seems like such a foreign concept today. Just thirty-something years later, we can press a button in our bathroom closet and have a drone deliver our toilet paper to our front porch hours later. Alright, maybe most people don’t have drones dropping off their toilet paper, but that IS an option today, especially with more people buying things, even necessities, online and having them delivered.

There’s almost no reason to leave your house for supplies anymore in most major cities. You can even have your groceries and prescriptions delivered right to your house.

But, there’s just one problem.

With the uptick in E-commerce, there has been a corresponding uptick in theft from mailboxes and front porches.

In the last five years alone, E-commerce has more than doubled. Online sales are expected to almost double again over the next five years, reaching $523 billion a year by 2020. Unfortunately, in 2016 alone 11 million people had packages stolen from their front porches, three-quarters of which happened when they weren’t home.

Because of this, a large number of people say they are worried about having their packages stolen from their doorsteps, particularly when they aren’t delivered on the first attempt. This makes delivery more difficult for delivery drivers. It drives up the cost and, subsequently, extends the amount of time it takes to receive packages. It also makes people wary of ordering online, which is scary for online retailers and delivery services.

There are a lot of factors that can prevent packages from being delivered on the first try. And theft isn’t the only thing preventing you from getting your packages on time.

If there isn’t a safe and dry place to leave a package, it can get destroyed by the weather. If something is too big to fit inside a mailbox, a mail carrier might not be able to leave it there. More often, there are items that can’t be delivered without a signature.

So, if you have to sit around all day waiting for the delivery man, how is that supposed to save you from going to the store?

Online shopping makes things easier for many people. There is a greater selection of merchandise you can choose from and there are search algorithms that can make the process a lot easier. You will never have to leave your house to go out searching for what you need.

Unfortunately, that convenience ends when you get that package stolen off your front porch. All kinds of solutions have been developed to combat this problem, including doorbells that can record videos of people trespassing your front porch. Unfortunately, those doorbells can’t actually stop those thieves. By the time you see their videos, your new dress or your heart medication are already gone.

So, why not give the delivery person a secure place, like a smart mailbox, to use for your packages? Having a locked place means no more missed deliveries and a serious decrease in the likelihood of theft.

Secure mailboxes are nothing new. Remember that keyed mailbox at your first apartment complex?

Secure mailboxes are more necessary today than they ever have been before. Today’s smart mailbox can communicate with you when you have a package delivered or when it is en route. It can even give you the option to communicate with the delivery driver in case you don’t want your package delivered on a specific day.

Options for preventing stolen packages include:

Security cameras

Pro: deterrent
Con: once it’s gone, it’s gone

Delivering to Work/Another Address

Pro: someone will usually be there
Con: you still have to schlep it home

Rerouting Packages

Pro: have it delivered when you will be home
Con: longer wait, more hassle for the delivery driver

Smart Mailboxes

Pro: packages delivered anytime are kept secured and safe from the elements
Con: Big and bulky, more expensive than a regular mailbox

More options mean more flexibility and security for everyone involved and that’s just good business. Learn more about how to prevent package theft from this infographic. A better way to deliver packages could even usher in the next big wave of E-commerce ideas. You might find yourself asking, “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?”

Source: MailHaven

 

The post Why Shopping Online Doesn’t Have To Lead To Stolen Packages appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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I went from this:

To this:

This is an Old Pontiac I bought for $1000 with an infinite amount of miles.

To the onlooker, I am cheap. In reality, however, I’m frugal. I do not save money at anyone else’s expense and I care about value, not cost. I do not worry about money, nor do I have much of it.

But, I am aware of its power and so I think carefully of its use. I’ve rid myself of most things I consider liabilities and keep only the bare necessities. I own one pair of jeans and 3 pairs of shoes. I sold my phone and bought two, one of which I shared with my father.

This simpler and cheaper phone allows me to work as a software engineer. Even with a mild amount of debt, I can now concentrate on doing what I love, instead of running the endless treadmill of monetary pursuit.

See Also: How to Live a Frugal Life and Get Rich

It felt like a breath of fresh air being rid of a car debt. I was relieved from the pretense of owning a flashy new car and I had more disposable income.

This, of course, was one of the many big changes I made through the course of six months. I stripped myself of many financial shackles, such as paying less interest on my debts. The benefits of spending less are endless, but here are some the highlights on how I transitioned to frugal living.

I Distinguish Needs Vs. Wants

The most important benefit of them all is that I am finally able to know whether I need something or I’m just enchanted by the thought of having something new.

As much as possible, I avoid any type of purchases. If a purchase is necessary, I do it with prior research and I check it against a list of priorities. Sometimes, I laugh whenever I realize that I’m just convincing myself that I need something when, in fact, I just really want it.

I usually avoid feeling regretful by waiting before I actually spend the money. The wait allows me to settle and calm my “materialistic urge”. My most recent example of this was a pottery wheel. I had convinced myself that I loved pottery and a pottery wheel was all I needed in my life.

Money Is My Friend, Not My Enemy

Just looking at credit karma at my location, it shows my credit is 88% better than the average. Though not the most accurate measurement, this number reaffirms that I am on the winning side of the never-ending financial battle. The other 88% aren’t.

If a monetary decision causes me distress, I take a step back. Just like a good friend, some money is always there when I need it. So, for every purchase I’m supposed to make, I put 50% to 100% into savings. That’s not too hard to do when you own one pair of jeans.

I Am free

My fiancé and I recently returned from a trip to Spain and Italy. It’s one of the many benefits of routing money into the right place. We can travel monthly, even though we only make the average income in our poor area.

When we are not traveling, we make meals for our families and friends. We invest all the extra money that could have gone to interest payments or the newest phones. It is vital to be frugal with a strategy and an end-purpose. Our aim is to do what we love and not be a slave of our paychecks.

We have hidden talents that can bring enormous value to someone out there, like this article. It’s something I could not have written if I was still working full-time.

Buying another pair of shoes because they’re 50% off doesn’t mean you saved half the money. It means you lost half in an item you probably didn’t need.

I do not buy anything to portray a better image of myself unless it’s a suit for a job interview. This could be the result of frugal living or the other way around, but the end result is that I am free from having to live for the sake of appearances. I get to route money into things that matter and avert all other cash leaks.

What have you done to put yourself on the path to freedom?

See Also: 10 Ways To Save Money Without Compromising Your Lifestyle

The post Top Benefits Of Being Cheap appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Great players make a name for themselves by competing against the best and the most popular leagues make that a possibility. Today, we’re counting down our picks for the 10 top sports leagues in the world.

For this list, we’ve considered leagues from across the globe that have the most appeal both at home and abroad. We’ve also considered their financial success, the most popular sporting atmospheres and, of course, top notch competition.

Australian Football League

Aussie Rules Football and Rugby may seem like very similar sports but, apart from the shape of the ball, the two are vastly different.

Aussie Rules is played on an oval pitch with four giant posts sticking out from each end. Eighteen players per side take the field in a game full of passing, kicking, and top-notch tackling. The league consists of 18 teams, with each team competing in a 23-game regular season which is followed by a single-elimination playoff series.

Melbourne is the heart and soul of the league, as 9 of the 18 teams call the coastal city home. With a country full of passionate fans, the AFL is a completely unique sporting experience.

Bundesliga

There are a number of incredible football leagues around the world, and considering Germany produces some of the best talents the game has to offer, it’s no surprise they offer up one of the most exciting leagues, as well. The top division of German football, the Bundesliga, is home to some of the best teams in the world.

Bayern Munich has won The Champions League five times while Borussia Dortmund boasts some of the most passionate fans in Europe. In addition, the Bundesliga is also arguably the best-run league in world football, pulling in $2.84 billion dollars in revenue while still offering some of the cheapest tickets available. Seriously, you can get your hands on Bayern Munich season tickets for as little as 104 Euros. Can’t beat that.

See Also: 3 Of The Best European Football Grounds

PGA

You may not have expected to see golf on this list, but those who’ve learned to appreciate the game know exactly why the PGA Tour finds itself among the top sports leagues in the world.

The truly great golfers in the game test their mettle on the Tour, with the best of the best earning coveted ranked positions. The Tour organizes some of the biggest tournaments in the world, hosting championships like the Masters and The U.S. Open.

The PGA is tax exempt and, as a result, the league’s total revenue isn’t clear. However, with impressive television ratings, the Tour is probably pulling in some equally impressive sponsorship money.

Indian Premier League

Though this cricket league has only been around since 2008, it’s hard to argue against its unprecedented rise as a fan favorite and a hub for the best competition. The Indian Premier League includes eight franchises, each representing major cities in India. They play in a home and away round robin before the four best teams enter a playoff to determine a champion.

The IPL’s quick rise is due, in large part, to their adoption of the newest format of cricket, Twenty20 (20-20), which involves games that last around 3 hours instead of 3 days. It’s fast paced and exciting and fans have responded. As a result, the IPL ranks fifth in the world in attendance for outdoor sports, averaging nearly 32,000 fans per game.

Formula One

NASCAR might be the tire-squealing champion of America but the world’s favorite and fastest racing sport is, without question, Formula One. Rather than having its drivers race each other on an oval, Formula One takes them on a ride through complex tracks where they’ll have to maneuver sharp turns.

This tests their skills to see which cars can come out on top. With Grand Prix events all over the world, fans of Formula One line the tracks to get a glimpse of the world’s best drivers in action.

NBA

The National Basketball Association is the world’s premier basketball league, drawing the top talents in the U.S. and from all around the globe. Right now, that includes the likes of LeBron, Curry, Durant, Westbrook and other popular names spread throughout a competitive 30-team league. It also has a storied past which includes legends of the game like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. There are the classic rivalries, like Celtics/Lakers and Bulls/Knicks, too.

When it’s finals time, the whole world tunes in. Game 7 of The 2016 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavs reached 44.5 million viewers. Not bad, considering it was on at the same time as Game of Thrones.

NHL

There’s just something about hockey that gets people excited.

Is it the speed of the game? The tremendous goals? The fighting? Who’s to say?

What we do know, though, is that the NHL is special. It’s a testament to the sport that the league has recovered from two major lockouts since 2004, proving just how dedicated and passionate hockey fans truly are. The NHL has seen legends, like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, grace the ice as well as current world-class stars like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. When playoff season comes around and the beards start to grow, magic is in the air for one of the greatest and most competitive tournaments in sports.

MLB

This one’s all about history, folks.

Major League Baseball is about more than just baseball; it’s part of a Nation’s identity. America’s favorite pastime, baseball is a total experience. It’s about grabbing a hot dog outside the stadium, trying to catch a foul ball, getting up on the big screen, chanting, booing and making signs. But, let’s not forget the competition.

We could talk about the ugliness of steroid abuse, but we’d rather talk about the Sox vs the Yankees, or the Cubs and their curse or the Giants and Dodgers. And even though you may think baseball is losing popularity, in 2015 the MLB still pulled in nearly 10 billion in revenue, so they’re doing just fine… Batter up!

NFL

Are you ready for some football?

Baseball may be America’s pastime, but football is “America’s Game”. Despite having a short season, running from September to February if you count the playoffs, the NFL is a money-making machine. For its 17 weeks of regular season, Americans give up their Sundays to enjoy a day’s worth of televised pigskin and, come playoff time, football fever’s in the air. This all leads to huge advertising bucks, but that hasn’t sacrificed any of the sport’s tradition. In fact, it’s added to it. Tailgating has created its own market for products, while tons of viewers check out the Super Bowl just for the commercials.

For its 17 weeks of regular season, Americans give up their Sundays to enjoy a day’s worth of televised pigskin and, come playoff time, football fever’s in the air. This all leads to huge advertising bucks, but that hasn’t sacrificed any of the sport’s tradition. In fact, it’s added to it. Tailgating has created its own market for products, while tons of viewers check out the Super Bowl just for the commercials.

Before we unveil our top picks, here are a few honorable mentions.
– UFC
– La Liga
– NASCAR

Premier League

The world’s most popular sport deserves the world’s most popular league. Boasting some of the most exciting, fast-paced football from some of the best players on the planet, the Premier League is the gold standard for football.

Teams are solid from the top of the table to the bottom and on any given match day, you can witness an upset. With famous and storied clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal, Premier League rivalries are a sight to behold.

The Premier League boasts the most lucrative television contract in sports, securing its global reach and bringing in fans from anywhere and everywhere. In March 2015, Liverpool vs United drew 700 million viewers. By comparison, the Super Bowl only had 114 million.

The post Top 10 Most Popular Sports Leagues In The World appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Planning. Simply the sound of this word is enough to give me a rage fit and a subsequent migraine.

Whether you want to start a business, do well at college or just become good at any kind of activity, one of the most frequent pieces of advice you will get is to plan everything. Even when it comes to relationships, planning is still considered to be essential.

At first, I became really angry and frustrated when I read all those articles because I am terrible at planning– really. The only thing I have managed to plan so far is my shopping list.

I have a bright memory from childhood. It’s when I decided it was time to get all fancy and organized and created a schedule of the entire following day. I was so serious that I even used an A3 sheet of paper for my schedule and I’m not kidding you.

And now, you can try to guess how much I lasted on my schedule.

I managed to do only one thing from the list and that’s to wake up. The rest of my day went haywire, as usual.

After years of struggling with my hectic and disorganized self, I started to question the premise and had anti-planning thoughts.

Can planning really do miracles to your life? I highly doubt that. I believe that, like everything on Earth, it has its downsides. Here are some of them.

Plans make you frustrated

I’m a perfectionist- yeah, that’s weird for someone who hates plans- and it backfires so much when it comes to crossing out items from my to-do or even shopping lists. If I can’t manage to find something or if I postpone a tiny errand to the next day, I will feel dissatisfied with myself. No matter how many tasks I do that same day, that one uncrossed thing will bug me.

What to do instead?

If you’re like me and “1 pound of sour cream” in your shopping list can ruin your day if uncrossed, try creating lists of things you actually DO as you go on with your day. This will help you feel a sense of accomplishment and boost your confidence. At the end of the day, you’ll be looking at a list of things you actually managed to do and not those you didn’t manage.

Plans don’t make THAT big of a difference

A lot of people expect to become time-management gurus the moment they start creating plans. But, guess what?

That doesn’t happen in a snap. It has to be learned much like any other action and habit out there. More than that, though planning helps you become more organized, the main point is that you need to do things. Planning alone won’t get you anywhere, except the fact that you’ll become incredibly good at creating lists.

What to do instead?

Try the immediate action strategy. Planning is preparation, and preparation is usually good. But, let’s be honest. Most of the time, we start making plans to procrastinate and to feel like we are actually doing something good about our lives.

So, instead of indulging into writing another list, choose a tiny action. Let’s say, clean a small section of your working table or finally move all the clothes from the chair to your drawers.

Plans can increase your anxiety

Life goes by its own rules with little regard for our plans. People forget to return a call or even show up, cars break and bad weather strikes unexpectedly. Life is haywire and that’s probably the reason we like plans so much. They help us make a little sense of the mess that’s constantly going on.

When something unexpected and unavoidable intervenes with your perfectly designed plan, it can make you feel like you are out of control and this adds more stress. You have a lot of things to deal with and now you have another issue to solve. In essence, it means less time for more things to accomplish.

What to do instead?

Choose a couple of pivotal actions and make them vital for you. See, there’s a lot going on with our lives, but we don’t forget the basic things anyway. We eat, sleep and drink.

Choose a couple of simple actions and make them an absolute must of your day. Soon, you will be used to them that you won’t need a plan to remind you anymore. You won’t beat yourself up for not sticking strictly to your schedule.

I’m not saying you should totally forget about lists and to-dos completely. They can be useful when you are packing for a trip or having a really hectic time. However, I don’t believe you need a to-do list for every day of your life. To me, they are more of a play-pretend game than of real usefulness.

What do you think about planning and to-do lists? Are they overrated or do they really make a big difference?

Share your insights below and maybe you can help me and other people who are all about anti-planning change our minds.

See Also: Todo List Apps for People Who Don’t Like Todo Lists

The post 3 Good Reasons Why Planning Just Isn’t For You appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Despite the fact that mobile apps are very useful and indispensable to businesses, over 70 percent of apps fail. In fact, some fail from the beginning.

If you are wondering how to make a successful mobile app, here are the best tips to guide you.

Find a need

The biggest cause of app failure is when the app is not as useful as the developer thinks. So, before you develop any app, you need to look for a need gap and then develop an app that will bridge that gap. Apart from figuring out the demand, you should also confirm if there are no mobile apps that are already fulfilling that specific need.

Improve on a category

You can also select a category and see all the apps that are performing well in that section. Improve on them.

For instance, you can check out all the keyboard apps that are developed for fast typing. After your search, you can now figure out how you can make an app that is more useful than the ones already in the market.

Do a proper feasibility study

Whether you are fulfilling a new need or creating a better app for an old category, you need to back it up with a proper feasibility study. You need to find out how much people need your app.

If you determine that people do not really need your app, it is better to stop and come up with another app idea. This is better than to waste time, money and effort in creating an app that won’t really be successful.

It is only when the figures on the ground indicate that the app will sell that you can go ahead.

Avoid counter-productive delays

Once you determine that people will accept your proposed app, it is better to start immediately. If, for some reasons, you can’t develop the app within three months after the feasibility study, then discard the feasibility report and conduct another one when you are ready.

Every feasibility report becomes invalid after three months. You need to bear in mind that technology advances at an astonishing speed. One of the biggest reasons for this is that a very close substitute may have been developed and that will reduce the acceptability of your app.

Plan your marketing strategy

A lot of app developers only focus on developing and launching their apps. They don’t realize that marketing the app is as important as developing it. With this, you should not develop any app until you know exactly what marketing strategies you are going to use.

Marketing strategies also involve optimization. Since there are millions of mobile apps available right now, proper optimization will help you stand out from the crowd. There are too many apps available and more apps are still being launched every day. Without an effective optimization effort, your new mobile app will be lost in the crowd.

Ease of use

It is one thing to get users to download your app; it is another to make them use it continuously. One of the qualities that can make users continue using your app is ease of use.

Your app should be very simple to understand and use. No one will waste too much time learning how to use an app when there are several other alternatives. You should ensure that your app is very intuitive and simple enough for a 10-year-old kid to understand.

A good way is to limit the number of features included in your app. Another method is to make use of universally accepted icons for different functions. Take, for example, the most common icon for search function which is a magnifying glass. Using another icon for that will make your app more difficult to understand.

Although every app should be unique, there should still be a limit to the uniqueness.

Make it free

Free apps are downloaded more than any other mobile app. So, it is highly advisable to make yours free. You can back it up with other monetization strategies, like utilizing ads.

Seek collaboration if necessary

Nobody knows it all. You can’t possibly be astonishing in every aspect of your app development. It is better to synergize with someone else and share the proceeds.

People that are great with coding are not usually half that good with designing. If you are one of those people, why not seek the service of a very good designer? It can be disastrous to ruin hours of coding efforts with a terrible design. Thereafter, do not forget to give credit to whoever it is due when it is due.

Great monetization strategy

Some apps are great but they have poor monetization strategies. They only get to make a fraction of their financial potentials.

Take a game app, for instance. A game has to be very challenging, engaging and immersive to make players buy resources with their hard-earned money. If not, they will only make do with the free resources given by the game. You should adopt an excellent monetization strategy for your app.

Avoid too many ads

Some developers prefer to make money from ads. If you are thinking of doing the same thing, consider how many ads you’ll allow.

When there are too many ads appearing on an app, it gets frustrating and annoying. It won’t be long before users will begin to delete the app and that will mark the start of its downfall.

Consumption of little memory space

An ideal app should consume very little storage and memory space. Users do not like apps that consume a lot of memory. If they happen to download such apps, they will delete them not too long after. In your own interest, you should ensure that your app consumes as little space as possible.

It has to work offline

Nobody really likes to waste or spend too much on data just to use a mobile app. People can only use their data to download an app but they can’t use their MB for that. So, they prefer offline mobile apps. As much as possible, your app should work offline.

Your app should conserve battery

Ensure that your app conserves battery power. Once a user finds out that it is your app that drains most of the battery power, your user will delete it almost immediately and look for an alternative app.

See Also: 7 Smart Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Develop Their Own Mobile Apps This 2017

The post How To Make A Successful Mobile App For Your Business appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Surprisingly, many aspiring people in business treat naming as insignificant and a non-essential business step. If only they knew how wrong they are!

The title of a brand greatly affects customers’ behavior which means it can affect their overall success!

So, how can you hit the bull’s eye with your brand name? Coming up with a striking name for a product or organization requires a lot of time and effort. You should take into account the distinctive features of your brand as well as the possible psychological impact to your target audience.

What Are The Criteria To Meet When Coming Up With A Brand/Product Name?

Unique

The name must be unique. Otherwise, you’ll get lost among hundreds and thousands of other companies. Uniqueness is about associations. Once you manage to create at least one strong association with your brand, you’re half way there!

To test your brand name for uniqueness, you can try Googling it. If the top results are brands you can compete with, go for it. But if there are already giants using up this name, you’ll have to consider other options.

Short and Sonorous

People are more likely to remember a short and catchy name than a long and stringy phrase. If you do need a long name, reduce it to an abbreviation and avoid complex alphabetic and sound combinations.

Positive

Try to come up with a name associated with positive emotions. Your future customers shouldn’t feel unpleasant associations and emotions. Make sure the title doesn’t include prohibited terms, expressions or associations to government organizations unless that is the case.

Universal

If you are going to enter the international market, make sure your brand’s name is universal and can be easily pronounced in other languages. An unfavorable meaning in another culture can nullify all your efforts.

Relevant

Of course, the name should reflect the essence of what you are trying to promote. Firstly, it should tell potential clients about the specifics of your organization or product. Secondly, people should get a connection between what you offer and your name.

For example, if you are going to create a domain name, you can apply SEO rules to it using your target keywords.

See Also: Is No One Paying Attention to Your Brand?

Three Steps On How To Name A Product

1. Goal setting. At this stage, you need to analyze your target audience to determine their demands, requests, and needs. (information, physiological, aesthetic, combined, etc.).
2. The development of the name. This stage involves the creation of several options. Once they are ready, you need to conduct their phonetic and semantic analysis to take into account all the subtleties and exclude all unsuitable options. To easily conquer this stage, use brainstorming or any other collective thinking techniques.
3. Evaluation and approval. Here, an objective assessment comes into play. It should be made according to several criteria, including the perception of the name by the consumer and the conformity of the name with the status of the brand/product.

A well-thought-out name combined with a logo, motto and advertising activity will allow you to stand out and be remembered by people. And, if you sell something, it should guarantee a stable income.

Finally, let’s consider a few naming techniques and examples:

• The name of the creator: Procter & Gamble, Heinz.
• Legal terms: Abbreviations, like Incorporated (Inc.), Corporation (Corp.), Limited (Ltd.), etc.
• Geographical features: Australian Partnership, Air Asia, Bangkok Bank.
• Company’s activities: Apple Computers.
• A combination of words: For example, an encrypted name of the founder of the company: Adidas (Adolf Dassler).
• Rhyme and rhythm: Coca-Cola, Chupa-Chups.
• Associations: Jaguar, Red Bull.
• Secret meaning: Nivea, Daewoo.

See Also: 5 Smart Ways to Boost Brand Awareness

Use your imagination and creativity to come up with exciting and intriguing brand names. Take the process seriously, but don’t ignore the fact that the best names are just on the surface most of the time.

For example, Adobe was named after the river that’s behind John Warnock’s house. Apple was a favorite fruit of Steve Jobs while Hitachi means dawning. Subaru, meanwhile, is the constellation depicted on the company’s logo.

Look around and perhaps the name you need is already near you and just waiting to be discovered.

Good luck in your entrepreneurial endeavors!

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If you want to get an interview for the position at the company you are applying for, then there are 6 things you should bear in mind. In this article, we will partially focus on cover letters as well as other important resume writing tips.

So, grab a pen, and get ready to totally change your approach to CVs and cover letters.

6 Tips On Successful CV Emailing Process

Address your email to a particular person

Avoid using general opening phrases like “Dear Sirs” or “To Whom It May Concern.” They are impersonal and cannot impress the recipients.

Most recruiters state that emails which are addressed to a specific person get higher chances of being read and paid special attention to. To know who to address your CV to, you can research the company’s LinkedIn account or company website.

Just think about it:

If you are getting dozens of cover letters a day, you are more likely to pay attention to the applicant who knows you by name than an applicant who simply addresses the company in general. So, if you do not want your resume to get into a stack of other similar “impersonal” letters, then address it to a particular person.

Use Keywords

A lot of companies use state-of-the-art technologies to analyze all the emails they get as well as the resumes in them. These technologies function in such a way that they identify the keywords in a letter or resume they receive.

Thus, after you familiarize yourself with a job description, make sure to check its keywords and major requirements. Keep these keywords in mind as you craft your cover letter and resume.

This will not only help a potential employer see you as a perfect applicant but will also help your letter avoid getting screened out.

See Also: Resume Action Words That Will Get You That Job

Be Original

In numerous resume examples one can find online, we see all the same patterns which candidates repeat time after time. Unfortunately, such clichés and standard phrases do not build up a strong image for you.  They can even do the exact opposite.

For this reason, we highly recommend that you try to be as original as possible. For instance, check out the story of Sumukh Mehta who created a resume for GQ magazine and structured it in the form of the magazine itself. His resume went viral and still serves as a brilliant example of a CV which can get you not only an interview but the actual job.

Find Connections

You probably know the theory about seven handshakes. If not, then you should be aware of it.

The theory says that all people on the planet are connected through seven handshakes. This means that you have connections with almost everyone through other people you know.

All you have to do is find these connections and use them for your own benefit. If you can get a recommendation, then all the better as you can mention this when you write your cover letter. It can make all the difference.

Write a Bright Opening

You do not have much time to make a good first impression. In fact, professional recruiters say that they only have around 14 seconds for one resume as they get at least 250 applicants a day per position.

So, if you want to be among the people they will likely invite to an interview, remember to create a bright opening. Take one information from your resume and use it as your winning ticket. You can also mention some experience that you had which makes you brilliant for the position.

Write something like “I used to work as a sales manager for this company for a year, and I increased their sales by 30%.” This can draw the company’s attention and stimulate their interest in your resume.

Demonstrate Your Skills

Even if you do not have all the skills they expect from a perfect candidate, you can emphasize the ones you have and sell them to the company. To do that, you need to provide evidence to support your statements.

You can add some numbers that can illustrate how much you contributed to your previous place of employment. Think of your own unique way to present such experience.

We hope that with our practical resume writing tips, you’ll be able to email your CV correctly. We guarantee that if you follow our tips step by step, you will certainly get yourself an interview.

See Also: 16 Worst Resume Mistakes

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You’re an intelligent person, right?

You work hard and you’re driven to succeed in your professional and your personal life. You have great ideas that you believe can improve things for yourself and those around you.

But, if you frequently find yourself at the end of the week wondering where the time has gone and why your results do not match up your intentions, you have a problem. You are likely missing out on one key element for your success: self-discipline.

The willpower to forge on with a project can be hard to tap when you’re up against distraction, procrastination, and good old honest laziness.

So, if your inner voice isn’t giving you the support you need to be the person you could be, why not try some scientifically-verified techniques to get back in control of your trajectory?

Here are some tips on how to improve self-discipline.

Reboot with a bang

Setting a due date to begin your new routine will give you stronger resolve to see it through, according to some studies.

Instead of making vague promises to yourself that you’re going to get better, tell yourself that next Monday you’re going to start taking some specific steps. Discipline starts with a plan!

Concretize your motivation

Just as a solid start date can help you start strong, making the effort to write down the reasons why you want to improve can help give clarity to what you’re doing.

List the five top reasons you want to improve your self-discipline and keep that list handy. It will give you strength when you’re starting to wonder why you’re doing all the hard work.

Picture your success

Your written note will motivate your mind but visualizing the success of your project can motivate your soul. By visualizing the effects of your self-control, your willpower will last much longer.

Arm yourself against temptation

It’s one thing to tell yourself you’re going to go the gym no matter what. But, when your friend calls you up for a drink, it becomes a different story.

By preparing for such temptations in advance, you’ll be able to deal with them more favorably when they arise. For example, tell yourself that if a friend calls you for a meet up when you have a workout planned, suggest a game of tennis instead of spending two hours in the pub.

Forge positive associations with unpleasant tasks

If you find yourself unwilling to get out of bed half an hour early each morning to go for a run, try to make it more appealing for yourself. Saving your favorite podcast for your workout the night before can help you get on track.

Hide your temptations away

Out of sight, out of mind, they say. Experiments have shown that hiding the things that are likely to tempt you, like chocolates or your game consoles, can make you less likely to give into their call.

Sleep better

Here’s a guilt-free reason to put greater emphasis on your sleeping life: sleep deprivation actually impairs self-discipline by affecting the way your prefrontal cortex functions.

Start to wind down, like turning off your smartphones, at least an hour before bedtime and give yourself plenty of chance to get 8-9 hours sleep. The quality of your sleep has a profound effect on how one can improve self-discipline.

See Also: Are You Sleep Deprived? 8 Health Risks Of Poor Sleep

Get some friendly support

Nobody likes to be nagged, but you’re more likely to stay in control of your good intentions with regular reminders. If you’re working on quitting a bad habit, like nail-biting or cutting out coffee, ask the people around you to remind you when you’re falling back into that habit.

Take your time

When you make a split-second decision, it is very often the wrong one. The snap answer to “Ice cream with that?” is always going to be “Yes, please!”. So, before you actually blurt out an answer, count to five and think about the options before you commit. That way, you are more likely to make decisions with your mind and not with your belly.

Give yourself a glucose boost

Willpower seems to be closely connected to glucose levels in our blood. If you find yourself unwilling to put in an extra hour at work when it’s needed, try making yourself a drink or a snack with honey in it to bring your blood sugar back up.

Avoid alcohol

There’s a good reason why we associate drinking with regret. You don’t need to be a scientist to figure that out. When you are under the influence of alcohol, you are less likely to reflect on the implications of your behaviors.

It only takes a little reduction of your inhibitions to get you opting for a second slice of pie or to stay out at the party for another hour even though you have work in the morning. When you’re working on a goal, steer clear of the booze and you are more likely to make the right decisions when faced with temptation.

See Also: The Tell-Tale Signs You May Have Alcoholism

Use visual cues

You already have your friends watching your back, but they won’t always be nearby to help you avoid temptation. Most of the time, you’ll need to look out for yourself.

Leaving Post-It notes and other visual reminders around your home and office can help you regulate your behavior just when you need it. Leave a note on your front door to remember your gym kit when you leave for work in the morning. Wrap masking tape around your credit cards so you have to think twice before violating your personal budget.

Do it for you

Finally, return once more to your reasons for working so hard. Your willpower will not be as strong if you are just looking to please other people.

Figure out the importance of your self-discipline for your own goals and dreams and you’ll be able to give yourself a much better shot at success.

Source

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There’s a difference between thinking about something and experiencing effective visualization.

When you look at a person living a lifestyle you envy and say ‘That’s cool’, that’s basically just thinking about it. When you envy their lifestyle and your inner thought goes ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if that was me?’ and you proceed to picture yourself in that person’s shoes and how it feels to be like him — that’s effective visualization.

Picturing things in your mind is just the start of the process. What you do next is what can make your vision more effective. It’s how you act and train your brain to work on what you visualize.

Once you have set up your initial goal, the next part should be pretty effortless. Despite being easy, however, it is what derails most people.

Culturally, we’re taught to second-guess and doubt outcomes that seem too good to be true. We are trained to believe in the statistics that are presented to us as the norm. This way of thinking and believing dampens our ability to create our own desires.

Enforcing what is ‘normal’ has spread so far within our society that we tend to make someone feel foolish or guilty for striving to go above and beyond the enforced ‘normal’ standard. If you grow up surrounded by this kind of thinking, you should expect to face some difficulties.

How To Achieve Effective Visualization

By creating a vision of yourself that breaks out of that norm, you are essentially creating possibilities. The deal breaker now is how you can turn your beliefs around to concentrate on your vision.

This is where most people trail off the path. However, once you learn how to stay focused and on track, it’s actually easy. You must keep that mental visualization crisp and clear and visit it often. Be focused and proactive in reasserting in your mind who you want to become and what you want to experience.

This doesn’t mean taking extreme measures in pursuing your future self. You just have to continually revisit your vision so that it can become the lens through which you see everything.

And that is the magic ingredient that can help you use effective visualization to become a visionary.

When you step through your life aligned with a clear purpose and goal, every opportunity and event related to that goal will be highlighted for you and you’ll be able to proactively grasp it. Whether it’s money, health or love, as long as you hold your vision clearly in your mind, you will inevitably reach your desired goal.

The time from when you set your vision to the time you realize it will depend on the level of transformation the process requires. The more you hold that goal in your mind and the more determined you are to not allow anything or anyone to disrupt it, the faster the process will be.

You can either work hard to achieve it or work hard to stop it.

It’s human nature to want to fit in and belong. However, there are times when we feel that some of the things the people around us are achieving are far from our own reality. We feel that we could never get the same opportunities. The more we think of them as unobtainable, the more we close our minds to the possibility of achieving them.

Conclusion

To some degree, we have all fallen into that category and this is why I love doing what I do. As a life coach, I help put hope back in people’s minds. By sharing these principles and life philosophies, I’m able to literally see people rekindle a connection to the truth we were all born with- that we are the creators of our own lives.

If you commit to the mental process of visualization on an ongoing basis, you are continually confronting life. In a proactive way, you are paying love to what you desire. Every time you give into the process of visualizing, you are rewiring your brain to push your aspirations into fruition.

The more love you give your vision, the bigger and faster it grows.

So, hold your vision clear in your mind and don’t doubt that outcome. Every decision you make from this point forward will either bring you closer to your goal or push you away from being the visionary you need to be.

See Also: What To Do When You Hit A Roadblock: The Power Of The Subconscious Mind

 

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