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We all understand how hectic the life of a business owner can be. Believe it or not, though, there are some simple things you can do to help your company thrive. To this end, here are some accounting tips that can help.

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Keep Your Personal and Business Finances Separate

Instead of your personal funds being put into a personal account, becoming a business owner means that some business-based finances will be combined with your personal funds. The last thing anybody wants to do is sit down and go through every single shopping list or personal transaction in order to locate that one crucial piece of company information.

To keep things simple, create a new bank account for all of your company expenses.

Follow this accounting tip and keep your personal funds separate from your business finances. Then you will no longer need to waste time sifting through endless transactions.

Make Sure Your Records Stay Organized

Some people prefer a little chaos in their lives, while others find it difficult to concentrate if their papers are unorganized and untidy. That may be okay in your personal life, but when it comes to your books, try to maintain them properly so that you don’t waste time looking for them when they’re all over the place.

Follow this tip and keep your accounting records properly organized. This will save you time searching and allow you to spend more time doing what your business needs from you.

Then, when tax deadlines approach, you’ll be glad you took the time all year to make sure your papers were neat, tidy, and more organized.

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Stick to Tax Deadlines

Whatever it takes to help you remember that tax deadlines are rapidly approaching, do it. Anything from phone reminders to a countdown will suffice. A looming tax deadline might be anxiety-inducing, especially if you’re rushing because you forgot. You’re more like to make mistakes in this frame of mind. Any errors you could make take even longer to process.

It’s a very simple procedure. Follow this tip in your accounting practices and take note of the tax deadline. Then set a reminder ahead of time so you have adequate time to fill out your taxes accurately without making any mistakes. The rest is straightforward. Your records will be correct and you can concentrate on other things until the following deadline.

Keep Receipts

We’re not suggesting you keep and file every single receipt after each transaction, but you should retain any business-related purchase receipts so that you may claim for any business costs. It all depends on the sort of company you run. If you work from home in the UK, for example, you can claim certain household expenses such as stationery and postage. In the US, the rules are somewhat more complex, so be sure to consult a tax professional for advice.

Keep any business-related purchases or expenditures and file them away in organized records. This is one of many accounting tips that can save you time, hassle, and money.

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Budget for Taxes

Even if you or your company are making substantial profits, you should pay attention to this accounting tip. Every business needs to budget to pay some of their profit in taxes. Start by putting aside money for this in your budget as you go. This way, you won’t be blindsided at the end of the year.

Use a savings account to set aside a portion of your income to pay your tax bill without difficulty and benefit in other ways from the remainder of your money.

Understand Tax Rules

When it comes to taxes, you should understand which ones pertain to you and your company so that you know which sorts of taxes you’ll have to pay. Income tax, National Insurance, Corporation Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), and business rates – do your homework on all of them so you know what you owe.

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Create Profit and Loss Statements

GGM Accountancy defines profit and loss statements as “a financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs, and expenses incurred during a given period, which is usually a fiscal quarter or year. The profit and loss statement is the same as the income statement.” These records show a company’s capacity or inability to generate profit by increasing revenue, lowering expenses, or both. This accounting tip will help you better manage your business.

Balance Sheet

One of the duties of company directors is to maintain a balance sheet. A balance sheet is a comprehensive record of a firm’s financial assets. It’s critical to know what you should record on a balance sheet and how you should fill it in.

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These Accounting Tips Will Lead to a More Profitable Business

The tips we offer here will help you to better manage the accounting side of your business. And when you can do that, everything else about your company will flow more smoothly, too.

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal agency created to protect the safety of all U.S. workers. They put safety regulations in place to prevent job-related injuries, illnesses, and death from occurring at workplace. These regulations are important to follow since they also protect your business from harm.

Reviewing an OSHA compliance guide extensively helps businesses ensure they’re not violating any regulations. Failure to do so could result in some serious consequences. Some consequences can include fines, citations, and even possibly the closure of your business. Here are some ways you can help prevent OSHA violations from occurring in your workplace.

Ergonomics and Workplace Conditions

OSHA requires that your business provide a workplace free of hazards and safe for all employees. That means ensuring the safety of everything from the height and condition of equipment used by employees to the type of work they will be doing regularly. You can prevent many injuries or hazards  and protect your business through proper ergonomic training.

It’s also important to ensure that all work areas are free of tripping hazards, sharp edges, and other dangerous conditions. OSHA also mandates employers provide protective equipment to employees that is appropriate for the work they will be doing regularly. Following these mandates will protect your business long-term.

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Safety Training

Hazardous conditions aren’t the only health and safety issues you should be concerned about regarding OSHA regulations. Provide all employees with adequate training on properly using any equipment or materials that may be hazardous. For example, with certain tools, chemicals, and machinery they will be using on the job.

If you fail to provide any employees with proper safety training, you could face fines or citations. Consider providing ongoing safety training programs to all employees on an ongoing basis to further protect your business.

Hazard Communication

OSHA requires that employers provide all necessary information about chemicals used in the workplace to their employees, including proper labels on containers of these chemicals. You must also train employees how to handle the chemicals safely before they ever come into contact with them.

This is done through the use of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). For instance, you should separate water for drinking or cleaning from the chemicals used in your workplace. Also, employees must have easy access to an eyewash station.

Creating a Safety Committee

Many small businesses fail to implement effective health and safety policies simply because they lack the resources or expertise needed to protect their business. This can be especially true when developing comprehensive workplace safety programs that comply with OSHA regulations.

The best solution is often to create a safety committee composed of employees who can help develop and implement your company’s overall health and safety program. This will make it much easier to identify unsafe conditions in your workplace. They will also advise management on how best to correct them.

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Employee Exposure to Hazards

OSHA requires employers to monitor the condition of any work environment that could be potentially hazardous. That means having employees conduct air quality tests for safety purposes and checking for things like electrical hazards and toxic wastes that may appear in the work environment.

Conduct these tests regularly and immediately address any identified issues. This will protect your business of any unnecessary hazards.  If your business doesn’t already have an established safety program to monitor environmental conditions, it’s time to create one.

Having Effective Incident Reporting Procedures

OSHA requires employers to investigate any accidents or injuries that occur at work immediately. Maintain an accurate log of every incident that occurs, including the date and time it happened, as well as a detailed account of what transpired.

For example, if an employee is injured when using a piece of equipment, you must investigate why the accident happened. This will help you determine how you could prevent it in the future and what to do to correct it. This can also help protect your business from unexpected lawsuits or legal trouble if handled properly in the future.

Providing Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that all employers must provide to their full-time employees. This type of coverage usually provides medical expenses and a percentage of the employee’s salary for time missed from work due to injury or illness.

This can be an important first step in helping your business avoid any OSHA fines or citations for accidents that take place at work. It’s a good idea to consult with a qualified insurance representative to find out the types of coverage to protect your business and to stay in compliance.

Final Thoughts

There are many ways that your business can get hit with fines or citations from OSHA, even if you have a good safety program in place. However, it’s easy to avoid these mistakes and protect your business in the future.

By establishing safety committees made up of employees and having an incident reporting procedure in place, you can do just that. By implementing these types of organizational changes, you should create the type of health and safety program needed to better protect your employees and business from costly OSHA violations in the future.

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Owning and running a business can be stressful. You want your company to be successful, so you are also always on the lookout for new ways to boost your business and eliminate any issues.

If this sounds like you, you’re in the right place. In this article, we share our best tips and tricks to boost your business.

Use New Tools to Boost Your Business

Since the advent of the internet, possibilities seem endless when it comes to boosting your business. Every day new tools and opportunities arise seemingly out of nowhere.

But since we have so many options, we can also easily feel overwhelmed. What tools really work? Should you choose free tools, or invest in pricey ones? What’s more, as the owner of a small business, where will you ever find the time to search for the right tools?

There are so many questions that come with trying to choose the right tools. But there are good tools out there for boosting your business. You just need to know which tools are best for you and be clear about the specific aspects you need to look for.

Use a Tracking Tool to More Easily Manage Workers

Do you have multiple employees, some of whom work at home and others who work in the office? In other words, does your office have a hybrid setup?

Of course you want to know exactly how many hours each employee is working. But maybe you don’t know how to keep track of it all. We recommend using a tool such as Papershift. Papershift is easy for employees and supervisors alike to work with.

You will be able to track your employees’ working hours with little effort, since employees will be able to register their work hours with just a few clicks. Then the app will calculate all the data for you. You’ll have an easy method for tracking your employees’ time, but you won’t need to invest much time and effort. And with all that time you save, you’ll be freed up to come up with more creative ways to boost your business.

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Rely on Social Media Marketing

There are so many tools for social media marketing, but you might wonder why you should use this kind of marketing? Well, if yours is an online business, it could be exactly the kind of marketing your company needs.

You’ll find that social media marketing will be an easy way to reach your ideal customer without spending a lot of money. What’s more, you won’t need to rely on traditional advertising that can be so expensive. Instead, you can boost your business by way of a free business page in addition to your personal social media profile.

However, it’s important to remember that you will attract more new customers if you present yourself as a professional. Make sure to show your business in the best possible light. Possible tools to consider for social media marketing are apps and software that help you schedule your posts automatically, saving time as well as money.

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Try Email Marketing to Boost Your Business

Have you tried email marketing? With email marketing, you can gain an audience through regular email newsletters. This makes it easy to reach your current and potential customers on a regular basis.

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For example, choose a platform like Mailchimp and send out an email with new details or new products. Follow up a few days later with another email. Contacting your customers regularly with minimal effort is an easy way to boost your business and increase sales.

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Schedule Meetings Like a Pro

Many business owners and workers alike complain that meetings are a waste of time. And sometimes, they are.

On the other hand, productive meetings are an essential aspect when it comes to the success of a company. Regular sales meetings will ensure that people on your sales team, for instance, know about new products. Inform your staff of coming events and trends in ad hoc meetings. Give staff members company news in person whenever you can.

Effective meetings can save everyone’s time. What’s more, everyone on staff will feel a part of the team and they will know what they have to do. To keep meetings effective and productive, use one of the many tools that allow you to schedule meetings with multiple people, such as Google Calendar.

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Conclusion

The tools we suggest here, along with others that suit your company’s specific needs, will give you multiple ways to boost your business as it grows.

Images Courtesy of ERG Air Pollution Control

Businesses have a crucial role to play in the adoption of clean energy solutions. However, a vast majority are unaware of the changes they can make to help the environment.

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The climate crisis is becoming an ever-increasing concern globally. Therefore, the pressure is on for businesses and consumers alike to seek out low-carbon solutions. However, according to a recent survey published by the British Chambers of Commerce, only one in every ten businesses is aware of their carbon footprint. Moreover, only one in seven is setting targets to reduce their carbon emissions.

Businesses have a crucial role to play in the adoption of solutions that help the environment. However, a vast majority are unaware of the changes they can make. So what is clean energy, and how can it benefit your business?

What Is Clean Energy?

The term “clean energy” refers to sources of energy that do not result in the addition of pollutants to the environment.

For example, the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for the introduction of greenhouse gases. Additionally, they introduce PM2.5, which are particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers. These particles contribute to respiratory illnesses and heart disease in densely populated areas.

On the other hand, clean energy sources such as solar panels, wind farms, and hydro-electric dams produce no such pollutants. These cleaner sources of power are becoming more and more viable. In fact, now even domestic households can choose clean energy providers.

Benefits of Clean Energy

Adopting renewable energy sources has the benefit of reducing the amount of air pollution created by fossil fuels. It also has marked benefits in other fields.

The fuels we currently rely on for the majority of our power are, by definition, a finite resource. They also present considerable difficulties in efforts to procure them. A shift to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar negate the supply chain issues inherent to importing petroleum. This leads to a steadier supply of energy and limited possibility of trade-related shortages.

Learn How to Implement Solutions

There are many different angles from which a business can implement clean energy solutions. In the process, it will naturally reduce its carbon footprint. These solutions can be as simple as setting up incentives for employee car-sharing or a cycle-to-work scheme. Either of these ideas would reduce fuel use across the workforce.

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Conversely, they can be as involved as installing gas-cleaning systems to reduce air pollutants created by factory processes. If your business is entirely office-based, switching your business’s energy provider to a clean energy provider such as Ecotricity or Green Energy can go a long way to reducing your carbon footprint.

Businesses Can Help Preserve Quality of Life on Planet Earth While Creating Sustainable Jobs

The sheer importance of clean energy cannot be overstated. In fact, the IPCC warns that current and future changes to our climate may be irreversible. Yearly PM2.5-related deaths could begin to exceed those caused by tobacco.

There is no time like the present to join in fighting the climate crisis. And clean energy solutions are the best possible way to preserve our quality of life and create sustainable jobs in the process.

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Mostly negative spaces in the urban landscape, vacant except for a few cars, urban parking lots stretch the distance you have to walk between your home and the city’s essentials. For many city-dwellers, parking lots were just a fact of life.

Then COVID hit. People dutifully self-isolated, sticking to their communities and immediate surroundings. And all of a sudden, these “facts of life,” these sprawling urban dead spaces, looked peculiar.

In this article, let’s explore the historically overlooked impact of the urban parking lot. How did they come about? Why are they throttling urban life in so many cities? And finally, what are a few innovators doing to tackle the issue?

The Rise of the Urban Parking Lot

To understand the outsized role parking lots play in urban life, you have to go back to the 1920s. According to US census studies, the 1920s marked a major shift toward urbanization. Whereas a century earlier, 1 in 20 Americans lived in a city, by 1920, that figure grew to 1 in 2 people.

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Concurrently, the 1920s were a boom period of the automobile industry. Soldiers returning from WWI, enamored of new advancements in automobiles like the Ford Model T, rushed to buy cars.

These two historical phenomena—growing urbanization and the rise of the automobile—combined to create, in large part, the cities we see today. As urban infrastructure expanded, planners scrambled to accommodate cars. And one significant way they did so was to create sprawling inner-city parking lots.

As Vox reports, the US alone is home to a billion parking spots: four spots for every car on the planet. And many urban areas devote more than half their real estate to parking. 

Dead Spaces

People have cooled on cars since the mid-1900s, at least in inner cities. Access to robust public transit options, taxis, and (more recently) rideshare apps has convinced many city-dwellers that they don’t really need a personal vehicle.

But parking lots remain, the relics of an era obsessed with cars. At best, they are an inconvenience. At worst, urban parking lots geographically isolate communities from necessities, small businesses, and each other. 

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Paving the Way Forward

Thankfully, some innovators are rethinking the parking lot. REEF saw the untapped potential of parking lots and is working to transform them into community hubs. They currently operate an ecosystem of 5,000 locations, using parking lots to host delivery kitchens, micro-healthcare clinics, grocery stores, open-air markets, vertical farms, and other community-focused resources.

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By rethinking these large swaths of unused real estate, companies like REEF hope to connect communities with small businesses. Rather than drive your car four blocks to shop at a box store, you can pop over to the lot next door—now a thriving neighborhood hub—and shop locally. You can give your money back to the community, and hopefully enrich everyone’s urban experience.

To summarize, North American cities were built with cars in mind. But often now, urban parking lots sit unused, dividing people from their immediate communities. The way forward will involve rethinking parking lots, viewing them not as empty “facts of life” but as potential focal points of social and commercial activity.

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Owning and managing rental property is a superior real estate investment opportunity because of the passive income you stand to earn.

But no investment is without risks, and the rental property business certainly has its fair share of potential liabilities.

In this article, we outline six helpful strategies property owners can use to protect their rental property investment.

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Carry out Careful Tenant Screening

Tenants are the primary residents of a rental property. So unless you live on the premises as well, your tenants hold your investment in their hands. They are the ones continuously in contact with it. Thus, it makes sense that when sorting through tenant applications, you take your time to screen potential residents carefully. Run background checks, ask for references, and create air-tight leases. Ensure you leave your investment in charge of responsible adults.

You should also check the conditions of your units through regular inspections and between tenants. Collect and keep time-stamped pictures and videos when possible. No matter how trustworthy and sincere your tenants may seem, it’s better to rely on hard evidence rather than testimony in the event of a dispute.

Study Landlord-Tenant Laws Carefully

The best way to avoid legal minefields is to be familiar with both local and national landlord-tenant laws. It’s essential to adhere to these rules strictly. Doing so will help you avoid a lawsuit that could land you with a heavy fine or threaten your investment in other ways.

You should also familiarize yourself with fair housing laws. Treat all your tenants equally, as discrimination suits can quickly get messy. The best way to avoid such civil claims is to have a written tenant selection policy that justifies your reasons for accepting or rejecting tenant applications.

Prioritize Home Security Measures to Protect Your Rental Property

Smart real estate investors take home security seriously. Many external and internal elements may pose a threat to your rental property. It falls on you to avert these mishaps.

Luckily, you can take full advantage of the fact that we live in a digital age to adopt smart home technologies. Surveillance cameras and security lights can dissuade burglars and trespassers. Smart alarms, thermostats, and other home systems can improve rental maintenance by alerting you to pending problems. Property owners have several options for tools that can help protect the safety of their tenants’ lives and properties.

Get Insurance on Your Rental Property

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Owning rental property includes many risks. You’re liable for damages from the roof of the building to its foundation. Moreover, when accidents happen, they can be costly to repair. Property owners with homeowners’ insurance have extra safety because they don’t have to pay out of pocket for such mishaps. The insurance company takes care of the bill. However, it’s crucial to note that the packages vary. So make it a point to study the various coverages and choose the one that suits your needs and budget.

Set up a Limited Liability Company

You can take it an extra step from insurance and form a limited liability company (LLC). This process separates your personal assets from your business assets. By legitimizing your rental business as an LLC or other corporate entity, you curb the risk of losing everything in the event of a lawsuit. After setting up your LLC, you can transfer the deed of your rental property to the company. If a tenant should decide to sue you, you don’t need to worry about your home, car, or other assets being used for remuneration.

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Vet Employees and Contractors Who Work on Your Rental Property

Managing a rental property is a lot of work and doing it yourself can be tedious. So it’s not unusual for property owners to employ workers to lighten the load. These could include regular staff like a property manager, a janitor, a gardener, or on-demand contractors like an electrician or a plumber. Although these employees are meant to reduce the workload, you could still encounter the rare difficult ones. Take the time to read their reviews and conduct in-depth interviews before hiring.

If you plan to file their work in your tax deductions, ensure you classify your employees appropriately to avoid getting into a hassle with the IRS. It’s also a good idea to keep a copy of your contracts and agreements.

Conclusion

You can’t be a property owner without taking on some risks, but it can be rewarding if you know how to mitigate those risks and protect yourself and your rental property.

Still, it’s helpful to have the best players on your team. Hire a professional who understands the business. They can help you develop clear strategies to minimize your liabilities and maximize your profits.

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Working in content writing and marketing, writers and marketers are tasked with creating engaging articles that will grab the attention of potential readers and entice them to buy into your product. Sounds relatively easy. But how often do you find yourself overthinking a piece of copy? How much time have you spent agonizing over the tiniest detail, making sure what you’ve written is watertight, factually correct, and perfectly articulated?

Once you’ve got your engaging headline and opening sentence where you want it to be, you still have to make sure the rest of our text is readable, engaging, and on topic. What’s more, you want to do so without it being too obvious that yes, you are trying to get your readers to buy into your businesses and services.

There are a few tips that marketers and content writers can follow to make the process simpler while still producing high-quality blog posts and content that both engages your readers and gets your central point across.

Look at the Way They Speak to Each Other

When you get down to writing, remember to get out of your own head and gauge your language to your intended audience. This is a critical part of creating content. You want to speak directly to your reader and solve the problem and intent of their search or visit. Too many articles try to cover all bases. Research is vital to this process, but a good point made simply will beat out a dissertation on a topic. Especially from your reader’s point of view.

Spend Less Time Trying to Get to Your Word Count and More Time Communicating with Your Writing 

So many articles you read try to impress you with complexity and bulk out the article with superfluous points. The majority of people who read our articles aren’t looking for unnecessary fluff. There’s specific information they’re looking for, and if they don’t find it quickly, they won’t hang around. Try out bullet points in your writing. Or use a breakdown or a table for size.

1. The clearer and simpler you make it
2. The easier it is to get your point across
3. And encourage a reader to actually finish reading the entire
4. Piece of content you have spent so much time working on

See what we mean? How much easier was that to digest?

SEO is important but content relevancy is increasingly as strong a factor as word count. Focus on the quality and relevancy of the words you use and succinctly communicate the point you want to get across. This is the goal.

Use Short Sentences and a Conversational Style in Your Writing

As David Ogilvy, a real-life “Mad Man” and advertising guru, once said,

This pearl of wisdom was sent as a memo to his own employees. It is included in the book, The Unpublished David Ogilvy.

Keeping your sentences concise and your paragraphs short makes your content easier to read and digest for your readers. Making a point as simply as possible will always beat a dissertation level analysis when writing an article. When you look at newspapers, for example, they use shorter paragraphs. This makes it easier for readers to absorb the key points of the articles.

Writing in a conversational style is a good way of making sure you keep your writing

You’re not writing an academic paper, so you don’t need to flesh out each section as if you were.

Focusing each section on a single purpose and knowing what message you are trying to convey will help keep your writing relevant and succinct. The writer has identified their main focus for the section in this article about warm weather walks and running on myfitnesspal and they have clearly laid out the topic, keeping the article simple yet informative.

Get Something Down and Edit Ruthlessly: As a Writer Don’t Get Attached to Your First Draft

The first draft is where you can inject passion and energy into your writing. A boring first draft will never become a sparkling final piece. Our favorite technique is to throw energy into the first edition and then use the editing process to bring it back to factual reality. When you get to editing, don’t get sentimental about anything you’ve included in your first draft. Difficult, I know, and it can be a real wrench to cut things that you’re proud of but ultimately don’t fit. But be pragmatic and objective about your writing.

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Don’t worry about editing and correcting as you go. The important part here is to get your initial thoughts written up so you have something to work with and build on. Once you have your early ideas down, then you can go back, rewrite, fine tune, and expand on those thoughts and ideas. If you’re writing an article around a topic you’re not overly confident about, powering through an initial draft will give a foundation to work from.

Drop the Words That Mean Absolutely Nothing

Like “absolutely” in this title. Why do so many content marketers either write such poor and unambitious content or laborious and pompous business-speak? You’re not impressing anyone. The only goal of your writing should be to communicate your point clearly and effectively. People reading online articles typically are looking for something quick and easy to read. They don’t want to spend a lot of time wading through long-winded paragraphs to get to the point.

Enjoy the Process

We all have to write articles that we don’t feel inspired by from time to time, but it doesn’t mean you have to write uninspiring articles. Finding a unique hook or telling a story can lift your writing, make it more engaging, and improve the performance of your article.

In Summary…

There isn’t a magic formula or secret recipe when it comes to content writing. But there are some general guidelines that writers can follow to make their content pop on Google and grab potential readers’ attention. Being direct and choosing your words wisely helps to keep your sentences concise and paragraphs short. Using a natural, conversational tone in your work makes it more approachable for readers who are more likely to read on when you stick to those basic principles.

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About the Author

Fred Jéquier works in marketing and partnerships at TeamUp. He has a background working as a content writer and SEO content editor in the travel and fitness industries. Connect with him on Linkedin.

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Every four years, fans of European football rivet their attention on the UEFA Champions League. That is when the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) hosts the European Cup, one of the most prestigious sports events in the world.

What Is the UEFA?

According to the UEFA website, they are “the governing body for all of European football and the umbrella organisation for 55 national associations.”

The UEFA first began hosting championship playoffs for top-division European clubs in 1955 at the urging of Gabriel Hanot, editor of L’Equipe. Sixteen clubs participated in the championship games during that first season (1955-56), and the Spanish team Real Madrid took home the trophy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhY1s6CZziE

Real Madrid Has Ruled the UEFA Champions League Since 1956

The UEFA championship tournament is wildly popular. Real Madrid has dominated since that first season, winning five consecutive tournaments beginning with the first one.

In fact, when it comes to championship European football teams, Spanish teams have historically overshadowed other teams in Europe, claiming more victories than any other European country. England’s teams come in second, followed next by teams from Italy.

Winners of the initial round robin stage qualify for games played in a double round knock-out format. The tournament culminates in a single playoff game between the year’s two strongest clubs held typically in late May or early June. The winning team gets to keep the European Cup for the next four years. Additionally, they automatically qualify for the following year’s Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The UEFA Championship games that were supposed to have been played in 2020 had to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They took place instead in 2021. However, they kept the name Euro 2020. Italy got to take home the championship trophy from those games.

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The Championship Trophy Is a Thing of Beauty

The trophy, officially Coupe Henri Delaunay, bears the name of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of the UEFA. In its current form, it is sterling silver, weighs 18 pounds, and stands 24 inches tall. It replaced the original trophy in 2008.

Iker Casillas was first captain to hold the current prize aloft that year, when Spain beat Germany 1-0.

Sports Bettors and Football Fans Alike Love the UEFA Champions League

Football fans enthusiastically look forward to the UEFA championship tournament every four years. But they ravenously devour European football every other year, too. Sports bettors also take ardent note. Moreover, while sports fans tend to bet for teams and players they’re loyal to or fond of, sports bettors take home more cash by adopting a more pragmatic approach.

Most likely you have been working hard in recent months. Many business owners have. If you are looking for a way to relax from running your business, give yourself a break and watch some European football.

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If you’re not already a soccer fan, it’s never too late to learn about the game and the players. The sport is fantastic, and the athletes are a thrill to watch.

Then by the time 2024 rolls around, you’ll be ready to place your bets on the UEFA Championship Tournament. You will have more fun than you might imagine from watching and betting on European football.

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Note: The terms “soccer” and “European football” are used interchangeably in this article.

Featured image by DISRUPTIVO on Unsplash

Perhaps the most comfortable and natural way for workers to build a career is to seek out employee development within the company. However, it is often easier for employees to enter the labor market than it is to get promoted within their company. As a result, the company loses loyal and talented employees and managers have to spend time and money replacing them.

Why does an employee who copes well with their tasks and has the potential for growth leave a company? Quite often, it is because the employee sees few opportunities for career development in their current job.

Does Your Company Promote Employee Development?

Surprisingly, there are still many companies where internal transitions are not welcomed and employee development is stifled. There may even be a ban on managers poaching employees between departments. As a result, heads of departments try to avoid conflict situations, and employees do not have a chance to move up.

Talented employees then depart the company, leaving only those who hang onto their jobs. Often, this can be due to an employee’s inability to find a more suitable position elsewhere. These employees are used to staying in their “comfort zone,” and they are doing well at their current salaries. As a manager, you can look into trying paycheck stub templates free. A good examination of each employee’s pay stub will help you calculate each person’s salary, including taxes and other deductions.

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Supervisors Don’t Want to Lose Talented Employees

Supervisors vigorously promote the culture of closure and even discourage employee development. Of course, every manager is happy when an employee performs tasks competently. Naturally, they will never be ready to let that employee go. The fear of facing the need to find a new specialist wins out. Therefore, managers prefer to take ready-made specialists from the market rather than develop their own. Under such conditions, the company does not create processes that contribute to employees’ professional growth.

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Even in companies that do focus on workers’ development, an employee might fear that they will not get a hoped-for new position. Therefore, they hesitate to spoil relations with their current manager. Meanwhile, in fact, the manager might have already started looking for that person’s replacement, and the employee could find themselves out of a job despite their best efforts. For this reason, some employees come to believe that it’s better for them to remain within a closed market job. They hesitate to search elsewhere, even within the company. Simply put, they stay in their comfort zone.

In some companies with a hierarchical structure, the CEO sometimes closes in on all employee development issues. Sometimes, the head executive even makes decisions without informing the heads of subdivisions. This approach demotivates line managers and leads to hidden conflicts within the team. No one is likely to want to build a relationship with an employee the CEO imposed on them.

Keep Your Best Employees by Offering Opportunities for Development

If you don’t want to lose talented employees, build a culture that gives tools for internal development.

• Establish employee advancement as a value within the company and continually support the process.
• Describe the process for transition to employees. This should be a step-by-step guide that tells employees whom they should go to and how and who makes job offers. It’s important to make the transition clear and accessible. A process that drags on for months leads to a loss of motivation. When this happens, you risk losing valuable employees.
• Post job openings on your internal portal, on social media, and in chat rooms. Do a weekly mailing and hang job posters in your kitchens and break rooms.
• Make it a rule that internal job candidates are considered first. For example, for the first two weeks, only post the vacancy internally.
• Develop career matrices. They will help both managers and other employees. For example, employees can use these as reference points that tell them in what direction they can develop and what knowledge and skills they need to have.

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• Assist with employee development by holding regular one-on-one meetings. Assist each employee with making a career plan.
• Pay small bonuses periodically. For example, when you give an employee $100 or more as a bonus, it will motivate them. In the process, you make a nice gesture toward person who did a little more than their norm. This represents only a little cash out of your pocket, but an employee will appreciate it nonetheless.
• Implement an internship process wherein an employee can perform tasks in a new role for two or three months. If they achieve results, they can move to that new position. At the same time, give them an opportunity to stay in their previous post if the work turned out to be different than the candidate imagined or if their performance at the new level was below expectations.
• Develop your managers not just as good managers but as mentors.

Show Employees You Value Them by Offering Ample Opportunities for Career Development

Employees are not your property; they are people. Therefore, they always have choices. They can either stay within your company or move on to another company where career development is a part of the culture.

Sometimes managers’ desire to keep employees in their current roles can lead to their departure. It is important to monitor employee motivation and continually build an open relationship. Indeed, an employee should feel safe in telling their manager that they want to grow. Such an open relationship will help you ensure the succession process and keep the best people within your company.

Featured image by Mike_shots

Shrink wrap is an excellent choice of product packaging for businesses. In fact, from the look and feel to the longevity of your product, shrink wrapping can help your product stand out from similar offerings in the market. Many businesses opt for this option because shrink film is flexible, durable, convenient, and affordable.

Recently, a US-based company called Coretc developed a revolutionary product called EcoShrink. This commercially compostable alternative to more common industrial-grade plastic shrink wrap meets ASTM D6400 standards. This means it can be disposed of in a commercial composting environment, thus reducing the amount of plastic ending up in a landfill. In fact, its recyclability is another big factor that works in favor of shrink wrapping.

If you intend to shrink wrap your products, you’ll need to know the ABC’s of this particular packing technology. Here we walk you through shrink wrapping and talk about its benefits. We also look at the different types of wraps and shrink wrap machines. Let’s dive in.

What Is Shrink Wrapping and How Does It Work?

Shrink wrapping is a pretty convenient process. In fact, it only requires two elements: the right kind of shrink wrap and heat. There are various kinds of shrink wraps or shrink films to choose from for your requirements.

Additionally, depending on the size of the product and scale of your business, you can choose from handheld heat sources, automatic shrink wrap machines, and shrink wrap machines. These machines simplify an already convenient process further and increase efficiency.

With just a roll of plastic wrap and a sealing machine, you can weatherproof, waterproof, and tamper-proof your product. And since there’s no restriction on the size of products you can shrink wrap—thanks to shrink wrap machines—there’s no limit to what you can package. The cherry on the top is that shrink wraps are recyclable. This means they can be remade for future use. After multiple uses, EcoShrink will safely decompose.

What Are the Advantages of Shrink Wrapping?

The benefits of using shrink wrap in packaging include durability, flexibility, and the aforementioned recyclability factor. Let’s take a look at some of the other notable advantages of shrink wrapping your products.

• Keep your goods protected: Shrink wraps protect and preserve the contents of the packaging. These are cross-linked films. This means they have higher tear and puncture resistance. Therefore, they offer a higher rate of tamper reduction. Moreover, if you use automatic shrink wrap machines, these films will actively reduce product damage and packaging waste. Additionally, shrink wrapping adds to the shelf life of perishable products and also conceals the smell.
• Make your product look good: You can customize the various types of shrink wraps to make your product look presentable. For example, there are films with anti-fogging properties and low moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR). These types are ideal for the food industry, particularly meat. Then some films are best suited for printing colors and designs and providing information on the packaging.
• Sustainability: Shrink wrap films like polyolefin (POF) and polyethylene (PE) are recyclable. These days the focus on sustainability is exceptionally high in the consumer packaged goods industry. Therefore, it’s crucial to use materials that meet the sustainability standards that shrink films meet.
• Affordability: Shrink wrapping allows companies to ditch corrugated packaging from their production line altogether. This not only brings down the cost of packaging but also reduces the shelf footprint of your products.

What Are the Different Types of Shrink Wraps?

Perhaps you are wondering what POF and PE are. There are three most common types of films used in shrink wrapping. They are polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyolefin (POF), and polyethylene (PE). These materials vary from each other in packing capabilities and characteristics. Let’s take a look.

• PVC: PVC is lightweight and cheap. This is why it was once the most widely used shrink packaging material in the world. However, its tendency to emit harmful fumes when heated, plus its sensitivity to extreme temperatures and its low sustainability have forced it aside in favor of POF and PE.
• POF: POF is highly durable. What’s more, it is an FDA-approved material that is food safe. Thanks to its high tensile strength and cost-effectiveness, POF has replaced PVC as the go-to choice for shrink wrapping. The icing on the cake is that POF is made from 100 percent recyclable materials.
• PE: PE is a variation of POF that is manufactured by adding ethylene during polymerization. There are three types of PE, namely high-density PE, low-density PE, and linear low-density PE. (The abbreviations for these three types are HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE, respectively.) The first two are not ideal for stretching or shrinking. Manufacturers primarily use these for bottles, containers, food liners, and polybags. However, LLDPE is a blended form of LDPE and the most flexible of the three options. While it doesn’t shrink as well as POF, it’s ideal for stretch wrapping pallets, heavy cargos, and luggage.

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Are There Different Types of Shrink Wrap Machines?

There are three broad types of shrink machines. These vary from manual to semi-automatic to automatic. They include L-bar shrink wrap sealers, intermittent motion shrink wrap side sealers, and continuous motion side sealers.

• L-Bar Sealers: L-bar sealers can heat seal the product inside a shrink film. They then move the product down a conveyor belt into a heat tunnel to shrink. There are manual, semi-automatic, and automatic L-bar sealers. Businesses commonly use these for packaging small consumer goods.
• Intermittent Motion Shrink Wrap Side Sealers: These are entirely automatic shrink wrap machines. They are not high-yield but they do offer professional-grade seals. These industrial machines can package items of any shape and size, which is a plus. E-commerce businesses that need to package different kinds of products often prefer these types of machines.

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• Continuous Motion Side Sealers: These are bleeding-edge automatic shrink wrap machines with servo motor motion controls for fully automated precision packaging. These machines have controls to alter acceleration, velocity, and position. Factories that mass produce products such as candy, books, electronics, and other consumer goods frequently use these machines.

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So Here’s the Bottom Line

There you have it! You now know everything you need to know about shrink wrap packaging. The last step is to research and understand your target audience to learn what they want from packaging. This will help you with key marketing and branding decisions regarding packaging. Moreover, understanding customer values will help you align the budget and sustainability goals of the packaging.