Category: Investment

If you’ve ever owned a business, or you’re about to, you may be on the verge of finding out just how difficult it can be managing the IT infrastructure. We’re here to talk just about that and all the ways how your industry infrastructure can benefit from IT support. From higher productivity, over more flexibility to lower costs, and more time to focus on growing the business, let’s see just how outsourcing IT management and tasks can aid your industry infrastructure.

Why is IT support important?

Most small business owners start with an IT solution that is more DIY-based that just gets the job done. More often than not, they will usually invest in simple hardware such as desktop computers, phone systems, laptops, and a router for a solid internet connection. In addition to this, services are usually delivered and team member collaboration, as well as supplier and customer contact, is usually accomplished through cloud applications. However, as the small business grows, they will quickly realize that their said DIY IT support will not be able to meet their business needs adequately, hence, the need for a more sophisticated infrastructure arises because it can offer security, connectivity, time-efficiency, and overall productivity. Ensuring that your IT infrastructure becomes reliable and secure is crucial not only to the business’ sustainability but also to its scalability. Taking shortcuts with IT infrastructure to save money in the short term is thought by many to be unwise, which is why new business owners should take IT to support quite seriously. 

It boosts productivity

As we’ve previously mentioned, solid IT support will boost overall productivity both in terms of staff productivity, and more importantly – user productivity. As far as staff productivity goes, your IT department is in direct relation to staff productivity. More often than not, IT staff can be consumed with fixing equipment that seems to be malfunctioning or with resolving user issues. These two tasks can take their focus off some of their core responsibilities. As IT managers over at www.ecsoffice.com note, your staff can remain focused on more important priorities such as developing your core business if you outsource the management and tasks of your IT environment to a service provider. Furthermore, if your technology fails to improve productivity and enhance the way you do business, you will end up losing money because unplanned downtime will increase. More specifically so, it costs around $ 60,000 for every 100 users, all of which can be avoided by implementing managed IT services.

Lower cost

As we’ve mentioned in the previous paragraph, switching to a managed IT provider significantly reduces infrastructure costs in many different ways. When professionals take control of your infrastructure you will be able to downsize the amount of infrastructure you have on-site by using their data centers. Furthermore, you will not only save on the cost of the huge amounts of hardware, but also on energy that it used to use, and the space required to house it. In addition to this, you will save up a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on training, licensing, and consulting. All of these needs can be covered by a monthly investment if you outsource IT management and tasks. The savings go as high as $ 1,500 per user every year just on costs related to infrastructure. Last but not least, you will save more money on hiring technical workers and staff workload due to resource allocation towards more experienced and trained personnel.

It makes it more flexible

In some cases, small businesses grow so fast that it is very difficult to keep up internally. In other words, if a small business begins to scale, it will most likely need more IT support because it won’t be able to keep up with the ever-growing demands of a rapidly developing business. We’ve previously discussed that outsourcing IT management and tasks offers more user and staff productivity, and now we’re emphasizing that this also takes away the stress both off of your employees and off management because they won’t have to hire new employees. Alongside the reduced amount of stress on you and your employees (your whole business in other words), comes a great level of flexibility. Flexibility goes hand in hand with increased efficiency, both of which are targeted towards successful business growth and bringing in more money. The best news is you can get started with IT support in no time, and the sooner you outsource these tasks and management, the sooner your business will become flexible, and therefore successful.

It saves time

Once you don’t have to worry about IT internally, you and your business will be free to focus on other important aspects of the company with more focus. More often than not, IT isn’t the company’s goal, only a supportive service. This also means that skilled IT workers will typically stick to the better-paying tech firms than as a support service, and most businesses especially if they are small can’t afford to pay top-level talent. This can make the search for experienced employees extremely difficult, and also why many businesses opt to outsource because it saves them the long search, and ultimately a great deal of time. This time can be used more effectively to put effort into scaling and growing their business, which is ultimately the end goal of any serious company. Moreover, it can also save time if your IT sector is new and inexperienced because if it’s properly outsourced, all problems will be solved in an instant, as opposed to spending hours looking for a solution. 

Outsourcing IT management and tasks, as we’ve all seen, can have tremendous benefits for your industry. This is especially important if your small business is starting to boom, or you can no longer afford to waste time, resources, and flexibility to compensate for an inexperienced IT sector in your company. Outsourcing can take the stress of the responsibilities of your employees and thus make them more productive and flexible to focus on building your brand and growing your business with no interruptions. 

The online gambling market was expected to grow to around $77 billion by 2026 according to Brand Essence Market Research. However, this was back in 2019 before Covid arrived and changed the way many people used the internet.

Enforced lockdowns meant that millions of people started to work remotely for the first time in their lives, and many have continued to do so even after restrictions were lifted. For others, the lockdown meant seeking out new forms of online entertainment, and casinos were one of the things people discovered—making it a very popular style of betting.

The growth of online casinos and gambling grew much faster than expected and a new group of players who had never walked into a traditional establishment before found themselves enjoying poker, online slots, and blackjack.

However, there are no guaranteed wins in a casino, but there are other ways to make money out of this recent gambling boom. 

Choose your niche area

The key to making money out of any form of gambling is that you will have to understand what you are selling. The ways you can make money from casinos and sports betting will be from providing advice, presenting information, giving tips, or hosting an online sports channel.

Decide what your best area is before you choose your medium. For instance, if you have extensive knowledge of horse racing then concentrate on that area, don’t write about ice hockey. However, if you like casino games then perhaps you can use this to your advantage.

Here are some of the ways you might make some money from other people’s gambling. 

Bring your knowledge to a YouTube channel

If you feel comfortable in front of the camera and have some sporting knowledge, then you could start your own YouTube channel. Here you would dispense advice and predictions for sporting events.

The first thing you need to know is how to create a YouTube channel, you will also need confidence and a great personality. Knowledge and interesting insights will also be the key to you growing your audience.

Be aware though, that making a YouTube channel is hard work and it will be some time before you can start thinking of joining the highest-paid vloggers.

Write a blog on sports or casino games

If you don’t feel comfortable in front of the camera then let your writing speak for you instead. Football – or soccer – is the biggest sport in the world and an enormous amount of money is bet on every game. If you are willing to put in the effort and time you could make a football blog by reporting on injuries, upcoming games, transfers, and of course predictions.

Alternatively, concentrate on casino games if this is more your area. An interesting site about basic strategy, gambling stories, casino news, and the latest slots could attract players wanting to understand more about their favorite games.

A successful blog can lead to revenue through advertising, affiliate marketing, and guest posts. Online casinos need traffic and they have lucrative affiliate programs where a successful website owner could own $000s each month.

Casinos give away sign-on bonuses and free bets, and people search for these online, so if your blog lists the newest ones you can make money through click-thru ads. For example, you can review casinos for 50 free spins no deposit in 2022, which is the most popular search in the recent months.  

Tipping and reselling tips

Many gamblers look for online predictions and tips before sporting events. These either come in the form of free tips or from a paid subscription. Tipsters use social media such as Facebook, blogs, websites, and email lists to send out their weekly or daily tips.

If you believe you are knowledgeable in one particular sport then it is possible to sell your tips. It is completely legal to do so but you must make sure you advertise legally and with no false promises.

The key to being a successful tipster is being honest, building trust, and of course, nailing a high percentage of predictions.

The other way to make money from tips is by reselling. This simply means you join one or more tipster services and then sell these tips on your own platform. 

How do you make your blog or channel successful?

You will need to know how to increase your Google ranking so that people can find your blog. This means using SEO to boost your site through keywords, relevant content, following the new Google Core Web Vitals, and optimization.

At the start, you shouldn’t be thinking about getting rich quickly but concentrate on producing quality content to build something that other people will enjoy visiting. Through trustworthy, relevant content you will gain a loyal audience.

You can invite guest posts onto your site to help build content, and write for other trusted websites to build awareness. Through these methods, you will generate quality backlinks. Always, avoid black hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing. 

By creating a clear digital marketing strategy, you can promote your sports or casino brand, gain traffic, and build trust which will help you towards success. 

Playing in online casinos

If you don’t want to write or promote yourself on YouTube then you could just enjoy the many online games available. You don’t need to gamble any money as there are many free-to-play slot machines, poker tournaments, and blackjack games available.

You could also join a kasyna online and then use the sign-up bonus to try your luck at winning some money on roulette, or craps. If you are going to use online casinos then remember they are entertainment, only gamble what you can afford and practice before you bet. Learn basic strategy for blackjack and try to break the house. 

Summary

With effort, time, and knowledge, you could build a successful sports betting or casino platform. There is definitely room for a blog or YouTube channel on these subjects, and there are also certainly enough players and sports betting fans out there to build an audience out of.

The keys to making money from this will be quality content, good SEO, honest advertising, good predictions or information, a winning personality if vlogging, and a genuine love for what you are presenting to your audience.

Buying A Property is One Of The Biggest Decisions Of Your Life

Collecting the investment to buy a property in itself is a long journey. It requires you to work hard and for long to be able to collect enough funds to proceed towards the dream of owning a property. It is therefore obvious that you want to put all your effort into finding the perfect real estate. Mistakes in this kind of investment can cause major issues in the future and can be very expensive. 

The first thing you need to start with is to choose a specific type of property you are looking for. Zero in the details on exactly what amenities and locality you need. Follow the below tips to make your journey towards the purchase of your real estate smooth.

Prepare For Long Term

When you buy a property, you will end up living there for many years to come. This is a vital factor to keep in mind. Without this planning, you will be looking for a new property in the future again which can be very expensive. If you are purchasing real estate to invest in a retail business, then you will need to see if the area is up for economic growth. If you are looking at having a family, then it will be worthwhile to see if there is enough room for kids. If there isn’t much room then look if options of conversions in the property are possible. One thing you will definitely need is storage space. Over time, we all tend to collect many things which don’t have to be used all the time (Christmas Decor?). Storage space will provide you a safe place where you can store all this stuff and reuse it whenever needed.

Get An Expert On Board

No matter how much information you can gather about the property that you like, getting an expert opinion will provide you with much-needed peace of mind. The majority of real estate agents have good local knowledge and can help you make the purchase process easier. Once you have decided on what you like, go ahead with the final lease review for a retail space or residential property and get legal advice on the same. This will ensure that all the procedures and documents are in place. One of the biggest mistakes first-time property buyers make is that they take it upon themselves to go through the whole process. This can not only overwhelm you but also cause you to overlook some important details related to real estate.

Take Care Of The Fundamentals. 

You must distinguish between what are the fundamental requirements you need in your property from the superficial ones. For example, you can easily change the color of the walls in your property but you possibly can’t change the floor area. Features that are not beautiful can easily be replaced. The investment there will be less. However, you cant change the shape of your room or loft if space there is not how you would want it to be. Learn as much as you can about the property you have your eye on. This will prepare you for any future expenses that you will incur rather than taking you by surprise. 

By doing thorough research and a little bit of patience you will surely be able to make an investment that will be beneficial for you for years to come!

Crowdfunding is a method of raising small sums of money from many people for a project or cause. It’s called crowdfunding because it’s the product of a group of people working together. Since the campaigns are often conducted online, they are frequently spread via social media and dedicated crowdfunding campaigns to reach a large audience. 

What Things Do You Need To Check Out?

Never underestimate the human and financial capital needed for crowdfunding. Money is never given away for free. However, there are some things you can do to improve the chances of producing successful campaigns by planning and preparing ahead of time. They are as follows:

1. Do Your Research

Know who the rivals are and what is currently available on the market. Make a name for yourself by carving out a niche. What distinguishes the product or service from others. Visit stores in person. Observe how people communicate with similar goods to yours. What does it seem like they’re looking for before purchasing a product?

For example, if you work in the retail industry, you can go to a clothing store and observe how people communicate. You’ll find that several customers touch the fabric first. Then consider the overall style. Then there’s the cost. From that, you can infer that how the material feels and looks is more critical than price. 

2. Know How It Works

Crowdfunding can take many forms, including reward-based, equity-based, donation-based, and peer-to-peer lending. You can borrow money outside of conventional bank loans by Investing in peer-to-peer lending and you can easily create a portfolio of loans that pay higher interest rates than banks if you are willing to take the risk.

Lending Club, Prosper, and Kiva are three of the best charitable peer-to-peer crowdfunding platforms. They focus on giving people the tools they need to get out of poverty. Lending Club, for example, offers personal loans up to $40,000, with borrowers having the option of investing in individuals or institutions.

3. Set a Funding Goal

If you’re planning to launch a campaign on Kickstarter, keep in mind that the funding model is all-or-nothing. You get to keep the money if you hit or surpass your funding target. If you don’t, you won’t get anything. Indiegogo, for example, operates on a slightly different model, in which you keep the money regardless of whether you meet your target.

It’s important to consider how much money you’ll need to get your company up and running, as well as how many people you know who would be able to contribute. While your campaign will draw in new supporters, most of your support will come from people who already know you. Keep your expectations in check. Bear in mind that once you’ve started your campaign, you won’t be able to adjust your funding target.

4. Invest In Social Capital

To be competitive, you must tap into your networks and enlist their support in reaching your funding target. For example, a month before the campaign, you might send emails to close friends and family explaining why you’re launching and then follow up with them a week before the launch and on launch day. 

You can also submit personal texts with your campaign connection to anyone you feel comfortable texting. Encourage them to place a pre-order and share it with their social media networks so you can take advantage of the whole network impact. For the platforms’ algorithms to view your campaign favorably, you must reach about 30-40% of your funding target in the first 36-48 hours. 

5. Organization

Donations can be lost due to poor customer service. If you’re going to work for a group, make sure everyone has a good understanding of their responsibilities. Who will be in charge of the campaign, and who will respond to campaign feedback? Who will give updates to supporters, and who will post updates and ads on social media?

Establish a plan ahead of time and double-check that everybody understands their responsibilities. Getting a disorganized campaign, no matter how excellent your product is, would reflect negatively on you. 

6. Look For Exemptions In Your State

To take advantage of the advantages of crowdfunding, you don’t need to use an online site. Until making a final decision, search for exemption companies in your state that authorize you to advertise a private stock offering and sell up to $5 million in shares to citizens that do not meet the Federal Accredited Investor requirements. 

7. Designing a Great Digital Marketing

Video is important. The wording that would accompany your campaign would give people a logical reason to invest. A great video captures the pitch’s emotion and establishes the team’s reputation. People will trust you because of your emotional appeal and importance.

It is essential to plan ahead of time for your digital marketing campaign. Prepare what you can for letters, tweets, and social media updates that you can submit at critical points throughout the campaign. Make a version of your business plan that you’re comfortable giving to strangers. People can, in any case, ask for it. 

8. Reward Ideas

Consider how you can personalize these starting points to create crowdfunding rewards that are true to your project’s goals, style, content, and values. Consider how you can make these incentives appealing to your supporters and target audience, as well as what they value. Remember to thoroughly cost out your incentives before putting them on your list to ensure that they are fair and deliverable. 

9. Learn From Others

Take the time to research other successful projects to see what worked for them. Please take a look at their videos, pay attention to the script, and be inspired. However, be realistic about what you can do with your available resources. Adapt your ideas to match your budget and target audience. Remember, it’s easier to raise funds for a cause that affects a large number of people. Consider the marketing and how you can make your story as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.

The significance of crowdfunding cannot be overstated. It is vital for new businesses. If you’re developing a high-demand product or service or launching a new campaign, crowdfunding is an excellent way to gauge interest. It assists you in generating a large amount of awareness. As a result, you must double-check everything before launching your campaign. A botched crowdfunding campaign will leave you with regrets and put your product or service in the worst possible position. 

Organizing your finances allows you to make the most out of every dollar you earn, so do it. Once you’ve taken the time to do so, set up a budget. Budgeting is essential because it can help you save money instead of overspending. Budgeting also opens up opportunities for you to have more fun by worrying less about your future. Getting your savings together by organizing your finances should be one of your top priorities not only for retirement but also for your quality of life now and into the future. You would also be well advised to meet with a financial advisor who can expound on the six tips given in this article before setting up a budget, if at all possible.

One: Open a Savings and Checking Account

By having two bank accounts you can use the checking account to pay all bills and expenses noted in the budget you set up after organizing your finances. Use the savings account to start saving money by depositing excess funds that you can live without for the time being to accumulate wealth and grow financially. If you don’t have savings, you can’t invest. It is also good to have savings in case of any emergency or unexpected circumstances that require your immediate fiscal attention. Therefore, visiting a trusted credit union to open up two bank accounts is a good first step to take if you are serious about growing financially. 

Two: Make Sound Investments

Make sure to choose the right types of investments to fit your needs, personality, and goals. Whether it is cryptocurrency or stocks, it is a good idea to feel comfortable and have some knowledge of whatever it is you choose to invest in. Do your research before investing in anything and hire a broker or financial planner for professional advice if it makes you feel more comfortable taking into consideration your circumstances, objectives, and risk tolerance.

Three: Earn More Money

Once you’ve planned your budget to save money for the investment you will have to be honest with yourself and realize that you will have to make more money if you want to grow financially. That may mean negotiating for a raise after taking on more responsibility at work, changing jobs internally for a higher paying position or negotiating a higher salary at another company, getting a part-time job, or using your skills and talents to create a side hustle or freelancing through internet platforms. You can even rent a booth at trade shows or flea markets if you are crafty.  

Four: Accumulate Assets

Assets include current, non-current, physical, intangible, operating, and non-operating. There are seven asset classes. U.S. Equities, Currency, as in cash, bond or fixed income, commodities, global markets, real estate, and global fixed income round out the seven asset classes which exist today. You would be well-advised not to tackle any of these complexities alone. Instead, do your research and hire a trustworthy broker or financial planner before shoveling your savings into any of these investments. 

Five: Pay off Your Credit Card Debts

If you fail to restrict your spending on your credit cards without accountability, you will soon realize how debilitating overspending can be to your fiscal health. Instead of growing financially, your income will be rerouted to pay off your accumulating debt. Use your budget to figure out when to stop spending.

Six: Dare to Take Risks

If you are too frightened to invest in anything you will not grow financially. Learn to accept risks that come with investing in the stock market or cryptocurrencies and realize that there is a relationship between risk and return. Fully understand that every investment comes with some degree of risk.

To grow financially, start with the basics. Create a reasonable budget that you can live with and stick to it religiously. Doing so will help you make good spending decisions and also make good investment choices. If done properly, organizing your finances will ultimately help you get out of debt as well. Avoid late fees and penalties for missing bill payments because the costs add up quickly. Realize that problem can easily be avoided by organizing your finances properly. By keeping track of your checking account and knowing where your bills are you will grow your finances by avoiding needless penalties. Finally, making sure that you have a well-organized financial system and budget that you can commit to every month will help you to grow financially.

We all want to get ahead. Financial security is one of the goals of all adults who do not have it. Some of us ceaselessly worry about this one thing. Others actually take the steps to improve their situation. Investing is a very logical step on the way to financial freedom. But just because it’s logical does not mean it won’t be challenging. You now know this firsthand. Risk and investment are inseparable. To score big, you need to go big. However, because most of us lack the knowledge and experience to go this route alone, we entrust our hopes, dreams, and savings to those who we trust as above board professionals who will steer us the right way to a successful investment. The harsh reality many times for many of us, unfortunately, is a lost investment. 

Why Did I Fail?

Sometimes it is a simple as being too gullible. Are you quick to believe what is said to you or what you may read online or in magazines? Did you ignore that little voice in the back of your head saying a bad idea and now your freely given faith in people has left you feeling regret? Don’t feel ashamed. It has happened to many of us. We choose to believe that because we are honest, others will be as well. But we need to take better steps to safeguard our investments. Everything that sparkles like gold is not. Trust your intuition. The gut is never wrong.

Could impatience have caused you to make rash decisions resulting in investment loss? Rushing to start big could have caused a bigger fall. All this to say that sometimes the fault lies with us, things we didn’t do, things we should have done or the very decisions we did make. For those times, we may need to graciously accept the loss and strive to do better next time. Not all losses can be recouped.  But some apparent losses, however, such as stock market dips, may not be loses at all. Allow for some time to truly evaluate the state of your investment.

Other times, however, the blame is not on your shoulders because you scoured the internet, asked probing questions, did your due diligence and ended up partnering with a professional investor who still, ultimately, let you down and lost your funds. 

Justice 

You feel duped, angry. You want answers and retribution. In such situations your monies definitely have a shot at being recaptured. Unless you are a highly trained arbitration lawyer, you cannot fight this alone and require expert help. Experienced lawyers at Atlanta representation are ready to  help you get just that. If you believe that your investment was lost due to purposeful deceit, negligence or plain incompetence, then a lawyer is exactly what you need. 

Victim of a ponzi or pyramid scheme? Failed mutual funds investment? Prey to a variable annuity fraud? Following a tried and trusted arbitration process, your triumph is the top priority with a dedicated lawyer. A claim will need to be filed. Be patient as your attorney allows for the accused party to respond. This is expected to occur within forty-five days. The legal counsel will then carry on with the discovery and hearing process. Thirty days thereafter, a decision will be handed down by a three-person panel. 

Remember

Although financial advisors are held accountable under the law for false counsel, some still choose to blatantly mislead you. They may trump up the feasibility of success in a particular venture, influencing you to wrongly and disastrously invest great amounts of cash in an apparent golden opportunity that shows no dividends.

Some may shamelessly coax you to invest more than you intended or even have the ability to. Professional investment firms and individuals who claim to be professional investment advisors should not be allowed to escape blame and recompense. The heavy hand of the law will see to that. So don’t feel defeated. Never just lay down and accept an investment loss that is not only not your fault, but was perpetrated by someone who purported themselves to be professional. But also be aware that if your downfall is directly your doing, no lawyer will be able to save you from that loss. 

Be very smart and extra careful with your investments. That is imperative.