In the old days, customers used to have to accept the risk of buying something from you. The buyer has to accept the risk that what they are paying money for might not suit there need, they them hope that it might or might not work.
But the worst of it is that most business today, haven come to realized that those days were people took risk to do business with you were long gone. Customers now are more smarter wiser and have gathered alot of information.
Whatever it maybe that is creating some level of risk on the part of your customer, whether it maybe. Bad customer service or customer unfriendly practice, those rough stuff might be killing your business unawarely. Even though what you are selling is dog “food” I think you can’t sell it to dogs. So you have to create a environment that can suitably attract and retain your customers.
1. Create a magic experience for them:
Magic experience can leave a lasting and positive impression on your business. It can make people want to do business with you again. When you give customers value in excess of what they felt they deserved or paid for, you have created a magic experience.
E.g, a health and fitness center that provides towels, babysitting, and fully stocked showers and dressing rooms, all free of charge. What’s more, it staffs bring patroons cold, purified water while they are working out. They stop for chat, not about exercise but about life and things they have discovered interest you. When you leave they offer to wash your work out clothes and have then clean and ready for you the next visit. Free of charge, would you pay little more to work out there?
Or a restaurant that gives a free drink and snacks to all patrons who are waiting for a table. Staff regularly bring out samples if it’s entrees and desert. Offering them to those who are waiting. Not only does this keep happy when waiting, but it encourages the sale of items patrons rarely order.
All business can find a way to produce their magic experience. How you do this depends on you and the type of business you’re in. Brainstorm ideas that fit your friends and customers.
2. Sit faces to faces with those that don’t buy from you
Become a customer one day by putting your leg into your customer shoe. You’ll be happy to know that there is a single, powerful step you can take to find out exactly what your customer want. Go out and sit face to face with your customers, first target those peoples that have come in contact with your business and doesn’t buy from you. Discover the reasons they don’t buy, and then address then creatively.
Don’t be the type that doesn’t here badnews or complain. Or don’t want to bother there customer.
Even thou all they may have to say is wrong the fact that you are there listening may create a positive light to them about your company. And customer and those that has refused buying from you. Who will give you feelback and feedback help you stand a greater chance in improvement. And meeting there need. And also asking questions like!
What did you like about our competition that you feel we could adopt?
While did you choose not to purchase from us this time?
When you take time to ask customers such questions. They see your company has company that cares and is really out for there customers.
3. Know that new customers cost more.
“Market is no longer about a market share but about the share of a single customer”
Wasting money attracting new customer through advertising constantly without ensuring that the customer repeat purchase can’t be a qreat way to increase profit.
Though it is the only option for new start-up, but onced it has been achieved, your effort should went through having them repeat sales upto 10 to 25 times. Because it costs you more than six time on average to get new customer than do business with existing customer.
“Remember, a customer who has done Business with you is likely to be happy with you and feel comfortable”
I’ve seen entrepreneurs Sacrifices all these things, “family, friends, and especially health. Sometime with tragic consequences, to focus on making their business successful.
Discover how exercise can improve your overall health
The bill gates, Richard Branson, tim cooks; can you guess what they all have in common?
If you guessed that they all launched multi-billion dollar companies, you are right.
But there is something else they all have in common. And also have an integral part of their success.
“studies show that regular exercise can improve your mental health, your concentration, your energy levels and make you feel happier over in fact, in a recent blog post branson said: “I seriously doubt how I would be successful in my career (and happy in my personal life) if I don’t always placed importance on my health and fitness.
So if you’re busy starting a business or working on a side gig. You might think that you don’t have time to add exercise to your schedule, however that might be a mistake. So let’s take an in-depth look at how regular exercise can benefit entrepreneurs across the globe. How can you start building a regular exercise routine for yourself, and which exercises other successful entrepreneurs swear by.
1. It improve concentration and creativity.
A 2007 report from Dr. Stewart trost of Oregon State University founds that even short breaks of physical activity can improve concentration, behavior and memory in elementary school student.
And also in 2007, Newsweek, Mary Carmichael reported findings that supports trosts theory: children who performed well on fitness tests are also more likely to score high on concentration and academic tests.
These effects extend to adults three months of regular aerobic exercise has been linked to the formation of new neurons and denser, more diverse connections between these neurons.
Along with better concentration and overall improved brain functioning Carmichael reports that physical exercise has also been linked to a lower risk of neurological and cognisive disorders, including ADHD and Alzheimer’s.
2. It forces you to manages your schedule better.
One of the things I have found as I make exercise a priority is that it forces me to better manage my schedule. Instead of seeing exercise as something that I do if I have time, I schedule in the time to workout. This creates the necessity of scheduling other items-and working to stay on track. Without all these extra gaps in my schedule, it’s easier to stay on track and for what needs to be done. Once exercise is non-negotiable, like client work and answering emails, it changes things. I’M much more efficient now, I know that I need to get the exercise in, along with my other obligations, so there’s less time for distraction online and other issues.
4. Improve your energy:
Ditch your morning cup of coffee and head to the gym instead. Trust us exercise can be even better for increasing your energy levels than large cup of coffee you have every morning. A 2008 study published in the journal psychotherapy and psychosomatics concluded that inactive individuals who normally complained of fatigue experienced increased in energy of up to 20 Percent and decreased fatigue as much as 65 percent by participating in regular, low-intensity physical activity. Wait, how can that be true? Well, Everytime you workout your body releases endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine.
5. Networking:
Working in the gym or even engaging in a sporting team can offer an entrepreneur and excellent platform to interact with various clients and also share essential tips from company growth with other business owners and managers, this interaction also improves business relationship with other companies. Many barriers can break when you share time with someone in the gym or participating in sports you get to discuss things together. You are likely to get a solution in particular business challenge that has given you sleepless nights for years.
Exercise is great for your mental health
You’ll be able to use exercise as a detachment tactics, and you’ll be able to detach yourself from your daily worries and focus completely on something different for a little while, something you can feel is working toward bettering yourself.
And you’ll be able to take the energy that you’d normally spend worrying about how much work you have, or how well you need to perform, and focus it into improving your health for the future-both mentally and physically.
You can take the energy that you normally spend worrying on the work that you need to complete. And focus it into improving your health-mentally and physically.
Upon what you have previous read so far, you can be convince that exercise, elevate moods and improve our mental facilities. But in the midst of our busy schedule as entrepreneur. Getting to the gym or during some workout often slip further the to-do list.
Research shows that it takes 66 days to integrate a health and fitness routine into your life. On the face of it, 66 days might seem like a long time, but let’s Break that figure down.
66 days is 18% of your year so, if you start a brand new health and fitness routine at the start of January and stick at it, you’ll have integrated into your life at the start of March.
Imagine how the rest of your year would go if you already made such a positive impact early on.
When you look at it from that perspective, 66days really seems like nothing.
But you don’t have to take a 66 days break, you can incorporate it into your days. By using your commute, coffee break, launch and even business meetings to sneak in fitness.
(a) question how you actually use your spare time:
The most common excuse for not exercising is “i Don’t have the time? You need to exercise for roughly 30 minutes a day that’s close to 2% if your day. Instead of watching parts and Rec when you come home from work or hitting the snooze button every morning, spend 30 minutes doing a few push-up or a few clunches a half-hour of exercise will make you feel more awake than extra half-hour of sleep or binge watching.
(b) walk or jog during your break:
One of the perks of being self-employed is that you have more control over when you work and how you spend your time. You can use that to your advantage when it comes to to finding time to exercise.
Squeeze in some time for fitness when you stretch your legs throughout the day, during a brief breaking on a 10-minute brick walk or run. If you need to run a nearby errand, try walking or riding your bike there instead of driving.
(3) do morning exercises.
Preparing your body and mind in the morning is an insanely easy way of creating more free time. Physical exercises as a secondary option) will ensure that your brain works efficiently throughout the day, Turning out better results in shorter spaces of time, and this creating more free time to exercise.
Do you by ever have those sluggish 10- hour workdays where your brain feels foggy and you’ve achieved virtually nothing? Exercising
These days, 78% of workers live paycheck to paycheck. And 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. But you don’t have to live like that for the rest of your life. You have to break out of the circle, there is a discovered steps that can help you start thriving and began reaching your financial goal. Let’s figure out ways go to give ourselves a raise, save and increase our income to come out.
Are you still living paycheck to paycheck?
1. Budget:
Didn’t you know were your entire paycheck goes? Why don’t you install on it a tracker. Listen! You work too hard for your money to wonder where it all went. A budget is a plan of what coming in and what going out, when you budget every month you’re giving your money a purpose.
Wondering were your paycheck is going. It’s Maybe possible because you don’t have a plan. And you can’t make your dollar stretch because you might not even know how much money you have to work with! That’s where your budget will show you places where you can cut back and actually start to save money.
Like we said, a budget is a plan for your income and expenses, when you budget, you see what you spend. And if you find out you’re spending more than you make, you can adjust so you stop overspending and you stick to your goal.
“here’s the beautiful thing about a budget: while it’s hard and limiting at first, overtime you will realize it’s your mean to enjoy life without headaches and worry. Ultimately, it’s a pathway to freedom. And when you tell your money how to work for you, you can be intentional about how you use it”
Don’t worry. through, we’re not going to leave you hanging without telling you exactly how to do a budget (we aren’t that mean). Here’s the deal with a budget: your monthly income minus your monthly expenses needs to equal zero, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have any money left in your bank account. Instead, you’re just making sure everydollar in your paycheck is given a job to do. And by job, we mean you’ve decided exactly where that money will go for the month (including savings).
And you will experiences that the benefit far outweigh the possible struggle at the start. This four tips can help you out better.
Write down your monthly income.
Write down your monthly expenses.
Subtract your income from your expenses to equal zero.
Track your seasonal expenses.
2. Stop living with bad debt.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck, that means there is no extra money in between paychecks. If you’re lucky, you are able to make the minimum payment on all your high interest credit cards and your never-ending student loan debt. If not, your credit card payments are too much your income and you’re spending more than you make. Late payment Fees and payday loans may be your routine and it’s starting to get out of hand. You take on new debt each month because you are required to put your groceries on your credit card, you then have to wait until next month so you can pay for groceries for this month.
Living like this and playing your around with debt is a recipe for disaster. You can’t get ahead that way! Believe us, not having enough money to pay for something and then reaching for a credit card to fund it is no way to live.
But debt isn’t just credit cards, debt is sneaky. It comes packaged as student loans, personal loans, business loans, payday loans and even “buy now pay later” deals like after pay, anytime you owe somebody else money for anything- it’s debts.
Maybe debt is a common word in your house or Maybe you think you’ve done a good job avoiding it. But no matter what kind of relationship you have with debt, Proverbs 22:7 says.
The borrower is slave to the lender
When you have Debt, you’re no longer working just for you or your family, -you’re working for the people you owe money to. And the average American carries $34,055 in consumer debt. That’s not okay! You’re made for more in this life than just working to pay off debt. You can’t get out of a mud puddle if you keep adding dirt and water to it, instead, start focusing on paying off your debts smallest to largest debt snowball.
When you’re up to your eyeballs in debt. it’s easy to panic, you may even be getting calls from creditor’s, final notice from the mail, and your electric company is saying they’ll be shutting off your electricity any day, that’s scary stuff. But Don’t let those creditor’s bully you into making something like a cable bill a priority. There are four wall of live which you must get covered before any other.
First wall: food.
Set aside a sufficient amount of money in the budget for food. This should include “eating out money” I also recommend adding everything to the grocery budget that you would buy at the supermarket-maybe call it your Walmart fund or call it your target fund depending on your performance.
It’s always better to over budget in the food category. Be reasonable when determine the amount of money your househood will spend on food and groceries.
Second wall: shelter.
Pay your mortgage payments or rent and keep the lights on. The shelter budget category should include everything need to keep you and your family safe and warm, aside your home- mortgage or rent utilities, etc.
Never pay a credit card bill instead of your house payment. You can afford to have a little adding on your credit, but you can’t afford to lose your house or have the heat or power disconnected. Keeping the lights on and paying your house payment should give you one less thing to worry about.
Third wall: transportation.
You need to keep the car moving so you can get to work. Car payments, gasoline expenses, car insurance and basics repairs and maintenance needed to keep the car running fall under this category. When Budgeting for fuel expenses again be reasonable. It’s better to over budget for fuel than underbudget and rather run out of money to fill you tank with gas. After you do this budget for several months, this category will become earlier to project also. Do some math to determine how much money you will need to set aside each month to cover the reqular maintenance on your vehicles, that way when the cars needs an oil change or new tires, you will have the money to cover it you have to keep the car running.
Fourth wall: clothing.
This category works little differently. A large clothing budget is probably not a priority for everyone. If you’re just a single guy or girl and you don’t have a bunch of new clothes. But if you have a family and kids, you need a clothing Budget.
If you have Young children, then you know they grow out of their clothes weekly, or if you have kids in school then they will probably need new clothes and new shoes before school starts plan for this on your budget. Project how much money you think your family will need for the entire year, divide that number by 12 and set aside that amount of money each month for clothing, that way you will have the money needed when school unenexpectedly starts tomorrow .
And if there’s any money left over after you take care of the four walls, make a list of what else you need to say and tackle it in order of importance-that’s it. If things are really tough. yeah, your credit card bill might not get paid that month, but one thing is for sure: your family will feel and have a roof over their head no matter what.
4. Start a side hustle.
If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you probably need to bring in more income consistently-not just when you sell some stuff. While you can (and should) go after promotions, and salary increases at your full-time job you might need to do something to increase your income sooner. hello, side hustle. So here is the best side hustle to help you make more money.
1. Begin freelance writing.
Good side hustle, like freelance writting, allows you to make money working from home. But the only fault is that you have be working. for you to earn money. When you stop working your paycheck cease. But despite that, as a freelance writer you can earn an extra $1,000 a month, the secret to succeeding as a freelance writer is to charge clients based on the value you’ll bring. Most freelance writers undercharge. Which results in fast burnout with little payoff. The best freelance writting opportunities to try are on problogger. But there are other freelance sites like, Fiverr, Upworks etc.
2. Start a dropshipping business
Dropshipping is one of the best side hustle job ideas, it allows you to sell a product directly to the customer without having to buy any inventory. Isn’t it great? You don’t need to have a big start-up costs budget, keeping your risk low. The manufacturer not only carries the inventory, but also ships it directly to the customer for you. Your main focus should be marketing and customer service- the lifeline of the business. If you have a strong marketing background and want a side hustle that plays to your strength, this is it. It’s one of the rare side jobs that allows you to scratch a true entrepreneur itch. You get to be the owner of your very own business.
With dropshipping, you can start a business within any of your favorite Passions. Do you love stocking your kitchen? You can sell kitchen equipment on the internet. Maybes you’ve found this unique solar powered, smartphone- calling accessory. You can start your own store ideas. If you love doing your make up? You can sell beauty products and build an audience who follows along to your make up tutorials, almost any niche can be pursued with dropshipping,
4. Start blogging:
Blogging is one of the best side hustle jobs, to do from home, or anywhere else in the world. It allows you to build a personal brand while owning your own asset. You can even write about your passion having a singular niche that you write about. Such as yoya, business, beauty, or carsy allows you to build an audience who shares the exact same interest due to the singular focus. You can monetize your blogs in few ways:
Affiliate links
Sponsored posts
Adding a shop link were you can sell dropping products.
Create and sell your own products.
Offer premium content behind an exclusive membership.
4. Become an Instagram influencer.
Growing up, most people dream of being famous. But the truth is not everyone can sing or act. Fortunately, you can still build a personal brand around yourself based on what you can do. Maybe you have a really cool fashion sense or can bake an awesome cake, on Instagram, anyone can start a side hustle by becoming an infleuncer. If you don’t like the spotlight, that’s cool you can build an Instagram following around your dog or your photography. You can monetize your Instagram account in a couple of ways.
Sponsored posts
Instagram takeovers
Selling a product on your website.
a average influencer charges between $200 to $400 a post, this can vary based on your audience size.
5. Sell information products.
If you’re looking for side job ideas to make money, why not trying selling information products? This side hustle requires some research, invested time, and marketing skills for you to flourish. Are there topics that are really popular right now that you know a lot about? Did you find a popular topic that isn’t enough information about? Monetize these opportunities by creating content around it. You can publish books on Amazon or sell courses on udemy.
And even if those don’t work out, you can still take up odd jobs around your neighborhood (think cutting the grass, picking up leaves, babysitting or dog walking).
And also among the five mentioned you can choose the one you are good at.
5. Look for things to cut.
“we know making sacrifices doesn’t feel good. It hurts! But keep reminding yourself: this isn’t forever.”
This isn’t the time to buy T-bone steaks for dinner, go see the latest movie, or visit your favourite restaurant. This is the time to cut back on any unnecessary expenses that you can. You are living paycheck to paycheck here, so tighten it up. Look for any area in your budget (you’ve created one now, remember?) Where you spendless.
Cable: another obvious one just do it. Don’t think about it, it’ll save you so much money. Where I live, it’s not uncommon to pay $130/mouth for cable. That’s over $15000/years! You can watch the main shows online for free (albeit I week after the air). But who cares, and if you’re a big sport fan, find be a friend with a TV.
Restaurants: okay, we’re going to start with the obvious, don’t go out to anymore. It’s expensive. You don’t need to pay $17.99 for a meal, another $12 for drinks, and a 20% tip. You can save tons by cooking at home. And actually there are some other benefits to cooking at home- you feel healthier, you feel like you are saving money, it can become a fun hobby.
Car washes: this is a strange one, but near me. People get car washes all the time. They’ll even buy a $60 pass each month that gives them unlimited car washes. Totally unnecessary. You can do it yourself with some water and soap.
Cleaning products: I use to have a budget line item for cleaning products- you know, Mr clean erasers (those things are are magical) all the Lysol wipes you can imagine, Swiffer stuff, the huge tub of formulary 409. Honestly, that stuff is expensive and addup. You don’t need to buy it anymore. First of all, you probably have enough cleaning stuff to last you 1.2 years. Also, you can make cleaning so cheap. With some $0.99 vinegar, tap water, and may be a drop or two of dawn. Eliminates this from your budget (and don’t vtry to sneak it into your grocery budget either).
We know making sacrifices like this doesn’t feel good. It hurts! But keep reminding yourself: this is not forever. You are making temporary sacrifices. It’s time to put in the work now so you can be in a better position in the future.
A budget is a plan. That’s all it is, and a plan is a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something. The word budget often gets a bum rap, people worry thinking it’ll be like putting a straitjacket on their spending. But budgeting doesn’t tell you not to spend, instead gives you the power to spend the right way towards your goal.
Some years back when I first come to myself about where I was financially. And began looking for help, some friends of mine redirected to Dave Ramsey website were I understand more about Budgeting. And the very thing I understand was that budgeting is a plan, and not long I also come across a book by brian Tracy “goals”
Then I understand that what dump me inside of the dishes I was financially was my lack of plans. Maybe your goals was to retire early, or to lunch your own private enterprise or to pay off all bad debt. What so ever your goal is, as far you need money to achieve it. You need this powerful force called budgeting. To channel your finances in there direction. When you turn in to the habit of Budgeting every amount, you’re giving your money a purpose, and you’re talking control of your money.
BUDGETING myths that has been drawing many away
Like we said, budget is a plan for your income and expenses. When you budget, you see what you make and what you spend. And if you find out you’re spending more than you make, you can adjust so you stop overspending.
But over the years I’ve probably heard plenty of excuses on why you can’t or shouldn’t budget. And for you to see if there is any truth behinds this myths let see. a.BUDGETING IS BORING: you’d be amazed at how many people don’t make a budget every month because they think it’s boring. You know else is boring, credit calls, statements and calculator calls, and bankuptcy court….acctually, all of that is pretty awful. b.Budgeters don’t have fun or buy nice things: let’s go ahead and stamp a giant false on that one. listen, Budgeting doesn’t mean you never spend money, it means you plan for how you spend money so you do it like a responsible adult. So, you BUDGET for fun, and you always BUDGET for the things you need before all the things you want. C.BUDGETING takes much time: first of all, you can’t afford not to spend time Budgeting your future financial success depends on it! If you’re not doing a budget because you don’t think you have time, consider taking a flesh look at your priorities, you might be surprised at how many “things” you could let go of in order to get your finances back in shape. you Know, as important as taking control of your money. d.Budgeters have to be good at math’s: if you don’t top the charts with your act math scores, that’s no excuse to skip Budgeting. Everyone needs to BUDGET-no matter their school subjects strength or weaknesses. Also, we have good news. Maths is not rocket science. If you can do basic third-grade math, you can make a budget, your income minus your outgo needs equal to zero. e. Not everyone needs a BUDGET: seriously-everyone needs a budget. Because a budget helps you get ahead of your money, take control of your money, if you want to crush your goals quicker, if you’re in debt up to your eyeballs or feeling pretty good about your finances you need a budget. It doesn’t matter if you have hundred dollar to your name or you’re a millionaire you need to tell your money were it goes.
Which Budgeting method should I use?
We have a proven method: it is call “ZERO-BASED-BUDGETING” and don’t beat around the bush about the fact that it’s the best way for you to take control of every. Single dollar you made, but we want to look at a couple other popular methods too, so we can compare and contrast-and show why ZERO-BASED-BUDGETING wins Everytime.
50/30/20 rule
One popular budget plan is called the 50/30/20 rule this method sets all monthly spending and savings into three categories: Needs (50) Wants(30) Savings(20) At first, this methods seems great because it uses Budgeting percentage which are ussually helpful, but the biggest problem with the 50/30/20 rules is that it leaves only 20% for savings, retirement and extra debts payments. Minimun payments on debts are considered a need, but if you want to pay anything above that, it’ll have to come out of the last 20% that was set aside for savings. That kind of thinking makes for everyslow progress toward your money goals, Because if you’re in debt, you’ll want to throw more than 20% of your income at those payments to crush debt for good. After that, you can move on to saving and investing.
60% solution
This method says to put 60% of your income toward committed expenses-aka the things you need and any non-essentials you’ve committed to. The rest of your income is divided up into four categories: 10% to retirement, 10% to short-term savings for emergencies or large upcoming needs like a new car, and 10% for fun.
While we applaud the emphasis here on savings, were not into lumping needs in which the things you’ve “committed to,” you can commit to a lot of expenses that you really don’t need, like an expensive phone plan or too many streaming services.
Reverse Budgeting method.
Well named, this method starts with savings and then tackles spendings. It suggests beginning your budget by setting aside money to save and invest after that, you Budget for essential expenses like housing, utilities, transportation, food, insurance and debt. Financially, you cover non-essentials and fun.
This method is anti-debt, which we’re all about. But taking down the debt before you load up the savings and start investing for retirement. Your income is your latest wealth-building tool. And being debt-free means using that tool, to its fullest potential, rather than losing it to interest payments.
Zero base Budget
ZERO-BASED-BUDGETING is a way of Budgeting where your income minus your expenses equals zero. You have to make sure your expenses march your income during the month. That way you’re giving every dollar that’s coming in a job to do.
Now, that doesn’t mean you have zero dollars in your bank account it just means your income minus all your expenses equals zero.
Pretty simple right? Basically, it’s just a plan for your money. Let’s say you earn $3,000 a month. Everything you spend, save, give should add up to $3,000 that way you know exactly where everyone of your hard-earned dollar is going. You could be setting yourself up for disaster if you don’t know where your money is going each month. It’s no fun to look up one day and find out you have no money- and no clue-where it all went!
What’s goes into your budget All your source of income (that means your regular paychecks plus any side income) and all your expenses (that means) your essential (and your extras) need to show up in your budget.
If money is coming in or going out it needs to be in the budget.
How to make a zero base Budget
BUDGETING might seem intimidating at first, and it honestly does take time to get used to it (usually three months) but-onced you get the hang of it, the benefits far outweigh the possible struggle at the start. Because you’re about to look your money in the eyes (not literally, of course) and say, “hey. I work hard for you. Now it’s your turn to work hard for me”
a.Write down your monthly income: you can do this the old-fashioned way with a sheet of paper, excel spreadsheet, or you can use free Budgeting app, (which you can get a bunch of it at Google play) and we say income, that should include paycheck’s, small-business income, side hustles, residual income, child support, and any other cash you bring in. If it’s money and it comes into your households bank account, it’s income! Be sure to write it down and it all up in your budget. Write down your monthly expenses: before the new month begins write every expense, things like rent, food, cable, phones, and everything in between should be added to the list. But be sure to your budget with the four walks first- that’s food, utilities, shelter and transportation.
b.Substract your income from your expenses to equal zero: alright, we want this number to be Zero, but it might take some practice to get there, Don’t be shocked or worried of your income and expenses don’t balance each other out right away, that just means you need to do something to bring one of the numbers up, the others down, or both! Yeah. It’s going to take up if things don’t line up right away. Most of the time, it takes people a good three months or so to really get the hang of it. Keep working at it until you get to a big. Whooping zero.
c. Track your seasonal expenses: now think through the whole calendar year- what expenses will you have coming up that you can start planning and saving for now? Things like birthdays, anniversaries and holidays are set dates that should not surprise you- or your budget so whatever the known expenses, make sure you prepare for it in the budget. You know Christmas is in December every year, so there’s no reason to act like it suddenly snuck up on you. If you know you want to spend $600 on Christmas, then divide that by how many months are left and boom- that’s how much you should make sure to save each month.
How to budget for irregular income
So, maybe you don’t make the same amount of money every paycheck. If that’s you, you aren’t alone. Plenty of people work hourly or commission-based jobs, or have side gigs that charge up their income every months. In the Budgeting word, we call that irregular income, and it’s plenty common.
But you can- and should-budget every month, irregular income or not, it takes a little getting used to. But make sure you cover the four walls-first (just like a regular income) and then list out the rest of your expenses in order of importance, when you do get paid, take that amount and spread it out over items in your budget. If your paycheck doesn’t cover everything listed on the budget, that’s okay! Just take care of the things you marked as most important if you get another check pick up where the lost check left off if you end up with extra money after all expenses have been paid, that’s when you look at saving more, spending more, or paying on debts.
You need some fun money on your budget
First of all, Putting fun Money in your budget isn’t a green light to drop your money goals or go on a spending free-for-all. Fun Money isn’t an excuse to be wasteful- it’s another way to stick to your budget. Remember, you want a ZERO-BASED-BUDGET so you can give every single dollar a job. And a fun Money makes you focus all your spending-even the fun stufff- so you don’t accidentally waste money on little things here and there.
When you give yourself a budget line for fun, you can spend that amount on whatever you want, this is the money you’ve set aside to spend on the fancy cappuccino or the new shoes you don’t need but really want, also if you’re married,make sure you and your spouse each have your own fun lines.
Budgeting what you enjoy
No two budgets are exactly alike because no two people are exactly alike, you also get to decide who or what gets your money each month. If you love cooking for your family, budget more for groceries, if you love working out, budget more for a great gyms, you are the boss of your own budget.
But what if you start to notice that you’re overspending on those gourmet groceries or kickboxing classes? All of a sudden, you’re paying more for those than your monthly rent or mortgage;
So how do you strike the balance between Budgeting for what you love and Budgeting for your goals.
Groceries: those truffle oil and those imported sauces aren’t cheap. Instead of wowing your family with five-star meals every single night, make that your Saturday night specialty that way. You don’t have to fully give up your love for preparing exotic dishes and your family can look to that special meal once a week.
Travels: traveling during the off season is a great way to get the experience you want on a budget that you can handle. Look online for travel deals that entice people to travel during off-peak times of the year. Of course, you’ll want to do more than sitting in your cabins or hotel room during the trip, do before you take off, research great local restaurants that are off the beaten paths and don’t inflate their prices for tourists.
Clothes: you can’t get enough new clothes, shoes and accessories to satisfy your passion, great looking clothes make you feel great. But there are plenty of ways to stop for clothes that won’t ruin your budget. Go consignment shopping, especially for kids clothes! They grow so fast, and it’s tough to justify pay full price they will only wear once or twice. Plus when those clothes don’t fit anymore you can sell them right back to the consignment shop- which gives you money to spend on other clothes.
Gyms: instead of paying the price tag of an elite workout, why not replace a few of those expensive gym sessions with workouts you can stream at home. You can fin plenty of workout on YouTube (for free) that will get your heart rate up, you’ll still get a great workout and you definitely won’t get bored. And if you start to feel like you miss the community that you had at the gym, start a running club or an exercise group in your neighborhood. Bonus: you’ll be exercising with friends and built-in accountability partners.
Entertainment: a night at the movies can bit your wallet pretty hard, especially if you’re paying for an $8 bucket of popi, a $10 soda and a babysitter. Pick one or two movies per-month, and wait for the rest to hit Redbox or your favourite streaming service, then put the kids to bed, pop in some frige-to-oven cookies, microwave some popcorn, and enjoy!
Like Physical health, financial health is fundamentally key to leading a happy and successful life. Less than 1 in 3 Americans are considered “financial healthy” that’s according to financial health network.
Creating a sound financial present does more than alleviate current stress, it lays the foundation for a stable and secure financial future.
While there’s no specific number or score that measures your financial health, people with good financial health pay close attention to things like credit debt, saving investment and retirement.
Evaluate your financial health
But if up till this time you haven’t evaluate your financial health, you are not alone will can help you during the process because evaluating your by financial health. you determine what adjustments you need to makes in life. To reach the level of financial stability you’ve set for yourself.
Do now can be the best time to put your grown-up pants and take your money seriously, I want to help you get into a solid financial position. And the good news is, it doesn’t matters where you’re starting from! This principles can walk you through to your desire level of financial health. No matter how much or how little you have.
1. Where are you starting from.
If being financial healthy is your goal you’ve got to know we’re you are starting from, and where to start from is by assessing your believe system.
“mind is the master power that moulds and makes man, and evermore he takes the tool of thoughts and shapes what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand I’lls. The things in secret and it comes to pass, environment is but looking grass....
James Allen
Most people don’t really take the time and sit-down to evaluate what they really believe about money. For some money is the root of all evil to be avoided at all costs. Not to be talked about, demonized. For others money are there enemies. For others, money is everything. They’ll sacrifice friends, family, and integrity to get it. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. And for others money is merely a tool.
For better and for worse our understanding about money often shapes our financial health. Because what you believe about money determines how you handle it. When your believe about money is wrong, your behavior towards it will be accordingly. But due to my rich and little experience, and knowledge in this field. I thought it’s foolish to spend your life working for money and pretend that money isn’t important. Or that money is evil when actually not having it that is evil,
Because when you get the money you went beyond good intention, you can then have a lot to.
raise your kids.
support the gospel and donate to charities.
All of this takes money and being passive with money can’t help solve it, get to identify money as a tool and you increase your financial health tremendously.
“A budget is telling your money were to go instead of wondering were it went”
John c Maxwell
People who become successful at anything reach a point where they wake up to the reality of there decisions, and then they commit to make a change, it’s no different when we are talking about money.
If you want to take control of your money. There is only one answer make a budget. That’s means figuring out what is going out and what is coming in. Every month before the month begins. And where it is going.
“plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly you will never have enough”
Proverbs 21:5 GNT
Then what is a budget
The word budget can get a bad rap. People thinks budgets are hard, time-consuming and restricting. Sure, it can takes a couple months to get use to the process of budgeting. But once you get the hand of it, you will see why using it is so worth the effort too. Because it doesn’t tells you how to spend instead it gives you permission to spend the right way.
So what is a budget? A budget is a plan. A plan of what? of all you’ll do with your money not only of how to pay bills.
You can use it powerfully as a catalyst of financial freedom, when you budget to pay yourself first before any other expenses. You’ll see that not long all your financial worries we be gone.
3. Start spending less than you earn:
I realized it’s nomal to “live it up” and spend your wholepaycheck. That’s why 78% of Americans lives paycheck to paycheck! This is a conventional wisdom that has help many improve there financial health.
Borrowing from your future to keep up the present lifestyle you can’t afford doesn’t have to be your story especially if you want to be financial healthy. You make a choice today to live differently, by cutting your expenses and save to buy asset. you can choose a life of freedom- and- live a life on your terms not Visas.
The way to get this done is by living on less than you spend, there we always be temptations coming towards you, from every direction because everybody want a piece of your paycheck. Am I right? But you get to fig in your heels and say. Nope, I choose to live wisely and within my means till when I increase my means.
Below are some helpful tips to live below your means.
Keep diligent track of your spending(Budgeting): keep a notebook in your pocket and write down every expenses you have_the simple process of doing this will make you think twice about unnecessary expenses, when you do have a months worth of expenses. Written down, take a careful look at then. Ask yourself whether each of this expenses really contribute to your value
Go through every monthly required bill: ask yourself if you really need that service at all, do you really use Netflix all enough? or could you just rent a movie once in a while from Redbox? Do you really use your cell phone much at all, or could just replace it with pay-as-you-go phone? Then go through each bill and see if there are any optional services you can eliminate.
Get a better bank: the vast majority of Americans are with banks that don’t treat them very well, no interest at all on the checking accounts. Tons of fees for ATM uses. Draconian overdraft policies, a tiny interest Rate on saving accounts, all of this things are waste of money. Switch your account to a bank that respects you and can save you money.
Look carefully at your routines: watch what you do everyday or (most days) are there things you do each day that cost money? Those things are the most powerful to adjust, as trimming just $1 from daily spending saves you $365 a year, do you stop at coffee shop each day? Why not cut down your daily order a bit, or switch to different shop. Or start making your coffee at home.
4. Don’t live below your means:
Has I said in the previous verse that you live below your means to cut expense and save that money for investment. Yes it one side of the coin, but for you to live in financial abundance, live to your dream, you have to be more, unless your dream is too small. You’ll live below your means
Anybody can cut expenses, and anybody can hope and pray that money will come in, but it’s takes creativity, knowledge; and darling to grow your income- to expand your means. You don’t have to spend the whole of your live living below your means, You can grow And expand. But it may need some adjustments in teams of behavior towards learning.
Ways to start increasing your income
Don’t waste time at work: the time you spend sitting idle, browsing the web, or chatting on Instagram or Twitter with your buddies is time you’ve effectively lost instead invest that time in something devoted to your career, Even if it’s not directly on a work project, there are losts of things you can always be working on.
Work on your transferrable skills: I’m a big believer in transferrable skills that one can utilize in almost any carear path. Work on mastering such skills. Numb on any and all opportunity to speak in public, hammer out an effective time management scheme for you, get into a routine of organizing and filling your paperwork, Brainstorm ideas for things going on in your office, write clear documentation for the standard procedures of your work. Step up to the plate. Take charge of a work project and get the ball moving forward. All this push you toward developing a skill that are genuinely useful.
Start a side business: I don’t mean filling out survey or other things you can use to burn a few minutes during commercial break and earn a few pennies. I mean actually devote serious time and effort to turning a passion you have into a money-making Enterprise. What could possibly be? That’s why you need the right knowledge that can field you through. which is financial education.
“don’t worry much about living below your means, rather take all your mental energy to cut expenses and look how to expand your means”
5. Plan for your future:
Nothing will make you feel more financially healthy than a stockpile of cash sitting in the bank, waiting for a rainy day, and a cash flow investment portfolio rotating cash-in monthly.
A emergency fun first, and later a cashflow investment which quarantees you safety on the long run. Because if you don’t have a emergency fund you will reach out for a credit card when your cars break down, and that will turn a car problem into a money problem. Then compound interest turn the money problems into more money problems and later into debt. Stress and worry that’s not good for your actual health.
But when you have money in the bank just for emergencies, you can simply get the car fixed no stress. No drama. And your financial emergency fund is there to protect it.
Begin with a starter emergency fund of $1,000. This will cover smaller emergencies while you are starting, but later build it up to fun perfect three to six month of living expenses.
After your six month emergency is fully covered you can then went forward to cover a lifetime of emergency. (Investing in cash flow)
Lots of people think their 401(k)s and IRAs which have stocks, bond or mutual fund holdings, has investment but I consider then saving plan. People with such investment are what I named passive investors. But their is another way to a more carefree investment, which is investing for cash flow. You buy a piece of property upgrade it, then rent it out and began to receive a monthly income through rent. And with this monthly income you pay the mortgage and still have some pie of cash
Raising a young child involves so many daily challenges that makes it’s likely you have little free time to think about your financial future. Which when done causes great damages to the later end of life and also your kids financial life when they grow-up.
Now is the right time to check those money mistakes you have being making as parents, and find out how to get your finances in other.
Money and kids
Money and emergency
Money and retirement
1. Money and kids
Kids are inherently expensive even for the most flugallt family and the most careful planners. And although your bundle of joy comes with a host of costs you need to prepare for, there is no reason to make having a baby even more expensive than it has to be.
According to a new study by the USDA, raising a child in 2011 was 23% more expensive than it was in 1960, over the course of a lifetime, parents can expect to pay about $234,900 to raising a child vs $991,723 in 1960 an increase of $40,000. Which is tremendously high.
even with such figure can one thrive during the process of raising a child? Yes, is possible.
But this are five mistakes you should beware of and avoid so that you’ll have more cash in your pocket for the super important stuff, like investing and investing in your financial education.
A. Failing to plan in advance for baby expenses:
Finally, one of the biggest mistakes new parents make is failing to plan for the fact that kids do cost money. Even if you’re very careful with what you buy, after all, you will need diapers, your baby will need to eat, and someone will probably have to watch your baby from time to time, which either means child care or talking time off from work. You can’t plan for everything, but you can determine how much money child care or unpaid leave we cost your family and adjust your budget to accounts for it.
2. Splurging for fancy new baby stuff:
Walk into any big-box store and you’ll discover football fields of strollers, baby carriers, and various baby gadgets and gizmos. But do you need all of it? Not a chance from wipe warmers that makes gourmet baby food. It’s tempting to buy everything so that your little one has the very best.
But all the baby gear doesn’t come cheap. According to investopedia a new stroller costs an average of $400, while a new bouncy seat swing can cost $200 or more. Add to average cost of $1,100 for baby funiture and you’re out with $1,700 before the baby even makes it home from hospital.
The reality however is that people’s has being raising babies for many years without all this stuff- and chances are pretty good that your bundle of joy will be fine without 90% the baby product on the market.
If you’ve got a crib, some diapers, good clothes, and a place to change your baby, you’re probably good to go. After your baby is born and you get into a routine, you can figure out what the products would actually make your day-to-day life easier. And forward all those cash to your emergency fund or saving for investment.
C. Encouraging unrealistic expectations
We all know children who have a laptop and iPhone by the time they’re 12, but is that always a good idea? Probably not. Although some expect argue that there is no such thing as a spoiled child, (still am not saying a kid under 12 years with a laptop is a spoiled child).
But parents teaching kids that instant gratification is the norm can set them up for a lifetime of dissapointment and expectations that are largely unrealistic.
D. Not teaching kids about money
Kids who never learn about money may be destined for failure in real-life. What most parents teach there kids about money are things like.
….how to write a cheque, and later then wonder why money keep missing, there is more to money than this. I thought the first and the most important lessons every parent should teach there child “the difference between liability and asset” when a child know that liability take money from is pocket and asset bring money to his pocket it’s helps then delay gratification and become future oriented.
E. Digging kids out of debt
I understand that all kids naturally love there parents and want to help them start life on the right foot. And the high levels of debt that most young people have, alongside with low salaries and poor debt prospects, make it very tough for them to get ahead.
But actually footing the bill for your kids actually Hunt them more than it helps them.
Though it may be a little hard to take in. But believe me. Debt is actually a personal problem that masquerade itself in financial clothing, that why so many people has persistent problem with debt. Probably when you has a parent pay the debt for your child not before long time he or she has acommulate another bundle, the problem have not being deal with yet.
The hard way to help your young once is to watch them struggle finacially, why working with then build there financial intelligences.
Many parents fail to prioritize their savings properly, this can lead to a serious money mistake that many people only recognize after an emergency. All parents should focus on setting up an emergency fund to cover: at Least three months of expenditure if emergencies occur.
Though many have read in some of our posts, about thoughts like “savers are losers” actually is true but it’s all about those who thinks saving will be enough to have a secured financial future. This is an old way of thinking that doesn’t take into account how money has change, and how in few years inflation can eat off there hard end savings.
But I believe it’s important to have liquid assets at hand so that when hard time comes,you don’t go for loan or be stranded. Six months worth of expenses is good, you don’t have to save an incredibly large amount every month. Start small and, before you know it, before you realize your emergency fund has been in good condition.
And is even better to authomate the emergency fund saving process. What do I mean? you set up your bank account to authomatically send money into your emergency fund, to take some stress out of the process.
According to the fifth annual Wells Fargo middle-class retirement study, one-third of middle class Americans doesn’t contribute to any form of retirement plan, not even the 401(k)s or comparable investment vehicle. Meanwhile, 31% claims they didn’t think they would have enough money to survive in retirement.
“You can borrow money to stuff your bills but can’t borrow for retirement,” that’s why allocating checks from each paycheck to paycheck toward your golden years is important. If you have a option you a choose a 401(k) account, since many employers will match a portion of your contribution. If not, pick a Roth IRA, it also give you a far more secure retirement. But there are also great and far great retirement opinion, but this requires financial education.
Since Money worths less and less each day through inflation. It’s better to invest in a asset were you receive ROI (return on investment) but I’ve said before you need to do more to be more.
If you invest in a asset with cash flow, you still own the asset and enjoy cash flow each month.
Whether you’re a stay at home parent just looking for flexible hours to work when the kids are asleep or a full-time employee with a 9-5 wanting some extra cash to Todd at your debt snowball, try some of these best work-from home jobs to help you reach your goals.
And whatever yours goals are, just make sure you’re using your income to help move the needle. Don’t use the extra cash to fund your star war action figure collection (cool as that might be). Instead be intentional about putting the debt or saving up your emergency fund.
1. Tutor
A tutor teaches students a certain skill or subject using online video conferencing. When you hear the word tutor, you might think of the class valedictorian who stay, after school to tutor other kids in the library. But these days, anyone can work from home as online tutor and make decent money doing it. A formal teacher or educator, anyone with specialized knowledge in a specific subject, or someone who finds way in helping others learn will feel fulfilled working as a tutor.
2. Social media manager
a social media manager helps clients keep up with and grows their social media accounts. This could range from replying to comments and direct messages, to creating a content and scheduling posts that drive engagement. People will pay you to actually spend time on social media all day. oh yes, it’s true. But they’re paying you to manage their social media, not scroll your Instagram mindlessly. Big difference. It’s perfect for someone who knows multiple social media platforms like the back of their hand, can generate and increase user interaction, and grow their clients platform will thrive doing this.
do you dream of mapping out a Disney vacation with highlighted itineraries for each member of your family? Put your passion for travel and organization to work by being a virtual travel agent! If you are a super organized person who can plan vacations itineraries and researches the best prices on flight, hotels and entertainment. Not for your own selves but for someone else vacation.
4. Transcribtionist
this work-from-home job involves transcribing things like medical notes from doctor’s, courts sessions, professors lectures and even closed captioning from television! If you have a accurate (and quick) typing skills, the ability to listen to or watch audio or video files and even type up what you hear. Sometimes they even do it in real time for broadcasts like sporting events. Or award shows.
5. Visual assistant
You’re a creative who craves designing different types of work for a braoad range of clients. Working for the same company years might not offer you that, but calling your own shots as a virtual graphic designer sure can.
People with high-powered jobs can be pretty disorganized. They often need someone to help them take care of the tasks they don’t want to do, thanks to all that, a job exists for you: virtual assistant. If you are highly organized and thrive on multitasking and helping someone else stay on schedule will dig this hole.
6. Freelancers writter
the pen is mightier than the sword, so put that pen (or keyboard) to work slicing and dicing up some content! As a freelance writer. You write on a variety of topics for your clients. The work can vary from writting content to editing to research and fact-checking. You just have to get a lot of flexibility to get the work finished during whatever time is best for them. As long as you meet the deadline.
The difference between passive income and jobs you can do from home. Sometimes passive income and jobs you do from home get confused for the same things but they’re two different things altogether. Building passive income happens when you can do something a few times, set it, forget it, and let it passively make money, think something like renting out items, or even investing. Passive income is great but it alot different from the job you can do from home.
Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. – Damon Richards
Winning strategy, to thrive at the present of big boss competitor
It’s the news that send shivers down the spines of small business owner everywhere: Walmart (or any other railer big boss retailer) is coming to town, how can my small business compete with largest company in the world? They wonder can my business survived?
However no business owner have threat of this magnitude from giant competitor with greater buying power, more name recognition, and a reputation for driving small companies out of Business, it is no reason to fold up the tent and go home, smart entrepreneur know that, by formatting and executing the right strategy they not only survived in the faced of big boss competitor’s but can thrive in there presence.
Don’t play there game
A fundamental concept strategy is to avoid your company weakness against your big competitor’s strength.for example, because Walmart buy in such a large volume from it’s supplies it can attract the lowest price from then. Were as, small companies purchasing from this same supplies can’t. Therefore it makes little sense for small companies to try compete with Walmart and other grant retailer on price. Or your small companies has another more significant cost advantage, competition on the basis of price is a recipe for disaster. Entrepreneur who compete successfully emphasize feature, that giant discounters cannot provide like.
Extensive product knowledge
Better selection
Superior customer service
A hassle free buying experience
Product warranty etc.
Emphasize what’s unique about your company and how they can benefit from then
When brain Kelly, owner of city beans, a coffee shop with two store in northern new-jersey. Learn that Starbucks was opening a location in the same building that house one of his shop, he knew that he has to take action to safe is business. Because Kelly purchase coffee beans from a local coffee roasting, who made deliveries within 24 hours of roasting, He realized that what city beans coffee sold was much fresher than Starbucks coffee. Kelly began a “serve flesh daily,” promotion that gave customers a higher benefit and provide city beans with a competitive edge, also he also re-energized his company loyalty card program, (buy 2 cup of coffee and get one free) which provide him with important information about how customers, include there email address, Kelly whose store also serve a selection of sandwiches salads, and soaps began e-mailing customers in the loyalty program about daily launch and special coffee, and sales increases.
Hit’EM where they ain’t
Big chains aims at big market and often ignore small but profitable niches market, which are ideal target for small companies, when home Depot move into town, the owners of small nusery began changing his company product mix, emphasizing selection of visual plants it’s big boss sold, on addiction, he added a selection in his store dedicated to natural organic gadgetting, free weekend work slope. That taught customer how to build different kinds of garden brought in existing customer more often and attracting new ones. Two years after home Depot opened, the small nursery was generating record sales that were higher than it where to be the resent big box competitor’s appear.
Hire the best and train them
Jeff brotman founder of costo,a discount warehouse that goes up against Walmarts, Sam club discount warehouse has been competiting with the industry giant for two decades, costo pay it worker at rate well above the industry average, which keep turn over rate low (infact the lowest in the industry and productivity high, giving another edge over Walmarts), small companies cannot afford to pay the highest wage in an area, however because there companies are small. Entrepreneurs has the opportunity to create a work environment in which the employee can thrive, once small companies attract and retail quality workers, by allowing them to use quality work schedule that make it earlier for them to manage there busy life, the owner also invest heavily in training worker’s, so that they can move up the organization, and pay scale faster. The training pay off in term of greater productivity, lower turn over and increased customer satisfaction, and higher sales per employee, paying attention to to seemingly small detail, such as
More communication
Frequent recognition of jobs done well
Bureucracy
Flexible benefits enable small companies to build a loyal motivation work force that can out perform those at larger companies.
Beat them at service game
In tennis, the serve is one of the most important part of the game, so it is in the retail chain. Small companies often differentiate themselves from the larger more powerful rivals by emphasizing superior friendly personal service. Sometime this price make then uniquely capable of doing, one of the best way to determine exactly how to provide superior service. Is to identify your top five customer and priodically ask them “how can we serve you better.”
Bring back what the big boys have eliminated
Many companies in the supermarket Industry have taken a beating as discount mass retailers have expanded their superstore concept into more markets across the United States, yet many small supermarket chained have thrived by taking a completely different strategic approach, building small stores that allow shoppers to make their purchase quickly and conveniently.
CEO of Hewlett Packard once said, “marketing is too important to leave to the marketing people” and actually this is true, successful and skillful marketing is the key that builds your business into what you want it to be.
Marketing ought not to be reduce in importance or delegated to anyone, lower in an organization than the CEO. They need to be actively involved and be on top of them. An by no means saying they have to actually do the marketing work, but they need to have an understanding of what going on.
No customer no business, so
CEO’s Don’t needs to let marketing jargon impress or make then inadequate, and also you has the CEO should not feel you need to let this most important and Vital mix of your business to those expects.
Look at your marketing campaign and strategy. If possible put yourself completely into there shoe.
Focus on your customer
If I were to defined marketing prior to the best definition that I’ve heard, and what have learn all this years I will say “marketing is focusing on your customer’s need rather than product or service- and profit is the by product”
How true is this? You can easily judge your marketing because the most important aspect of it is common sense, good marketing focus on your customer and treat them as normal people.
Think about it: if you wanted to invite friends over for a party, would you run a boring ad or send them impersonal letters they wouldn’t even read? No, because if it were you, you won’t come also.
And this what most people are doing every day and then expecting there business to get better. People want value, fun and excitement, honesty, fairness and not necessarily the cheapest price. They don’t want to take risk on dealing with you, they want to be treated has friends,. They don’t want it to be hard doing business with you.
Take time to recognize the one thing that answers your customer’s need.
Are you in the right business?
May be you have heard the saying. “Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Well, this is no longer true, because there are more than hundreds and in some market even thousands of companies building a better and far better mouse trap, and in some cases those mouse trap that are winning are not by far the best but they win anyway because they’re customer oriented; what does those that are winning have in common.
Understand there customer
Empathize with there customer
Relate with there customer.
They know quiet for sure that they’re not in the product and services business but rather in the people business. So they recognize people need and desire and then find a way to satisfy them.
Because people’s are the once who make the decision and spend there money. So let’s look more closely at the four mix, success and super business uses in winning with there customers.
They understand there customer need
At the core of every successful business, whether it sells directly to individuals or other business. Knowing and understanding your customer needs can’t be overemphasize.
The simple truth is no one buy what they don’t need, and if they mistakingly buy they don’t refer to friends, and it’s not who buy that makes the futune but who his is your customer for life, and that what this post is about, to help you turn then into a customer for life.
People buy to meet there need, and you can’t persuade anyone to like or buy what you are selling if he don’t need it neither can I. And for you to sell that piece of product or service in your hand you need to know what your prospective buyer need.
Once you have this knowledge you can use it to persuade potential and existing customer that buying from you is in their best interest.
“no customer means no business that’s why understanding your customer is the key”
Here are how you can fully understand your customer to Foster growth.
a. Start with the basics:
Do you know we’re they come from? What there desire and fear is? Do you know there daily routine or do you even know the age,sex and social class? If you want to be successful in business you should better should.
Demographic help you to get a first idea of what your customers is likely to be. To fill your customer with life, create personas which include major characteristics like needs, behavior and price sensitivity. Creating personas is the secret to marketing success. It allows you to access Informations that shapes your marketing and reveals strategies you need to be adopting.
b. Why should your customers buy from you
Every business needs a reason for their customers to buy from them and not their competitor’s, this is called a unique sales preposition (USP) your USP can be identified by completing the phrase “customers will buy from me because my business is the only…..”
Your USB can change as your business or your market changes and you can have different USP for different types of customers.
It’s a good idea to review your USPs regularly, you can tailor your products or services to better match your customers needs? Consider asking your customers why they buy from you. This will tell you what they think your unique selling preposition is. And it’s also useful to check constantly what your competitors is doing- if your competitor’s are doing the same, your USP is not unique anymore.
C. Put yourself in your customers shoe
Understanding your customers requires you to put yourself in their shoes which your customers have contact with your business. These include meetings and visits, phone calls correspondence and deliveries, do your promise looks scruffy, is your receptionist unfriendly, does your phone rings and rings without being answered? All these things can make a customer feel disappointed.
The most common customers complaint is being kept waiting, if you’re slow to return calls or fulfil orders, then you are in danger of losing customers, above all customers want you to deliver what you have promised and surpass there expectations.
As a small business, you can offer a personal service. If you remember a customers name and recall. Your last conversation with them, you will have brightened up their day. They will also tell their Friends what a great service must be a priority throughout your business. Everyone from the front desk to the delivery staff should focus on exceeding customer expectations.
d. The customer current supplier
Chances are your potential customer is already buying something similar to your product or service from someone else. Before you can sell to a potential customer you need to know:
If buying from you would offers the customer any benefits- and if so, what this benefits would be.
If the customer is happy with there supplier.
Who the customer current supplier is.
The easiest way to identify a potential customers current supplier is often simply to ask them. Generally people are very happy to offer this information as well as an indication of whether they’re happy with their presents arrangements.
If you can find out what benefits they are looking for you stand a better chance of being able to sell to them. The benefits may be related to prices or levels of service, for example, are there any benefits your business can offer that are better than those if potential customers. If there are, these should form the basis of any sales approach you make.
e. Ask your customers what they think
Conduct a customer satisfaction survey and you will make your customers feel valued. You will also gain valuable insights. But don’t ask for feelback. If you’re not prepared to make improvements: tell your customers what you have done as a result of their feedbacks.
Well compiled customer surveys can tell you things you may not know, including human factors such as staff behavior. Not everyone complains when they are dissatisfied, instead they tell their friends about their bad experience and take their business elsewhere. Unless you proactively consult your customers, you may never discover if you are going wrong.
2. Empathy with customer
Researchers define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions and be able to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
It goes beyond recognizing and addressing their tactical requirements and put things into further context by viewing things from their perspective of the underlying needs and feeling’s of customer.
It’s the link between self and others because it is how we understand what others are experiencing as if we are feeling it ourselves.
Empathy is what you experience when you see someone hit the pinky finger on the corner, when you show deep empathy towards others, their defensive energy goes down and positive energy replaces it. That’s why being empathetic makes it easier for you to solve problems and deal with the customer well.
“empathy is walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins, sympathy is being sorry their feet hurt.
Rebecca o’ Donnell
Advantages if empathizing
You may wonder why it is important to spend time and effort empathizing with a simgle customer when you can use that time to efficiently solve multiple customer issues.
There are many benefits to expressing empathy apart from moving the bottom line which is “making customers happy” but before we began with the advantages let’s look at how you can show your customers empathy.
Likeability: it sounds cheesey, but smiling when taking to customers can make huge difference, it comes across over the phone and they will feel it in your voice.
Listen carefully: be a good listener and try to repeat what the customers says to assure them that you are listening and that you understand their concerns.
Make it your problem: take ownership of the customers questions, especially if it is a complaint, have a one to one relationship with your customer so that they have a point of contact that they can come back to.
Be respectful: make sure you talk to the customer with respect. Never talk down to the customer or talk over them, approach it like a regular professional conversation an they will appreciate you for it.
How to cultivate empathy
Even at this everybody has some degree of empathy? But for some because of unfair parental environments are far behind. And like any other thing you can develop your own degree.
Maintain positivity: being empathetic to the first customer of the day is eazy, but to treat the last customer in the same way you treated the first customer, you need to remain positive and motivated.. a good way to stay positive is by observing yourself for a week and nothing down the times you feel a positive or a negative emotion and the event that trigger it,
This will give you a clear idea of what activities to avoid when you have to remain positive to get through the day.
Understand your biases
We instinctively make judgement based on language, color, gender, religion accent, and vocabulary. We don’t notice when we are acting out of bias but it makes us treat some customers differently than others. For example, assuming that a customer would not be tech savvy because they are older and blaming them for the issues they are facing is because of our bias, this bias creates a barrier between agent’s and customer.
To cultivate empathy, you need to recognize your biases. Every time you assume something about someone when there is no data to support it, contemplates and find out if that was because of a bias.
Understand your customer base
When you don’t understand where customers us coming from, it’s eazy to think that they are overreacting to a simple problem, it’s hard to mask those thoughts and act as if you are empathetic. To cross that barrier, you need to figure out who your customers are and what your product or service means to them. In the context of their educational background, age, company, organizational structure etc. You can really bridge the gap and cultivate empathy.
Expressing empathy as a company
Empathy flows from the top down, when the leadership is customer-focused and empathetic, the employees are more likely to do what is right for the customer too, most of the horrible customer support stories are rarely about the individual support rep involved, it’s a reflection of the company culture.
Empathy and freedom go hand in hand. If you lead a company or manage a team, encourage your support agents to break rules now and then do what is right for the customer, some companies even provide a small budget for each support team member so they have the freedom to go above and beyond whenever necessary.
Today’s consumers have more industry influence than they’ve ever had in the past. Now, consumers are interested in what you are selling than how you’re selling it, and what happens after you have sold it to them. And for your company to survive you’ve to align with this shift. You have to invest in your company team to meet this demand, your main focus should be on how to manage and grow a great customer relationship.
So what’s it
Customer relations is the process a business uses to proactively develop positive relationships with it’s customers. The aim is they may be highly engaged and satisfied with the business.
Why should you prioritize customer relations
Since we have what customer relation is, and the present pressure that’s now on it, let’s try look at some few reasons we need it most.
a. Word of mouth
In an interview on forbes, Jeff bezos said, “it used to be that if you made a customer happy, they would tell friends. Now, with the megaphone of the internet whether online customers or socialmedia, they can tell 5,000 friends,” spending on marketing and advertising to acquire new customers can be expensive. Relationship marketing causes customers to do the marketing for a brand, by telling others about the brand, product and services, which can drive sales with exceptional relationship marketing program.
b. Customers retention:
Companies that do a better job at managing customer relationships are more likely to see higher retention rates. Research by bain & company found that a 5% increase in customer retention can increase company profits by 25%.
On average,repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers. Plus acquiring new customers can be anyone from 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining current ones.
C. Customer loyalty:
Amazon’s brands is now so trustworthy that plenty of people have signed up for a new service called Amazon key. This service allows a delivery person to open your front door to leave packages inside your home.
When you have a good history with your customers, it makes it more difficult for your competitor’s to carry away customer from your brand. Repeat customers are highly valuable for business as repeat customers are nine times more likely to buy from you than leads that have not yet being converted.
How to build your employees for great customer relationship Service
Simon sinek said, “customers will never love a company until the employees love it first” your employees are the ones who control all the communication with the customer.. so no great experience comes from the product being sold but also from the employees who interact with the customer.
Studies show that 67% of customers churn is avoidable if the customers issues is resolved after first interaction with the company.
So if your employees don’t like their job, negativity and resentment will propagate.
Companies faced with higher volumes of support and services cases can adopt customer service tools to help manage customer relations, adding a help desk software can significantly help customer service support, and successful teams monitor interactions with customers overtime, tools like a customer relationship manager, or CRM. Can helps your team expands it ba
The credit Industry actively entices all Comer’s especially the young and inexperienced, with the price of credit. Critics charge their aggressive practice borders on predatory spending, taking unfair advantage of those who shouldn’t be borrowing.
With nearly trillions in unpaid consumer debt, a million household filling for bankruptcy each year (more or less, depending on the year) and a very low saving rate, how can one be free of consumer debt and finally start building wealth?
Sometime you need more than just a payment schedule to get out of debt. If you’re constantly juggling payments, robbimg Peter to pay Paul, or using credit cards to fill in the gaps in your budget, more help may be in order.
DEALING WITH BAD DEBT SO YOU CAN START BUILDING GOOD. If the borrowed money is simply spent on consumption- vacation, jewelry, or shoe’s that you charge on credit card-then that is bad debt. The car loan that you write out each month is bad debt. Bad debt is debts you pay out form from your own pocket.
Good DEBT are debts someone pays for you. A good business person may borrow money to grow a business. That is good debt if it is paid back out of the positive each flow of business. When you purchase a rental property, you will most likely have a mortgage or loan on the property. If you manage the property. well, the rent from the tenant pays the monthly mortgage payment that is good.
Bad debts sucks
I had once had a tremendous amount of bad debt. Some was from been broke and charging as much as we could on our credit cards just to Survive. More bad debts came from failed business and some from impulse buying livestyle.
It’s a horrible feeling to wake up in the middle of the night, worried how you will pay your next house payment or wondering which expenses I may have to give up next. It sucks it caused conflict with me because I kept telling myself “this shouldn’t be happening to me!” It also cause within me a bulk of stress.
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Back in 2013, the U.S News/world report, Reported, “in it’s nine annual report on student loan debt, Ticas found that nearly 7in10 graduating seniors in 2013-69 percent-left school with the average of $28.400 student loan debt. Increase in 2percent from 2012”
Today, things are only worse. As USA today reports, it was news when outstanding student loan debt surpassed credit card debt and then later exceed $1trillion for the first time. That shocking statistics keep climbing, with no sign of slowing down: America now have more than $1.5 trillion in unpaid education debt, according to federal reserved.
And the average student debt burden today? $30,100. In The U.S the student loan debt crisis is not going away, it’s only getting bigger. And that has big implications for our economy.
Perphaps you’re slightly shocked by the growth of student debt, but maybe you’re also thinking at Least it’s going toward a good college education that’s a good thing right?
Well, aside from he fact that many graduates don’t think their degrees was worth the debt. The reality is that a lot of student loan money doesn’t even go towards an education.
According to USA today about half of students blow some of their school loans money on non educational expenses, including 3% who spend it on alcohol and drugs. According to a NOW student loan survey.”
You read that right. Nearly 50 percent of college kids take out student loan to spend it on things like. *Vacations (3%) *Restaurant (13%) *Clothes. (15%) *Car expenses (19%) *Mounthly expenses like mobile phones (41%)
A ticking small business time bomb
small business are the heart of the American economy, making 65 percent of the net new jobs over the last fiveteen years according to the SBA office of advocacy, now imagine what will happen to our economy if the rate of new small business creation drop drastically as the rate at which student loan debt has increased.
In this case, the ignorance is regarding debt, the conventional financial wisdom is that college debt is good debt because higher education is important getting ahead. But how’s that working out for our nation’s graduates’ not all well.
Four strategies for scoping with students loan
(1) DEFERMENT: deferment allows you to temporarily postpone payment on your loan. Whether or not you have to pay interest on the part of your loan that is defered depends on the type of loan. You have eligible reasons for deferment typically include economic hardship or unemployment, military deployment, enrollment in school or an internship program, etc. Since programs change, you’ll want to check with your lender or the student loan websites in the resources section to find out if deferment is an option.
(2) FOBEARANCE: if you are temporarily unable to meet your repayment schedule but not eligible for a deferment, you may receive forbearance for a limited and specified period-ussually for up to twelve month at a time for the total of thirty six months. During FOBEARANCE, your payments are postpone or reduced. Whether your loans are subsided or reduced. Whether your loan are subsided or unsubsidized, you will be charged interest. It is very important that you contact your lender. About deferment or forbearance before you fall behind on your payments. If you wait until you are behind, you may not be eligible. Continue making your payments until your deferment is approved.
If you are approved for student loan forbearance or deferment, it Should not be reported negatively on your credit reports, and should not hunt your credit scores.
(3) GRADUATED PAYMENT PLAN: with one of these plans, your payment start out low and will rise overtime. This plan is often good for a student who is just staring out and expect their salary to increase, as they gain more experience. Cautious: one of these plans can stretch your loan out as long as thirty days.
(4)EXTENDED REPAYMENT PLAN. and extended repayment plan allows you to pay your student loan over 12-30 years instead of the standard ten years plan. It is more expensive, but if the lower payments keep you out of default it may be worth it.
The assumption that, because you have your mortgage paid off, travel less, buy less, and live a less active lifestyle, you I’ll spend less when you retire is not true at all.
According to an article on MarketWatch, “living to 100? That will be $3.5m,” the average money spent by age 50 is $1.5million and the average spent between 50 to 81- the average life expectancy- is $1.4million. plan on living to 190? That will cost an additional $630.000, for a total of $2.3 million in the last half of your life, that’s nearly a million more the first 50 years. Life is not less expensive in retirement, even if you’re tying to live flugallt. It’s more expensive.
And also as market watch reports, starting in your 70s, your healthcare cost will rise 30% on average, reaching $48,400 (with $8,100 in prescription costs on top of that). If you make it to 80, your health insurance costs end up being 57% higher, and in your 90s you might need assisted living, which comes in at a whooping $89,000.
Okay. Now the question is why would life get more expensive even as the costs is expected to get down? You I’ll spend different you don’t spend less. The fun goes down the healthcare goes up.
And the worst news is most Americans can’t retire, because there are many who don’t have enough money to retire, “the medium family of retirement age has $12,000 in savings. That is a terrifying figure for a country where social security, the state pension pays out a maximum of roughly $2,500 a mouth, and pensions for both public and private employees are underfunded.”
Saving for investing
Since saving in our traditional 401(k) has been proving faulty, then saving for investing can be a sure way to retire rich, because investing either in business or real estate can guarantee higher returns, and you can have full control over it.
All couples need to talk about money issues, such as who will pay the bills, what kind of checking accounts they will have (individual, joint, or both) which I much prefer to be joint. And how much personal spending will be allowed. Trouble handling money can caui stress in relationship and even lead to divorce. For example, large debts brought in a marriage often cause probly for couples because if the stress involved in getting the debts completely paid off.
When money problems get our of conty, so can the relationship, argument can cause tensions to violence, when money problems soar to this level, couples need to seek outside help immediately with a professional counselor. Hope fully, the information provide in this post will help couples find a way to discuss money issues away. To discuss money issues before those issues get too serious. Dealing with money can be very difficult for couples. But it can be done.
Reasons couples fight about money.
1. Power
traditionally, men have made more money and more power in families. While some women have depended solely on their husbands for financial support however, many women today are working as much as men and making a good deal of money. As women bring more money into the home, they feel free to make decisions about what they does with money.
2. Priorities
one partner may think that saving money for the future is most important, while the other partner may believe that the money should be used to buy those things that are immediately desired. It is very important to discuss priorities so both partners needs will be meet.
Keep joint account: some couples think the best way to avoid money arguments is to keep sperate checking accounts. His paycheck goes in one account, hers goes into another, and they each pay bills separately. No harm, no foul, right? Wrong. This lays the groundwork for financial problems as time goes on.
But to be sincere separating the money and splitting the bills is a bad idea that only leads to more money and relationship problems down the road. Marriage is a partnership, the officiant said, “and now you are one” both parties need to be involved in the finances.
Team work: Don’t keep the money details all to yourself. And stop acting like a know-it-all while using your “knowledge” to boss Around your free spirit spouse. And if you’re the more carefree spouse, don’t just nod your head and say, “that looks great dear” you have a vote in the budget meetings! Give feedback, criticism and encouragement.
Even though one person might be saver and the other is more inclined to spend. While that can cause some marital problems isn’t the real issue. The source of the problem is whenever one of you neglects to hear out from participating in the financial dealing altogether.
Don’t let salary difference divide you: For most couples, one of them probably makes more money than the other. Rarely will you both be making exact same salary. But whether the amount comes to $50 or $50,000 more a year, the same problem can arise.
Instead of seeing the full post as “our money,” you might think you have leverage over the other-all thanks to a few extra digits on your paycheck. Sometimes the spouse bringing the most money can feel entitled to the most say. Don’t even go there that’s just asking for more money and relationship troubles.
But it’s not “yours” or “mine”- it’s “ours” there’s no reason to hold a higher income over the others head. You are on the same team. Start acting like it.
4.don’t let your expectation gets the best of you. One of the biggest dividers between couples and money is when they have unmet expectations. The quickest way to feel unfulfilled and unsatisfied with your spouse and financial goals is when you expect things to go a certain way only find out reality is a big different. There is no rule stating married couples have to buy home, start a family, or go on a trip to Paris during their first year of marriage if those things aren’t feasible for you right now, stop worrying. Get your finances in order now so that later you make your dreams a reality.
Talk about it
Talking about money is of every important for a healthy relationship. Many couples say money causes conflict and stress in relationships. But often it is not the money that causes the problems. Most people do not like to talk about finances. But for couples trying to maintain a good relationship, it is especially tough. First, no one want to appear to be selfish. When talking about money leads to conflict. It may feel like the relationship is failing, second. Because men sometimes makes more money, women think they don’t have the right to Express their feelings about money. This is more common if the woman doesn’t work outside the home. If the women doesn’t make decisions about money, it may lessen the worth of the child care and management she provides in the home.
The best time for couples to begin discussion money is before the wedding so both know what the other expects and how they will spend their money. However, most couples do not discuss money before marriage.
Here are some money issues that couples need to talks about: Goals About money Besure to be open and honest with each other. And try to understand each other’s goals about money. Goals change throughout mirrage. It is very important to discuss ideas with a partner and understand each other’s difference in other to secure a stable financial future. It is okay to disagree, but work together to make both people Happy. When having trouble agreeing on how to spend money, visit financial counselor. This service is often free of charge, and it is well worth the effort to get advice from neutral third party.
What is expectations
Expectations play a major role in how easily couples adjust to differences in money management styles. Some families have discussion before making a major purchase and plan for big expenses like vacation, but others do not. If one partner came from a family that discussed money issues and the other did not, there expectations can differs significantly. Conflicting expectations can lead to constant disagreement over how many is spent. Expectations come from observing family rules about money. All families have rules. Partners can discuss what the rules were in their family growing up.
72 percent of American families carry some king of debts.
the majority of Americans will retire with less than $10,000 in annual income, and with little or no retirement savings.
*average family carries a credit and debt of $4,000 from mouth to mouth.
the average household has 10 credit cards (with an average interest rate of 18 percent) “Money is one of the most important subject’s of your entire life, some of life’s greatest enjoyments and most of life’s greatest disappointment stem from your decisions about money. Whether you experience great peace of mind or constant anxiety will depends on getting your finance under control.” (Robert G. Allen) The more we know about money the more we can control it in a purposeful and liberating way. Unfortunately, personal finances is a topic that is seldom taught in school, not that the school system is in error, but they expect you to learn in on your own. And since most of our time is term to be spend with our parent. Will are then tempted to learn from them. And in most case our parents weren’t Good at it. So we then found our financial world a failure. Has always been said that there are two things that sharpen your life. Association and study materials. And is also same to our finance.
Growing up, you may have eargerly looked forward to being on your own. No one telling you not to eat pizza for breakfast, being able to stay up all hours of the night, putting whatsoever you want on your Walls-what is not to love about it? However now that you are actually on your own, you may be a little well, terrified, along with adult freedoms come responsibilities. Such as getting a car, renting, establishing your credit bills and still have something left over for savings and fun. This guide provides you with what you need to know to succeed on the road to financial independence.
Budgeting
The most common cause of financial problems, such as having credit card debt or not being able to pay Bill’s and save, is spending more than what you are earning. Proverb 24:3-4 says “any enterprise which is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common senses, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts”(tlb) and one of the best tool for managing your money successfully is to budget. You may be growing up now. Thinking budgeting is about as much fun, as taking a trip to the dentist. But it’s fairly painless process. A budget is actually a plan for how you will spend your money, will you all on bills? Not smart. Your first item on a budget list should be you, paying yourself.
The first step in creating a budget is to write down what your income and expense are now, figure out the categories you want to use. There are several areas. Where you might want to set aside money each month. Including groceries, babysitting, toiletries, pet care kid's activities gasoline, dry cleaning gift's, car Repair's, hair care entertainment and extras. Will I'll look a it later.
Be reponsible
Lack of attention=deterioration Focused attention=achievement Another step on the path to financial success is accepting responsibility. That you are in control of your financial future. And every choice you make can make an impact. No matter your age or education, you need to be in control of your financial matters. You can only be fully aware of your responsibility and obligations if you are involved from the start. It is okay to ask for help but you should be the one doing the work.If you borrow money or enter into another type of financial commitment, you need to understand your rights and responsibilities and follow through with obligations from the debt.
making your payment on time and in full and repaying the debt in full(including interest). CHECKING ACCOUNT Having a checking account makes life much easier, and it is much safer than keeping your money under your mattresses-what exactly happened if you do try to use your debit card or write a check when you do not have enough money in your account? That depends on the way your accounts is set-up. Monitoring your account balance is good way to prevent overdrawing or bouncing checks. it is necessary to check your balance every time you want to buy. A $1 pack of gum or $3 magazine? No. But it is good idea to do so whenever you are not sure if there is enough money in your account. In this day and Age, knowing your balance is a snap- most financial institutions will let you check it over the phone or online, (Remember to subtract from your balances the amount of any automatic debits that will occur before your next deposit and outstanding checks)
Prior to opening a checking Account thoroughly conduct a research to find a bank credit union, or other type of financial institution that provide an account that best suits your need.
Manage your credit card wisely
In order to have a good credit report and score, you need to have and use credit responsibly. Because credit are borrowed money. You must repay them, so don’t spend more than you can afford to pay in full, if you do not pay your balance in full each mouth, interest will accrue and will be added to the total amount you owe but amist all this tremendous benefits of credit card. Poor use of your credit card can rapidly place you into debt.But it's also important to note and compare the features of each card, including the;
*annual percentage rate (APR) this is the interest that you are charged on any balance that you Carry over. Or do not pay off your balances in full every mouth, the APR is not important. But doesn’t Hunt look for a card with low (APR)
*fees:it is standard for creditors to charge a fee for paying late or going over credit limit. But you should avoid a annual fee unless you are new to the credit system.
*credit limit: the credit limit is the maximum amount you can borrow at any given point in time, having a higher credit limit is better for your credit score. But if you are worried you may overspend is Good to go for a low credit limit. Limit your number of credit cards having only a few (or one) credit cards will make it easier to manage, your spending and prevent overspending. And don't always carry your credit cards with you. Having access to money you wouldn't typically have. If you leave the card at home you may think twice before using it to buy items.
Live within your means now, and then increase your means
Living within your means may seen like simple common sense, all you need to do is spend less than you make, right? For many of us, though. The reality is much more challenging than this basic concept. If your expenses exceed your income. You charge more than each mouth than you pay off. Or you’re not saying toward your goals, you are in fact living beyond your means. And cheating your self out of making the most of your money. Don’t get discouraged. Though there is a way to gain control over your finance. Most of us have some expenses we can reduce or eliminate, while fixed living expenses are generally more difficult to adjust than discretionary expenses. If you are truly committed to your goals, a little creativity can go a long way consider each expenses carefully, is there anything you spend money on that you can reduce, substitute, postponed or forges.and beside that you ought to increase your financial education, and then do the real thing. Living below means is that the best alternatives that why you need to increase your means for a balance financial life.
How to create a budget
Establishing a budget and monitoring it on a regular basis is not easy, but it’s the best way to ensure you are in control of your financial future, think of your budget has a spending plan, it helps you be aware of how much money you have, where it needs to go and how much, if any, is left over.
Determine your imcome A.review your paystubs and check register to identify how much money you are earning. B. Do not include overtime pay. It is not considered regular income.
Determine your expenses A. Review your checkbook register, store receipts, and billing statements to see where your money is going.
Fixed expenses include items such as a rent, auto, or student loans that must be paid each month, theses expenses typically are the same amount.
Flexible expenses includes items such as food, clothing and entertainment that vary from mouth to mouth.
B.list each of your expenses separately, do not group things such as eating out and groceries together and list them and food. Do not add cable, cell phone, power, and water together and list them as utilities. If you want to consider each expenses, you’ll want to consider each expenses individually.
C. Be certain to include expenses that are billed quaterly, semi-annually, or annually, each as taxes or insurance.
D. Always Remember that savings must be first on your list of expenses.
CREATE A BUDGET A. a budget should meet your “need” first, then the “want” that you can afford.
B. Your expenses should be less than or equal to your total income.
C. If your income is not enough to cover your expenses, adjust your budget (your spending) by deciding which expenses can be reduced.
TOOLS FOR CREATING A BUDGET make sure you choose a tool that is easy enough that you won’t get discouraged from using it. Each person has their own style. So be sure to pick the best one for you. If the if the calciltor above doesn’t work for you here are some other ideas: A mapping your futures free and easy budget calculator: °mappingyourfuture.org/budgetcalculator.cfm °simple handwriting notebook °microsoft excel spreadsheet °money management computer or online tools.
REVIEW YOUR BUDGET Be certain to review your budget regularly, does the budget meet your needs and help you achieve your goals? If not! Make some adjustments or create a new budget that better meets your
Most financial expect agree that children have a basic understanding of money as early as three. And financial habit are mainly form by the age of seven. According to a study by University of Cambridge.
Yet with national debt at an all-time time high. The Average American household carrying over $15,000, in credit card debt and recent student loan debt ever, many parents lack comfidence when it comes to teaching their kids about money- at the time that financial education has become more important than ever.
Those parents that do teach their kid about money often teach then very basic and sometimes even useless Imformations.
But below will have put together what we can term the most significant thing every up growing kid need to know about money.
1. How to create money:
Surprising that the first thing some parents teach there kids about money is how to write a check, and later become surprise how money get lost from there account.
Earn income: is what employees make by exchanging their time for a paycheck. It is the hghest taxed income, has the least security. And is capped (you can only work so long and there are only so many hours in the day).
Passive income: is what investors and entrepreneurs make by finding cash-flowing investments or creating and selling a product, they make money even while they are sleeping. And they even use that money to make more money by finding more investments or funding new products it is the least taxed, has the most security because you are in control, and has no capital.
2. Spending:
Teach your kids the value of making thoughtful purchases by allowing them to buy the luxuries they want. For example, keep food in the house for your kids to be able to pack their own lunches, but if they want to buy food at school. Then they pay for it themselves. It could save you money, help your kids to be thoughtful about what they spend their money on, and likely ensure they eat healthier foods than what the school provides.
Kids don’t usually understand the cost of things aside from stricker price, so it’s up to you to teach Your kids about less obvious (or even hidden costs) if your kids want to make a big purchase like an iPhone or a car, teach them about the added expenses of monthly data plans, insurance, repairs, etc.
When it comes to spending, your kids are going to make mistakes, and that’s okay! They will likely experience buyers remorse at some points and may turn to you for help, if this happens compassionately let them experience the consequences of their actions. Particularly if you warned them before they made the purchase. The pain they made now will help then make better choices when the stakes Are higher.
3. Teach them how there money got stolen by the government.
There are four wealth- stealing forces when it comes to money: taxes, debt, inflation, and retirement.
The government uses taxes to take your money legally.
The bank use credit cards to get you in debt.
The central Banks uses inflation to lower the value of the money you have.
And the banking industry uses mutual funds and 401(k)s to steal from you via fees under the quest of saving for retirement.
If your young one and children could understand the ways in which their money was stolen legally. They could be able to hold into more of it and take control of their financial future.
4. Teach them through allowance.
And allowance is one of the practical way to teach your children to manage their finances well. However you determine what your kids should earn, their allowance giving to them on a regular basis help them learn this management lessons rather than sparodic installements. When deciding howmuch your child should get for an allowance. There are few things to think about. There age, your family I’m come and what their allowance is meant to cover.
As soon as your kids start receiving allowance, teach then to budget by providing for them the breakdown of where there money goes. Percentages and categories will defers consider something along the lines.
40% allocated to spending.
40% allocated to saving.
10% allocated to charitable giving.
10% toward family taxes.
For younger kids, provide their allowance in small denominations for eazy allocation and save then into separate labeled clear jars or plastic bin so they can watch their money grow in each category.
5. Teach them the difference between liability and asset.
Simply put, an asset is anything that puts money into your pocket. A liability is anything that takes money out of your pocket.
This actually creates some counter intuitive thinking. For instance when we say “your house is not an asset” people get it very hard to accept, until when the housing market crashed. People found there house to be liability in the end of day. Why? They had overpaid and market made them upside down, the reality is that real estate housing is only an asset when it put
Three out of every ten workers in the US are now “free agents” and although many of these individuals are brilliant in their work, unfortunately they often don’t have a good grasp on the essentials of business. Although they are the zealous group on the whole, the kind of people who prefer to make the rules rather than play by someone else’s. They have something greater than stability; maybe the integrity of their craft, or even just freedom of setting their own hours.
In other to save this bulk of zealous folks from a trial by fire we have bring together this to ensure their finances are in order.
1. don’t let it be just a budget:
When independent contractors are first starting out they often charge too little because they fail to take into account all the things their former employer used to cover, Now that you are the owner, you have to set your rate high enough and get enough work to pay for benefits you must provide yourself.
Here are thing to put to mind as you set your rate.
Taxes: determine what kind of Independence contractor the IRS says you are early on, so you can properly ascertain what your tax obligation are. You will likely have to be pay what is called self-employment tax and you will likely want to pay the taxes on your earning every quarter. This is where your record-keeping practices are essential. Set aside at least 25% of your initial payment for taxes to makes certain you’re not blindsided by a hefty bill from Uncle Sam.
RETIREMENT: harness the power of compounding, allowing your nest egg to snowball in a tax-deferred account and financially age with Grace. Working or you dream of retiring at age35, you need to prepare for the day are no longer bringing in income.
LIFE INSURANCE AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (health insurance). even if you are young, it would be foolish to disregard disability insurance. As a free agent. If you don’t come in, and if some tragedy or you broke your hand, (making tying an arduous process) you need to have the insurance. Though it’s not mandatory by the law you must take it into account.
SAVINGS: since you are not borrowing for purchase again, you have to set aside some money for the purchase and the future.
2. Create an emergency fund:
This should become your priority. Although it’s depends on your personal situation, most financial planner recommend saving enough for at least six months, in both your personal and business expenses. This will set you up for the times when work is harder to come by and will protect you from being in a situation where take you don’t feel good about just because you are desperate for work.
And for you to get this possible you have to define what make up emergency for your family, too, a vacation is not a emergency, emergency fund is your protection against life unexpected events. And you are going to have a lot of the during your life time. But the fact is that they wouldn’t really be unexpected if you program then in advance
3. pay yourself regularly:
Although contracting can be a rollercoaster ride of peaks and valleys in your income, give yourself the gift of a consistent paycheck. This will reduce your stress and make monthly budgeting much easier. In order to provide the consistency, take your average income over the last year and divide by twelve, giving you a monthly amount. If you’re just starting to freelance, measure your expenses over the last year instead and divide by twelve. Once you factor in the costs in. This will help you determine what you need to make.
This is how you pay yourself has a freelancer.
YOUR BUSINESS ENTITY: is where it all begins in fact, it’s the foundation for the entire payroll process. And will help point you to the payment style right for you.
HOW MUCH TO PAY YOURSELF: spend some quality time with your profit&loss(p&l) statement to see how much net profit you are making in each month. Then deduct your own pay from that account-not total revenue.
PICK A PAYROLL SCHEDULE: if your business has at least one employee (including yourself), you need to think about how often you want to pay yourself. In the U.S, the most popular payroll schedules are twice a month, every two weeks. Most States require that you follow a certain calendar, so find where your States falls on this chart from the department of labour.
Avoid the temptation to pour everything back into the businesses; you deserve a paycheck for your peace of mind and an accurate account of how your business is really doing. Continue to pay yourself as if you were an employee
4. Get professional advice.
Just because you are an independent contractor doesn’t mean you have to face everything alone, get a coach. Find a mentor, hire a C.P.A benefit form the power of a community through a freelancers union. And the world feels a little less could when you have support and never know what you may learn or who you may meet through the community you cultivate.
5. Open a separate business account:
Life is messy enough; you do not want to have to sort through business and Personal expenses at every turn. Use a separate business account for the aforementioned business emergency fund, your salary, taxes, your retirement fund and business expenditure.
Even in the great depressions, people come out millionaires. Today will be no different,but only if you know the right path of getting there. Building lasting wealth start with focus.
The key to being successful is knowing how and where to focus your time and efforts. A while back I was talking with someone who sell. A hot demanded community to a assembly line. Tell me that he wanted to quit and start selling training material online, he wondered if I thought was good idea to diversify and resell self improvements program online.
Here was someone who was doing fairly well with is business and about to take is eye off is primary source of income. To try something he knew nothing about, bad idea.
Focus your efforts strategically
Knowing how and where to focus your efforts is a habit of successful people.
Know who your customer are and were they’re. Then direct all your efforts towards finding then there. and attracting then to your business, finding a proven, generating leads, converting leads to clients, maximizing sales and generating repeat sales. Can easily double your income while cutting time on the job in half (or even more).
Major financial obstacles and how to overcome them through focus.
There are many major obstacles that deter financial success. The most common reason is that some people believe, for whatever reason that they don’t deserve to be rich. Now I know that some of you may be asking why is that.
Of course, this is untrue. Yet, this negative way of thinking can lead to destructive financial habits, and most of the time this habits can be hard to break.
Find what you are good at and become rich doing it.
If you want to be rich and successful, the key is finding something you’re good at,. Focus your efforts on help people….and become rich doing it.
If this man were to Branch out and begin selling self-improvement programs online, odd are he would have no time to grow is current business. His finances would suffer over there all while trying (and failing) to build a new business online.
You shouldn’t try to diversify across too many niches. You need to focus your business and marketing strategy to ensure the best results.
For example, every successful business owner knows they need a marketing strategy to attract new clients and make more money. But most don’t know how and where to focus their marketing. They try a little of this and a little of that in a way of finding results.
Change your attitude toward money.
Negative experience in childhoods, which are too common, can have terrible effects. For example, when people actually found succeed as the result of hard work, they feel guilty.
These guilty feeling then cause then to do things to get rid of the money, to throw it away. They spend it or invest it foolishly. They lend it, lose it or give it away. They engaged in self sabotage, excessive drinking, drug usage, marital infedelity and often dramatic personality change.
To change your results with, you have to change your attitude toward it, you have to make it a habit of seeing money as something positive.
See yourself has deserving of money.
Sometimes people say that they are not very good with money. But being good with money is a skill anybody can learn through practice. Usually, saying that one is not very good with money is merely an excuse or rationalization. The fact that the person is not very successful or diciplined with money. Means he or she has not learned how to acquire it or how to hold it.
The starting point of accumulating money is believing in yourself. You have an unlimited capacity to obtain all the money that you will ever need
Money is essential to our lives.
Money is Good, money gives you choices and enables you choose and live on your own term. Money opens doors for you that would have been closed in absence.
Money is essential to our lives in society, it is also neutral. It is neither good nor bad. It is only the way
Lets hustle 