Pandemic Layoffs Emboldened Individuals to Start Their Own Business

The pandemic and the resulting layoffs had changed the mindset of people toward starting their very own businesses after they took to harnessing their other skills. Unemployment gave them the opportunity to try whatever business ideas they entertained while previously contemplating to quit their job in order to defy workplace politics and rules that can be limiting.

Some others were able to offer their services online, which they found liberating in terms of work pressure and costs of having to report for work as part of their daily grind. Whereas before the mere thought of starting a business was intimidating and overwhelming at first, the pandemic gave them the push they needed to take a big leap to start their small business.

The following are the five most successful businesses started out by enterprising individuals after losing regular employment during the first wave of the economic outbreak.

Providing Translation Services

People who are multilingual or have the ability to comprehend and speak multiple languages were able to use their skill in starting a translation services business. They were able to find clients from portals that connect companies looking for professionals who can perform specific tasks on a work-for-hire arrangement. Establishing the freelance work as a business gives the service an increased air of professionalism as any arrangement is covered by a formal agreement.

Website Flipping

When the pandemic forced many businesses to go online, flipping an already running website proved lucrative for those who have skills in website design, SEO and content marketing. Flipped websites are selling for a price in the internet once they have gained traction in terms of viewership. The most popular marketplace for these products is in ecommerce websites like Shopify.

Home-Based Catering

While cooking was one of the most popular activities engaged in during the lockdown period, many took chances by putting home-learned culinary skills into good use by offering home-cooked meals for delivery. Apparently, home-cooked meals have attracted customers who have grown tired of quick eats, whilst looking for healthier food choices.

Most parents have to juggle their time between working from home and helping their children cope with their home study lessons, leaving them with less time to plan and prepare healthier meals for the family. Home-based businesses with offers of home-cooked meals available for pick-up or delivery provided the solution.

Personal Shopping Services

People who often receive compliments for picking out the designs and styles that many consider as excellent choices discovered that they can offer personal shopping assistance as a service. While shopping online is now the norm, many find it difficult to find and choose the right style and color of garment that suit them, or the right decor for their home. Hiring a personal shopper has changed the online shopping experience for a lot of women, especially those who got hooked into online shopping during the quarantine period.

Online Tutoring Services

People who have a bachelor’s degree in teaching but who lost their teaching job due to school closures were able to find lucrative jobs as online tutors for homeschooling students. If set up as a business, having a well-rounded expertise in math, science, history, grammar and even art subjects can make a laid-off teacher standout as an excellent choice for parents. While the demand for online tutoring services has increased, some took to hiring undergraduate college students to beef up the tutoring business workforce.

What You need to Know about Investing?

Investing is one way of setting aside money while you do what you have to do with your life and let money work for you. This way, you can enjoy its rewards in a later time. Simply speaking, investing can bring you a happy ending as you set foot with your retirement. According to Warren Buffett, a famous and legendary investor, he defined investing as a process of laying out money today to get more of it in the future.

The primary goal of investing is making your money work for you by putting it in different kinds of investment vehicles. So, how does investment work? Say that you have a thousand dollars and you are all ready to invest or perhaps, you just have an extra of 10 dollars a week and you want to start investing. Keep on reading to be able to know how you can make that money grow and work for you.

Identifying the Type of Investor You are

Just before committing your hard-earned money, the very first thing that you have to do is to identify the type of investor you are.

When you open a brokerage account, expect the online broker to ask you questions regarding the risks that you are willing to take. At the same time, they would want to know about your investment goals.

One brokerage firm that you may want to sit with is IG broker. If you are not confident, which is totally understandable, it will be great to take time reading IG broker review.

Now, assuming that you pushed through, the broker will help you in identifying the investing approach you’re more comfortable with. There are investors who are more hands on when it comes to foreseeing the growth of their money while some are into setting it and forgetting it. Majority of the traditional brokers both offline and online will be offering you to invest in any of the following:

  • Mutual funds
  • Index funds
  • ETFs or Exchange Traded Funds
  • Bonds and;
  • Stocks

Online Brokers

Brokers can be either discount or full-service. In the latter, they provide full selection of traditional brokerage services which include healthcare, financial advice for retirement and everything that’s related to money, hence the name.

Usually, you’ll see them dealing with high-profile clients and charging expensive rates including percentage of the transaction, percentage of the assets they are managing and at times, annual membership fee.

Discount brokers on the other hand provide you varieties of tools and put your own transactions. Many of them are also offering robo-advisory services and set-it-and-forget-it type of service.

Trump Now Calls White Supremacists “Terrorists”

The Trump administration recently declared the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) a terrorist organization, after receiving global reports from other countries.

 

According to reports coming from Sweden there are indications that RIM was widely involved in incidences of Neo-Nazi bombing in Sweden in 2016 and 2017. The same group seemed to have inspired white supremacists to carry out the Christchurch shooting incident in New Zealand in 2019, as well as other attacks that took place in Scandinavia during the year.

The designation that Trump announced last Monday, is regarded as an unprecedented move as far as the White House is concerned; particularly in matters related to “white supremacists” and to Russia. After all, the Russian Imperialist Movement is widely speculated as the organization responsible for the 2016 election interference. Moreover, the group is also suspected of conducting military training to U.S-based neo-Nazi factions. .

 

In fact, the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, were discovered to have been staged by members of an extremist militia group based in Michigan.

What the Declaration Intends to Impose on White Supremacist Groups in the U.S.

Apparently, officials at the State Department were able to make Donald Trump understand the threats posed by the RIM and their connection to the spate of violence that transpired in the last five years. According to reports, Trump’s response to the briefing was that

I thought incidents of white nationalist violence were the actions of small group of people and not part of a rising global threat.”

https://youtu.be/dZSxlOGF7H4

As concerns heightened over the growing number of violent activities instigated by white supremacists with transnational links, White House officials had in 2018, included the threat . of said white supremacist groups to the U.S. governments National Strategy for Counterterrorism agenda.

The designation declaring white supremacist groups as terrorist organizations gives U.S. law enfocement officers the authority to prevent American citizens from giving any kind of support to, or enter into any agreements with such groups.

Moreover, the Treasury Department now has the authority to bar the named terrorist group from having access to any American asset, as well as block their members from entering the U.S. soil.

Cyber Attacks Continue as Malware Hits PoS of Four Food Outlets

Cyber attacks in business systems will continue to rise, reaching a point of becoming a norm, as forewarned by the Global Risks Report in 2018,. In the recent past 2 days, four food businesses, namely Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli, Schlotzsky’s and Hy-Vee Supermarket, came out with reports that their Point of Sale (PoS) machines were infected by a malware that was able to steal customer information.

Focus Brands, the owner of the three food chains, said the company’s network was infected with malware that copied information from cards that entered point-of-sale payment systems across different locations. All three Focus Brands food outlets are spread through 1,500 different locations across American states.

Hy-Vee supermarkets,on the other hand, operate in about 254 retail sites in convenience stores, drug stores, groceries and fuel pumps.

Synopsis of Focus Brand’s Report on PoS Malware Attacks

According to Focus Brands, cyber attacks that infiltrated their network via the three food subsidiaries had started on three different dates. Although cyber security experts were able to end the malware intrusion on July 22, 2019, the report did not give specific details about the customer cards that had been scraped for information.

The malware operation began last April 11 at a Schlotzsky’s outlet, while the attacks at McAlister’s and Moe’s began in April 29, 2019.

Synopsis of Hy-Vee’s Report on PoS Malware Attacks

Unlike the malware that attacked the three Focus Brands food chain for only about a month, the HY-Vee malware had been present in the PoS systems since November 2018. It was detected only in July 29, when unauthorized activities started registering on some of their PoS processing machines. It was only then that cyber security experts were called upon to conduct an investigation.

The malware operation in fuel pump PoS transpired since December 14, 2018, while the attacks in PoS drive-thrus and restaurants began in January 15, 2019. Yet in six still undetermined locations, experts suspects that the malware may have operated by as early as November 09, 2018.

Hy-Vee’s latest update about the cyber attacks included a lookup tool for identifying the Hy-Vee fuel pumps, restaurants and drive-thru coffee shops, and restaurants whose PoS were compromised. That way customers can determine if they had used their payment card payment during the periods indicated.

How to have Good Investment from Your Vehicle?

Automobiles are one of the investments that you don’t want to make in your life. As you drive them out of the car dealer’s lot, it loses value right off the bat. They need additional costs as well to stay operational like:

  • Oil
  • Insurance
  • Maintenance
  • Repairs

You will be surprised how much it costs you for a year to keep your car operational after calculating everything. And to make things worse, by the time that you have made a decision to sell it, you’d only get a fraction of what you’ve initially paid for it.

Indeed it’s a poor investment choice. However, it is one that every adult thought all throughout their lives. For those who are in the market buying for their nth car and thinking how it can be a good investment in the long run, then I recommend that you read the entire content of this article.

Thorough Research before making Talks to Dealerships

Among the surefire ways of getting poor deal on any vehicle is going to the dealership without knowing anything. Walking out of the dealership without evaluating hard data and figuring out how it works for you, eventually you will regret your decision.

So before making a decision, do your homework first. Gather as much info as you could about the car from its model, make and year.

If needed be, then spend few or more hours on it. It may be time consuming at first, but it would be worth it in the end.

A Name Known for Reliability

If you truly want to make a good investment of a car, then look at its reliability. Reliability is extremely important for it is the single factor that minimizes the repair costs and give the vehicle long lifespan. By buying a car make and model known for reliability, you get to drive it longer on road, keep it out of maintenance and retain its market value. Now that is a smart investment especially when taking car title loans in California.

Fuel Economy for Total Investment Worthy Car

Aside from reliability, watch out for the car’s fuel efficiency. Gas mileage is vital when buying a car. Let me give you an example.

One model is getting roughly 18 miles per gallon and then, the other car is getting 28 miles per gallon. Now, on a normal driving year which is about (10,000 miles), that is a total consumption of 198.4 gallons. Assuming that 4 dollars is the price of fuel per gallon, you automatically saved 792 dollars. Mind you, the price of gas is fluctuating.

Applying for Business Loans

In order to put up a small business from scratch or to maintain operations, it should have proper financing or funding. In most cases, this is referred to as a business loan. One kind of small business financing is called as debt financing.

Here, small businesses may file an application to banks or to other financial institutions such as:

  • Credit unions and;
  • Commercial loans

Normally, banks will not release or approve loans for startup businesses. They are more likely to do so for an ongoing business. To assist you get through this deliberate process, follow the application process for such a loan.

You Think You Know it All?

It is pretty obvious that owners of small business know the reason as well as the amount of loan that they need. However, this is an entirely different story when the business is just a startup.

Start-up owners might be in the process of calculating the figures they need and to why they have reached that amount.

Whether the company is an existing business or startup, they have to take time and articulate whey they have to apply for Zebra loans and how much they exactly need. More often than not, they can’t address this question until they have prepared their financial statement as part of the business plan.

Prepare for Proper Documentation

In case that your business is just a startup or perhaps, less than 3 years old, then your personal credit would be evaluated. At the same time, prepare the history of your business credit as well. Before applying for small business loan, you have to take time in reviewing your personal credit score and have it organized as well. If ever you found any errors, write a letter to the agency detailing the error and asked it to be fixed.

If the error is something that the agency would not fix, then file for credit dispute report. Ideally, credit score of somewhere around 700 can boost your odds of getting a business loan approval. It will be nice to get in touch with commercial banks that are available to you. Don’t just talk to any banks in random. Do your research as well on which institution where you have better chances of getting an approval.

This would take some time to find the right agency and get your loan but trust me, if you do things carefully, everything will be worth it!

What is Crowdfunding and it Levels the Field for Investors and Inventors?

You might have heard about crowdfunding. But do you exactly know what it means? Basically, this is the combination of crowdsourcing and micro-financing. The outcome, people are flocking to support a common project, cause or company in different parts of the globe. These people are pooling their money in startup businesses either with expected return or rewards in the end or just as a plain gift.

The great thing about crowdfunding is that, it can be utilized as another form of investment that can be used in specific purpose like for budding innovations, Cryptocurrency signals
and so forth. This is referred to as equity crowdfunding or otherwise known as loan based crowdfunding. This has great potential of shaping the future of a private organization.

You are investing in a startup company with expectations of getting returns in the future.

Creating a Win-Win Situation?

When crowdfunding is used as investment, it benefits both the investor and the people involved in the creation of a new product/service. You may be wondering how?

As mentioned, it lets you look through the investment and collect all information before finalizing your decision. You don’t need to get into the investment right away. Rather, you have the opportunity of gathering data and analyze before making the final decision.

At the same time, you are supporting the continuous development of economy. Without your money to startup ventures as well as new startups, odds are they will not be able to get off of the ground. Because the economy is stable and having annuity rates and low interests, it leads to great gains and easily outweighing the risks. And for investors, this results to higher returns.

How it’s Benefiting the Business?

A benefit of crowdfunding that we should look further especially on small businesses is the massive amount of money they receive. They can easily access funds in various ways on top of bank loan. Let’s face the fact that engaging in a startup is risky. Gathering enough funds while trying to validate yourself within the market without people who try to buy your company is hard.

Unlike with crowdfunding, the only thing you have to worry about is where and how to get funding. All this while getting market validation and keeping equity in your own startup.

Want to Invest in a Business? Hire a Business Broker

At some point in time, companies and businesses change ownership. When this happened, it becomes a big help to contact a business broker. Their presence is going to be a great value both for the buyer and the seller. As for any aspiring entrepreneur, they ought to assess the targeted business establishment. This is basically where a business broker will come to place and be of remarkable assistance.

For the seller on the other hand, they’ll find it a rewarding and fruitful decision to use the services of such professional for selling their business. After all, these brokers have broad networks and can facilitate advertising and negotiation with prospective buyers.

How is it Beneficial to Hire a Business Broker?

Let’s face the fact that selling something is no easy process – unless you are a marketing guru that can sell virtually anything within hours. The same thing is true when planning to buy a house. You need to complete the requirements and have the funds to purchase your dream home. Fortunately, there’s a way now to make the process become easier and it’s by applying for mortgage loan with Lainaa.

Going back to selling a business, when you have a broker supporting you, they take away the tiresome and demanding process it takes. Face it. The entire transaction can take great amount of your time and it could even affect the overall value and worth of your business since you’re spending more time on selling it than on the day to day operations. This is basically where the services provided by a business broker become so handy.

Because You don’t want everyone else to Know

First things first, professional brokers guarantee confidentiality and at the same time, they assure that only prospective buyers whom you approved will be contacted.

Experienced and trustworthy brokers can literally save you a great amount of time in having to screen prospective and interested buyers ahead of time.

They Do all the Legwork

Apart from that, they can check if the prospect has strong financial resource to purchase your business and take over. They will be performing interviews on your prospects and inform them to sign a non-disclosure and confidentiality contract. If ever you try selling your business independently or openly, you will likely damage the moral of your staffs and also, give your competitors the chance to spread rumors that can damage your reputation and image.

This is one thing that you don’t want to happen. Rather than enduring all these things, hire a business broker instead.

Basic Tips to Open a Business that Your Heart Wants

No two businesses are alike. Whether you like it or not, there’s no equal opportunity that you can have. Some may become successful in their startup business some might eventually fail. Some businesses are more suitable for others and some might be just perfect for you.

Discover the Right Investment is Suited for You

The question is how would you be able to find a business that falls into the latter?

It is hard and no one can predict the answer to this question. BUT… there’s a series of question that you can ask yourself which can help big time in narrowing which path to take.

By asking yourself the questions discussed below, you’ll end up in an investment that you are truly passionate about.

Question number 1. Does your heart and passion is in this business opportunity?

If your answer is 50-50, then there’s a possibility that your concentration might adrift as you progress day after day and look for something which really catches your interest. What’s more, there is a chance that you may never become successful with this enterprise that you are taking on.

Otherwise, if you have a firm YES as the answer, then go ahead. Start doing research and get funding for your business by any means whether via applying for payday loans online, going to banks or financial institution or whatever that can provide you with what you need.

Question number 2. Is this a viable business?

Is someone willing to fund you in exchange of the service or product for your planned business? Keep in mind that until you start selling something, it is not a business, but merely a hobby that’s costing you money.

If there are some others who have the same business idea as yours, then you may want to try visiting their store and be a help for few days. This way, you can have firsthand experience of how customers are reacting to the service or product.

Question number 3. What’s the competition be like?

You must never be fooled into believing that a business has no competition. Keep this in mind, every business, especially the most viable one always have competition in them. If you can’t find any of them, then you should look harder. In the event that you can’t still find any, then you better start to worry. It’s because a business without competition is considered to be a red flag.

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