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Business/Investment

Ecommerce liability: How to protect your business

When you first start your online food business, it can be a little overwhelming. You need to think about everything from the safe delivery of your products to the marketing and getting your name out there. Food entrepreneurship is not easy but it is very possible for you to set up your e-commerce business in no time at all.

One of the things that you need to consider when setting up your online food business is how you will protect yourself. Do you need e-commerce liability insurance? We’re going to explore this topic here so keep reading to find out everything that you need to know.

What Is E-Commerce Insurance?

If you are not familiar with what e-commerce liability insurance is then now is the time to change this. This kind of insurance is useful for any kind of e-commerce business but it is especially important for anyone operating in the food industry. Ecommerce insurance will protect your business should anything out of the ordinary happen and a claim needs to be made.

What Is Covered?

Each liability insurance policy is different but you’ll usually find that those relating to the food industry are similar in what they cover. Medical payments are a common element of this kind of policy and this is important. This can include any injury that a customer makes to themselves when they open your packaging or use your product.

Your e-commerce insurance policy will also protect your business in relation to your advertising plan. There are so many businesses in the food industry and so you could end up copying another’s marketing strategy by accident. If they were to then make a claim against you, you would find that your insurance would cover your business.

Why Choose E-commerce Liability Insurance?

There are many reasons to protect your business with e-commerce liability insurance including the fact that it can give you peace of mind. When you know that your new food business is covered against these kinds of claims, you can continue with setting up your dream company without too much worry.

Another great thing about having this kind of e-commerce insurance is that you will receive a certificate. This means that you can show your customers that you are taking this very seriously and that you are a company that can be trusted.

Where To Find It

If you do decide to invest in e-commerce liability insurance for your business, you should make sure to take a look online at the options. You should be able to find a quote for a policy that is within your budget and this can make things a little easier. These policies are often much more affordable than you think and they are worth it in the end.

Make sure to invest in an e-commerce liability insurance policy as a food entrepreneur and you can ensure that your new business is covered should anything happen in the future. We wish you every success with your new business.

Business/Investment

What Should You Focus on When Venturing into the Business World?

There may well come a day soon or down the road when you decide you want your own business. If so, how prepared will you be for it?

Owning your own business can be a dream come true. It can also be filled with a variety of challenges.

So, where will your focus turn when you decide to go into business for you?

Where is the Money Going to Come from?

In getting a business off the ground, it stands to reason that it will cost money.

So, you have several options on the table for you more times than not.

For one, you may be rather well off when it comes to your financial world. If so, you should be able to get things up and running without too much of a challenge.

Another possibility is you will have family, friends or even a stranger investing in you.

Now, if you go the investing route with people you know, it stands to reason things should be in writing. You would definitely have things documented with a stranger. That said the same should hold true with family and friends willing to invest.

Yes, some relationships have gone by the wayside over time when it came to money being involved. 

If you have one or more family or friends willing to provide you with investments, document it all. This reduces the chance of their being friction now or down the road involving you and them.

Third, you may decide the best route to go when needing help is to look into startup business loans.

Such loans can be the answer you need to get up and running and not worry about where the funds are coming from.

In searching for the right loan provider, zero in on these areas:

  • Provider history – Learn as much as you can about any provider you consider going with. How long they have been in business is a good starting point. While going with a newer loan provider may work out for you, it never hurts to have experience.
  • Track record – Knowing the track record of a loan provider is critical too. If they have had issues with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) or such, you well decide it is best to steer away from them.
  • Customer service – Last, you can never put a price tag on the importance of good customer service. That said you want a loan provider that will work for you and not the other way around.

When money is involved in getting your business up and running, where will you look to?

Making the Full-Time Commitment

As important as finances are in getting you going, don’t forget about the commitment involved.

Yes, running your own business is a full-time commitment. As such, you need to be sure you can give all the time needed to get the job done.

This is why it may be wise to slowly work your way into it.

If you decide to keep your corporate job before opening a business, you still have a full-time income. It also allows you to have a gradual transition from being someone’s employee to being your own boss.

As you look to venture into the business world, roll up your sleeves and get to work on it.

Business/Investment

Profitable Online Business Ideas

Internet technology has made our life easier. Thanks to social media apps, you can easily keep in touch with your friends and family. Many industries benefit from the accessibility of the internet platform. Most of the companies nowadays use the internet to create marketing strategies. The online platforms have opened the door to many online business companies. 

Amazon, eBay, and Craiglist are just a few of the top online marketplaces. Many to-be entrepreneurs already have an idea in mind but are struggling with how to implement it. Take the chance to step in and help them grow their business. First of all, it’s important to find a business idea that matches your skills and competencies.

Online Casino Games

There are many business ideas that you can start online today. Some of them are very unusual, like playing online casino games. People don’t play online casino games only for entertainment purposes. Many people have turned their gambling hobby into a profitable business. 

Playing online casino games is a fun and exciting thing to do. Many sites, such as novibet.co.uk, offer special promotions and bonus packages to attract new customers. Not to mention that you can play these games in the comfort of your own home. This is an example of how you can earn some money while having fun at the same time.

SEO Consultant

Some online business companies still haven’t realized the importance of search engine optimization. SEO can have a big impact on your online business. It’s your chance to start an online consulting business today. However, you will need some previous technical knowledge of online platforms such as Google Ads and Google Analytics. 

You can educate some of the young entrepreneurs on how to transform their websites and become more visible on the internet. To increase the web traffic, the consultant can use the stored data and strategic keywords to show the business owners how useful these analytics tools are. In order to keep up with the latest trends, you will have to continue your education to stay relevant in this field.

Social Media Consultant

Larger companies can afford to hire an agency to take care of their social media presence. Unfortunately, small companies have to handle their own social media marketing. The entrepreneurs are so busy nowadays with tons of obligations every day. This is the reason why they haven’t realized the importance of the social media presence of their business. They need some time to develop a marketing strategy to promote their business on social media platforms. 

Digital Marketing

If you have some background in digital marketing, this is your chance to show the entrepreneurs the effectiveness of social media presence. While Facebook and Twitter remain the top business networks, many companies are still struggling to use more visual platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. You can help the business a lot if you can improve the content they post, as well as find ways how to target their audience. 

Business/Investment

What to look for when hiring a personal injury lawyer in America

Nobody wants to get hurt, but there is a good chance that you will suffer some sort of relatively serious injury at some point in your life. Every year, in America, an average of 6 million vehicle accidents occur. Also, around 5 million get bitten by dogs and about 1 million people end up visiting the emergency room after being hurt in a slip and fall accident.

Given all of the above, there is no shortage of lawyers offering personal injury claims services. If you have been hurt, having plenty of choices is generally a good thing. But, it can be tricky to narrow down your options and hire the one that will build a strong case for you. The tips we share below are designed to make it easier for you to do so.

Seek out a lawyer with experience that is relevant to your case

It is always a good idea to hire someone who is used to dealing with your kind of claim. If you have been injured as a result of medical negligence a car accident lawyer would not be in a position to help you much. They would have very little knowledge of how a doctor should have handled your case. Nor will they have easy access to a network of medically qualified expert witnesses they can consult and use to fact check. Whereas a lawyer who mainly deals with medical negligence injury claims would. 

Make sure they have a good reputation and are qualified

Use the internet to find out what you can about their previous work. Read reviews and any forum comments you can find. If that does not reveal much information. Use some of the techniques outlined in this article

Understand how much they charge

In America, there are several fee structures that the legal profession typically uses. You can find out more about them here. Doing so will help you to understand how much your lawyer will charge and when they will need to be paid.

Take advantage of free consultations

Most legal firms in the USA offer you the chance to have a free consultation. This is usually provided in the form of a short phone call or a live chat session. You can use this to check out various lawyers to see which one you prefer. Naturally, there are limits to how long they will spend talking to you and what they will tell you. But, you can still glean lots of useful information this way and, more importantly, get a feel for whether that particular lawyer is a good fit for you. 

Be sure to contact a lawyer fairly quickly after having an accident

If you have been hurt, it is important to consult a lawyer fairly quickly. A lot of people make the mistake of waiting too long to do so. 

Often, they do not realize that there are statutes of limitations that apply to personal injury claims. Some of them are as short as a year. If you miss the deadline to file there is nothing further that can be done to secure compensation. It is also important to bear in mind that your lawyer will need time to research your case and prepare the filing paperwork.

Business/Investment

Dylan Taylor: A Short Biography

Former Colliers CEO Dylan Taylor was born in the United States on the 23rd October 1970. He is an executive and investor in the commercial space industry.

Dylan Taylor graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree with honours. Through his studies at the University of Chicago, he also holds a master’s degree in Business Administration.

A Delphi Fellow of Big Think, Dylan Taylor regularly speaks on matters relating to global commerce and real estate. He has been interviewed and quoted by both CNBD and Bloomberg TV. 

With a keen interest in philanthropy, Dylan Taylor has taken an active interest in the Kempe Foundation, the Colorado Film Commission, and the Denver Council on Foreign Relations. Dylan Taylor founded Space for Humanity, a global non-profit organisation, in 2017.

Dylan Taylor has served in executive roles for several well-established global companies including Jones Lang LaSalle, Colliers, and Grubb & Ellis (now Newmark Knight Frank). He currently presides as CEO and Chairman of Voyager Space Holdings.

Voyager Space Holdings was established in August 2019. It is the world’s first space-focused holding company. The organisation’s mission is to coordinate business functions of NewSpace companies, enabling technical entrepreneurs to focus on developing technology.

Dylan Taylor served as Colliers International’s Global President from 2015 to 2019. Prior to this, he served as CEO and President for the Americas.

A uniquely-placed individual in the private space sector, Dylan Taylor has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards over the years. In 2017, IAOP inducted Dylan Taylor into its Leadership Hall of Fame. In addition, Real Estate Forum magazine cited Dylan Taylor among its ELITE 70 in 2016. He was also named Mid-Market Rising Star of the Year at the Mid-Market Awards in 2013.

Dylan Taylor is predominantly a space industry angel investor. He often speaks on the future of the space economy and space investing and has written for SpaceNews and several other leading space industry publications.

Dylan Taylor is a co-founding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. The mission of this organisation is to promote the development of the commercial human space flight industry, pursuing ever-increasing levels of safety and sharing best practices and expertise throughout the industry. Member companies of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation include commercial spaceflight developers, suppliers, service providers, operators and spaceports, creating thousands of high-tech jobs throughout the United States.

In 2017, Dylan Taylor commissioned the 3D printing of a gravity meter on the International Space Station, becoming the first private individual to manufacture in space. Today, this historic artifact is housed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Business/Investment

What Does It Take to Start a New Business?

 Start a New Business

Did you know that you can become a successful entrepreneur at any age? Having a business degree can give you an edge when it comes to managing a business but even if you are an undergraduate or a non-degree holder you still have the potential to earn a gratifying income from starting a small business. It is a significant achievement to watch it grow right before your eyes. However, success does not come overnight, so you have to create a solid plan and put effort into your business if you want it to succeed. Here are some helpful tips to get you started.

Ask yourself if you are ready

One of the critical elements of starting a business is the right timing. You should ask yourself why you would like to have your own business at this point. Are you willing to work longer hours or even quit your stable job? Launching a start-up business is never easy. It will entail working extra hard to promote your business, and it means spending long hours and sacrificing your happiness for a while. You may need to advertise your business personally by setting up marketing tools like double sided roller banners and posters and even hand out flyers in public places. If you are prepared to make this sacrifice, then it is a good sign that you are prepared to start your business.

Think of what business you will have

Once you have decided that you are ready to become an entrepreneur, another thing that you have to decide is the nature of your business. It is easier to promote and sell a product that is close to your heart; something that you are familiar with will motivate you to succeed. Choose something that you are good at and not because it is the current fad because your interest will die down once the sales start to slow down.

Think about your capital

Before deciding to invest in anything, think about how much you are willing to shell out as your initial capital. Are you ready to take a loan in case something goes wrong with your cash flow? This is a very serious matter because you are talking about your hardearned money. It is a known fact that a significant number of businesses fail within the first two years, so it is best to think carefully about how you will spend your money.

Create a solid business plan

Successful companies are known to have a solid business plan. You should set goals regarding your sales figures each month. Also, it is essential to think of different strategies to make your business sustainable and profitable. Take your time to study and do market research and try out the various business strategies that most successful entrepreneurs practice.

Launching a business is never easy, but with your hard work and dedication, there is a big chance for you to succeed.

Business/Investment

Virtual Offices – How Virtual Offices Are Changing US Businesses For The Better

The drive from Long Beach to your office in West Hollywood on a good day is roughly an hour. The drive from your home in Homestead to downtown Miami is roughly an hour and a half, on a good day. The drive from your home in New Jersey to Manhattan, on a good day, is roughly two hours.

The drive from your home in any city in the United States to your virtual office lasts as long as it takes to turn on your device and access the internet. Just in terms of transforming the daily commute, the virtual office has done wonders for the modern business landscape. In many ways, these office setups have made the work of doing work more efficient and effective.

Continue reading to discover how the virtual office is transforming modern industry.

The Logistics Of Work

The way many virtual offices work professionals can access their business information at any time of the day or night. Furthermore, these offices typically provide businesses with on-site accommodations in the form of conference and meeting rooms. Check out Servcorp America’s coworking space at www.servcorp.com/en/virtual-offices/ to see the types of amenities that might be included in your plan.

The virtual office has made it possible to work with people all across the world and in a timely manner. Businesses no longer have to incur travel costs associated with meeting international clients because video-conferencing capabilities make it possible to hold meetings anywhere. In essence, the virtual office has transformed where work is completed making it especially convenient for modern business.

Hiring Top Talent

Another major impact of the virtual office is that it has made it possible for businesses to recruit and hire top talent from around the world. Gone are the days when businesses had to traverse the often-complicated process of hiring qualified candidates from a limited pool of applicants. After selecting and interviewing candidates, weeks might have passed before someone is actually hired. The various professional social media sites, in addition to the various employment sites, provide employers and applicants with the option of submitting online applications, uploading material and advertising information in the effort of finding talent and getting hired.

More significantly, the virtual office has transformed the types of positions available to the workforce. Years ago, the full-time position was an entry into workplace heaven. Alternatively, today’s American business landscape has grown to include a large number of people who get hired on contract. For business, this has saved them millions of dollars, but for the workforce, it has transformed how people work, turning some into digital nomads.

Work Efficiency

The speed at which work gets done is a major result of the virtual office. With the various online apps available to business, professionals can communicate with each other in real time, can send and receive documents quickly through cloud-sharing programs, can electronically sign documents, and can complete a number of applications related to the managing of a business within a short amount of time. In essence, the amount of time for business transactions to happen has been drastically reduced by virtual office applications.

File Storage

Just in terms of the amount of physical space that is saved, the virtual office has all but removed the need for storage closets. In past incarnations, offices ended up devoting at least a few rooms to storing files. Virtual office capabilities have allowed businesses to move files to an electronic format, thereby saving a lot of physical space.

The Quiet Revolution

Almost overnight, technology has overtaken many of the functions that made work inefficient. Today, a business could function in virtual reality without running to snags, as the various apps and human resource technologies make managing an office easy. For your business, the virtual office can connect you to an online community and promote your venture to a wider audience.

Business/Investment

Must Read: 7 ways to break away from the paycheck to paycheck cycle

Many of us have become accustomed to living from pay check to pay check; however, there are millions of people who have broken free from the rut and you can too. Living pay check to pay check means you’re one pay check from living without electricity, gas, a home and a car. It’s a worst-case scenario that could happen if you don’t improve your financial situation. Here are 10 ways to break free and increase your income stream.

Recognising you have a problem and dealing with it: The first step to getting out of the rut is recognising you’re stuck in a cycle of your own creation. Go online and read through the experiences of individuals who were in a similar situation but turned their life around. It offers insight on what you’re doing wrong and a few ways to change.

Live below your means: Review your credit card statements, bank statements and receipts. What are you spending every month? Can you cut back on miscellaneous expenses such as eating out and partying with friends? Compare your expenses with your income; if your outgoings are more than your income then it’s time to cut back.

Don’t shop for the sake of it: When you go out with friends, it’s tempting to buy a dress or an item you didn’t plan for during an impromptu shopping trip. Shopping for fun is a costly action. The best option is to stay away if you know your friends always end up in a store when you hang out.

Stop using credit cards and get out of debt: You won’t get your finances in order until you’re out of debt. Debt eats into your monthly pay check, leaving you with little for anything else. You also need to stop using your credit card while you’re paying off your debt. Avoid taking out any loans while you’re at it.

Spend Wisely: When making purchases, try to find the best deals, keep track of all your spending with virtual financial assistants as well as using cashback sites.

Make savings automatic: Planning to save after your expenses mean you will never save. Whether you’re saving for retirement or emergency funds, the money should come first before your spending. Savings should be automatically deducted from your checking account or ask your bank to deduct the funds to your 401 (k) plan automatically.

Increase your income: Another way to cut back on expenses is to increase your income. Get a part-time job or a freelance work online. Sell off household items you don’t need. All the extra income should go towards paying off your debt and you could quit your second job when you’ve finished paying off your debt.

Conclusion

Don’t rely on regular bonuses to cover your living expenses. Instead use it to speed up your debt payment or increase your emergency fund. The emergency fund is how to get out of the cycle of living from pay check to pay check in the long-term. Set a budget that caters to your expenses, insurance premiums, loan and car payments.

Business/Investment

Delivering Top notch customer service to energise Your Business

You can’t have dissatisfied customers and yet expect to have a successful business. The two don’t mix. If you want to have a successful business with longevity, keeping your customers happy and satisfied at all times is key. And the key to this is top notch customer service.

Asides from keeping your business profitable, satisfied customers also equals a highly competitive business. If your business is currently lagging, here’s how you can energise it by switching to a more customer oriented business plan:

  1. Hiring the right people

You can’t care for your customers the right way if you don’t have the right people on your staff. No amount of training and retraining can change an individual’s personality so you need to make sure you hire personnel who share your company goals and enthusiasm for customer satisfaction. For instance, hiring someone with a friendly personality and placing him/her at the front desk or as a sales rep will put customers more at ease and make them feel welcome. So when hiring, keep an eye out for potential, enthusiasm, and an understanding of your company’s philosophy.

  1. Make customer service everyone’s focus

It’s not just the receptionist, marketers, customer service reps, and sales reps that should operate in a customer focused manner. Everyone in the company from the doorman to the guys in IT should operate with a customer first mentality. This is important because with no customers, there would be no business. So everyone in your company should be pitching in to keep the customers happy.

  1. Training happens every day

There’s no such thing as too much training, especially in light of the fact that customer needs are always changing. Recently, Starbucks had to retrain all their staff in the US after two customers were poorly treated at a branch. So don’t shy away from investing in training your personnel in order to ensure they actually have the tools and knowledge to serve and relate with your customers the right way

  1. Happy employees are a big asset

It’s easier for a satisfied and happy employee to provide great customer service, compared to a bitter and dissatisfied employee with poor working conditions. Since happy employees are in a better position to create happy customers, make the effort to provide optimal working conditions for your staff and ensure they are well cared for. One easy way to accomplish this is through fostering a rewarding work environment for employees.

  1. Offer flexible solutions

Be it payment terms, hassle-free returns policies, prices, delivery options, or otherwise, offer your customers options so they can pick the one that’s most convenient and satisfies their needs. If a customer can get all he/she needs from your business, there’ll be no reason to check out the competition. Having that degree of flexibility is particularly valuable in the early stages of your business’s life as you’ll be likely to face a number of ups and downs in those vital first few years.

  1. Reward loyalty and retain customers

Retaining customers can be difficult, but it’s much easier if you provide your customers a reason to stay. You can accomplish this through loyalty schemes, listening and responding to customer feedback, and more. A customer that feels appreciated is more likely to keep coming back. Just make sure your loyalty scheme is straight forward and doesn’t seem like a ploy.

Business/Investment

How can blogging help boost your online presence? 5 Secrets You Should Know

An adage that you’ll commonly come across on the internet, especially when considering content marketing, is “Content is King”. The more content you have, the better the online visibility of your brand will be. And one effective way of generating more content that will lead to an increased interest in your brand is through blogging.

In present day, your business’ online presence is just as important as what type of business insurance coverage you have. If you fail to properly boost and manage your online presence, not only will lose out on the millions of potential customers that surf the internet every day, your brand will also likely be overshadowed by other businesses who aren’t making the same mistake of ignoring the potentials of having a healthy online presence.

Blogging can be an effective strategy for not only increasing your online presence, but for also strengthening it. If you haven’t been using blogging to your advantage, below are some of the biggest benefits you’ve been missing out on.

  1. Significant boost to SEO

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It refers to the potential of your website to rank highly on a search engine result. The higher your ranking is, the better. Fresh content is a significant factor that search engines take into consideration when trying to determine how highly a website should be ranked. By using blogging to put out relevant content on a frequent basis, your SEO will greatly improve and more of your target audience will be able to find your website on the first page of search engine results.

  1. Grow and maintain relationships with new and old customers

It is important to keep your customers engaged if you want them to keep coming back for more. And one sure way to keep people checking on your website is by adding relevant content to your website on a daily basis by blogging. This will help you attract new customers to your website as well as keep the old ones happy. Blogging can also help build trust with customers especially if your content contains useful information that will turn you into an authority in your field.

  1. Establish your business as a leader in its industry

By sharing valuable content and information through blogging, you can establish your business as a reputable force within its industry. This is possible regardless how big or small your brand is. In fact, depending on how good your blogs are, you can turn your brand into a sought after sensation by putting out consistently engaging, compelling, and insightful content. Before long, you’ll be considered the “go to” resource within your niche

  1. Brand will connect with more people

By blogging sharable content, you create an opportunity to generate more brand awareness and thus reach more people within your target market. Followers of your brand online will likely share your content with friends and family on social media who will in turn share it with their friends and family. Before long, your brand thanks to blogging can become more recognisable which will in turn lead to increased interest in your goods and services.

So stop waiting and get started blogging to expand the reach of your business.