Payment gateway vs payment aggregator

What is the most important thing for a company that sells its goods online? We can talk about favorable conditions on the market, the loyalty of the company's customers, as well as other factors that are certainly important. However, the most important thing for any firm is the level of profit it is counting on.

Any company knows that to increase sales, it is necessary to provide access to many payment options and to actively attract customers. This knowledge is enough for the firm's management, they don't want to get into all the details and technical aspects of the payment acceptance process. They may not even know the difference between a payment gateway and a payment aggregator. Right now, we are going to look at the main differences between these undoubtedly most important factors for successful online payment acceptance for any company and understand how they are different.

The main difference between aggregator and gateway

The difference between a payment gateway and an aggregator is hard to notice, even for companies that have been working in the market for months but have simply decided not to delve too much into these issues.

However, the problem is that if you do not know the difference between these concepts, you won't be able to make the right choice of a payment gateway provider, i.e. a payment aggregator.

You have probably already guessed from the last sentence that an aggregator is a payment gateway provider. A gateway provides a company with only one specific way to accept payments, such as WebMoney or credit card acceptance. A payment aggregator provides a myriad of different ways to accept payments, from cash to checks, cards, e-money, etc.

Working with an aggregator, there is no need for a company to open several bank accounts and accounts with payment service providers at once. The payment gateway makes it much easier for companies to accept and process payments. The aggregator handles all the tasks related to the integration with payment providers, offering the company a single ready-made solution for accepting payments.

Another crucial difference is that a payment gateway sends a payment, but it is only a payment intermediary, i.e., it does not directly interact with the funds that the customer has paid to the company for goods.

An aggregator, on the other hand, as the name implies, accumulates the money in its own hands and then transfers it to the beneficiary's bank. The fees of the gateway and the aggregator will also be different, but it is not quite correct to compare them. In the case of the gateway, the company pays only the fee to the gateway itself, and the services of the acquiring bank are paid for separately. In the case of an aggregator, the firm will charge one rate, which will already contain both the commission of the gateway itself and the fee of the acquiring bank.

If you are interested in getting access to more features and ready-made settings at once, choose a payment aggregator. Connection in this case will be quite simple. If you choose a payment gateway, your company will have an opportunity to customize the payment service. Moreover, you will receive additional services; however, it is important to understand that the speed of the connection will be considerably lower and will require time as well as the preparation of documents.

Thus, if we summarize all the differences between a payment gateway and a payment aggregator, we may say that the main differences are the work process, connection speed, and additional conditions. If the flexibility of settings is a plus for the gateway, for the aggregator you get ready solutions with a fast connection. As for the level of risk, a gateway will have a lower risk level than an aggregator.

Choosing a payment aggregator will be absolutely the right decision because, in this case, you will get the functions of the aggregator itself as well as several payment gateways. Due to the high level of competition, you will negotiate more favorable terms of cooperation with the company.

6 statistics about employee compensation and benefits you should know

If you are a business owner then before devising an employee compensation plan you need to keep certain things in mind so that all the company employees remain satisfied with the job offer. This article covers the 6 aspects which are deemed as beneficial for the employees.

Benefits of pay in employee compensation

As being an authority you must know that what appeals largely to the workers. You must know that they would not appreciate an increase in a pay rate to that extent but they will highly love the additional perks and benefits in the comparison. In the true sense of the word, these employees need freedom and the additional packages and other add on can grant them that. The additional perks make them happier than you think. So whoever devises the employee compensation plan one must keep in mind the importance of this statistic for increasing the satisfaction level. At the end of the day, the happiness of the employee is all that matters. After all, they are responsible for boosting the productivity of the company. For 90 % of the employee, enjoyment comes before.

Importance of work balance

60% of women enjoy the balance in work life so during the recruiting process the hirer can highlight the aspects and elements which contribute to this balance. Even 48% of the men appreciate the work-life balance so there is a high chance of satisfaction if employees are recruited on this basis.

Perks in employee compensation

57% of new job seekers love the perks offered. If you will be offering additional benefits along with the salary package as part of the employee compensation then there are high chances that you will land up hiring competent people. The top tier talent will be attracted to this employee compensation and thus the productivity of your company will receive a boost. Such a perk will ensure that the employee owns a sense of ownership while remaining loyal.

Transparent Salary in employee compensation

If you want to build the trust level with the employees then you must be extremely clear and transparent about the employee compensation. many organizations are not at all comfortable regarding this matter and thus they fail to build up that trust level.you should never hide the information from the employees but instead, become as transparent in employee compensation as possible so that there remains no room for false hope.

Men get 24.1% Higher Pay

One may know that on average men earn 24.1% more than women. If this is the case in your organization too then you got to fix this air of inequality.

Employee compensation should be fair

This is one of the most shocking yet appreciable facts that about 67 % of the employee in the US is not willing to work in a place where inequality exists. Many don't apply or even leave early due to this unfair attitude of several organizations. Thus this clause must must never be present in employee compensation strategy.

Tips on Taking Your Freelance Career to the Next Level

As a freelancer there comes a time when your level of success takes you beyond what you can reasonably cope with on your own and you need to take your freelance business to the next level.

But it’s important to do it right and if you are ready to expand your business there are a lot of things to consider – firstly if it’s right for you as it can be a big leap from the freedom of only being responsible for yourself, to having staff potentially.

We asked our friends from Crunch, a company that works with freelancers a lot, and they gave us a few things to consider when you are planning to take your freelance career up a notch:

1. Business branding

You need to look at your branding if you want to grow, particularly if you currently operate under personal branding. It’s important that your branding is flexible and can adapt with your growing business and can retain your expertise and authority.

2. Make sure your website is ready

Many freelancers set up simple websites when they start out with personal profiles but if you are planning to expand then your website needs to be up to scratch and also able to flex and change with your business. It needs to be professional and have the option to add in new services, products and staff pages as required.

3. Assess your products and services

You need to look at the products and services which you offer and see where you can grow and where the gaps are. Check your pricing levels and packages offerings to see where you can make improvements and add in extra opportunities for your clients.

4. Talk to your customers

Talk to your customers to find out what they think of your services and if there are any services which they’d like in addition so that you can grow your business alongside your current clients. Look for services which you can offer in partnership, even if it means partnering up with another business to offer them – it’s all a way to grow your business. If you are a designer and your clients request photography then plan to partner with a photographer, for example.

5. Take on staff

If you have got to the point where your level of work exceeds your capability then you may need to take on staff. This might mean staff to help with client work, or it might mean staff to handle other aspects of the business such as an accountant, or an admin assistant, to free up your time to work on the business aspects.

6. Continuous learning and development

As your business starts to grow you will find yourself facing new challenges which will require new skills such as dealing with staff or handling larger contracts and tenders, so you will need to grow your skill base.

As a business owner continuous learning and development should be part of your remit anyway but at this particular turning point in your freelance business it becomes more important than ever to keep your skills updated regularly.

7. Increase your marketing

If your company is growing then you need to up your marketing along with it to ensure it accurately reflects your new offerings, new staff and new approach in order to attract more of the business you need.

8. Improve your expert positioning

As your business starts to grow more and more people will be turning to you for your expertise so make sure you are positioning yourself and your business as leading the way in your industry area. You can position yourself by writing authoritative thought leadership articles, white papers and by giving talks at industry events, among other activities. Being recognised as a leader in your field will go a long way to take your freelance career up a gear.

9. Boost your networking efforts

Boosting your networking efforts goes hand in hand with upping your marketing and becoming a recognised expert. By networking more on a broad scale you will be able to make more and more people aware of what you do and the new services you will be offering so will hopefully meet some new clients that way.

And by networking within your own industry you will become aware of more and more opportunities to promote your business and your expertise at relevant industry events and exhibitions.

Taking your freelance career to the next level might seem scary and going back in the world of working in a team and having colleague and bosses however, it might also be the very ambition you have been working towards.

Growing your freelance career to become your own business with employees and a broad range of services and products is an incredibly exciting time and if you follow all o of the tips outlined here it will help you carve your own path to success.

Four amazing rules to become a profitable trader

Everyone wants to lead their dream life. But in the world economic crisis finding a decent has become extremely difficult. For this very reason, many people in Australia often consider trading as their prime source of income. But before you start making a significant amount of money from the Forex market, you must learn the three major forms of market analysis. Those who trade without having any clear knowledge about the retail trading industry are the ultimate losers of this industry. You will be surprised to know more than 90% of the traders are losing money. So why do people still want to trade the market? Since most of the professional brokerage firm like Saxo offers high leverage trading accounts to the retail traders, making a huge profit with a small investment has become extremely easy. Today we will share four amazing facts which will help you to become a profitable trader.

Learn fundamental analysis

Those who are relatively new to the trading industry only focus on the technical factors. But technical analysis will never help you to find the big market movements. Majority of the pro-Aussie traders uses fundamental data to find quality trades in favor of the long-term market trend. You might have very little experience but this doesn’t mean you will be trading without knowing fundamental analysis. Your trading strategy must include fundamental and technical data. When you develop your trading strategy, be sure to use the demo accounts. Never trade the market with real money unless you have backtested your trading system in the demo environment.

Use the Japanese candlestick pattern

If you can learn support and resistance level trading, it’s enough to lead your life. But how do you trade the key levels of the market with the extreme level of precision? To be honest there is no exact way. However, if you start using the price action confirmation signal, you will find things relatively easy. CFD trading in Australia has become easier since many expert Aussie traders offer price action trading course. This course is based on the different formations of the Japanese candlestick. Every candlestick bears information. As a forex trader you to understand the language of the candle. Things might seem a little bit hard at the initial stage but if you focus on the core factors, you will learn the details very easily.

Embrace the losing trades

This is the most important thing you need to learn as a trader. The new traders never embrace their losing trades. They are always trying hard to win trades. This market is nothing but a field of probability. No matter how hard you try, you will always have to face losing trades. So how do you make money even after losing 50% of the time? The idea is very simple. Always trade the market with 1:2+ risk-reward ratio. This simple principle will help you to become a profitable trader regardless of the conditions of the market. At times you might have to face a series of losing trades but this is absolutely normal. Stick to your trading strategy and wait for the next trades.

Never become a trade addict

Trading is just like addiction. If you fail to control your emotion you will find yourself behind your trading screen 24 hours a day. But the pro traders always trade the market in an organized way. They focus on different trading hours and based on the quality of trade setup they execute their trade. By over trading the market you can never earn huge amount of money. You have to find good trades and trade the market with discipline. Even if you can find one single trade, it’s enough to secure your whole month profit. Forget about your past trade result always stay concern about your next trade. Learn to manage your trade in a very efficient way so that few losing trades doesn’t cause emotional stress.

A look at the human psyche when creating formulas for successful Financial Market Trading

Any financial market trader knows how vital a trading formula is. According to one of Wilkins Finance’s top financial advisor, every trader should have guidelines on how to go about placing trades and closing them. After, all that is what a trading formula is all about. It is also referred to as a trading strategy.

As a trader, you will have to have a way of knowing when the time to place a particular trade is ripe and also know when it is time to close the trade. This what trading entails. It is not just clicking buy and sell buttons haphazardly. No! There has to be a reason for placing and closing of every order.

Most traders dwell too much on when to place an order and forget that they should also concentrate on when to close the order. Closing an order at the wrong time will result in reduced profits and, at times, even losses.

Let us look at an example. Assume that you place a buy on the EUR/USD at 1.34567 and the market moves up to 1.34723. You decide to close the order at that level only to realise that the markets are still moving up and the bullish trend seems to be strong. You will have lost the opportunity to make more profits. If you would have made your market analysis well, then you would have waited for the trend to give signals of changing to bearish. Only then you would have exited the market, thus maximising your profits.

However, you should also not ignore any signal indicating a change in the market conditions. Assuming that you ignore such a signal, the market trend will change and your profits will end up being losses.

When coming up with your trading formula, you will have to put all this into consideration plus many other factors. We are going to discuss the process of creating a formula for successful financial market trading and the psychology behind it.

Steps of creating a formula for successful financial trading

First, you will have to choose the markets that you want to trade. It will help you to come up with a formula that is best suited to the market. Remember that all markets do not behave in the same manner. Forex markets are different from stock markets, derivative markets or cryptocurrency markets. Some markets are more liquid than others. Also, some markets are more volatile than others. For the volatile markets, they have larger daily ranges compare to those which are not very volatile. Therefore, volatile markets would be better for short-term to intraday trading while the less volatile markets would suit those traders who want to do long-term trading.

With, the market, you should go ahead and choose the specific assets you aspire to trade. For example, if you decided to trade the stock markets, you should choose the particular stocks that you want to trade. If it is the Forex markets, you should choose select currency pairs and mostly the most traded currency pairs. Whichever market you decided to trade, pick a few assets that you want to trade.

Next, find a way of getting the trading signals. If you want to automate your trading process, then the trading robot will be responsible for creating and executing the trading signals. But if you are trading manually, you will have to choose the specific indicators to use or enrol with a Trading Signal service provider to provide you with the signals.

You should ensure that the indicators that you choose will give you both entry points and exit points. The same applies to the signals that you receive from your signal service provider. Since you might not be in front of the computer all through, you should place stop levels at the exit point given.

With all the above, you will be good to go. But remember to test the strategy on a demo account for a period of time to analyse its results (whether it is making losses or profits). On the demo account, you will be able to see if the strategy is profitable or not. If not, do not tire of changing it until you come up with a profitable trading strategy.

3 Reasons to Invest on Luxury Real Estate

Whenever you think of a luxury home the first thing that comes to mind is all the lavishness, the high-end living, and the comfort you will have the privilege to enjoy; from classy architecture, beautiful and opulent interiors to exquisite finishes and the access to all luxury activities like high-end shopping, dining, and the arts that surrounds it.

But there are other long-term benefits to take into account when investing on a luxury property, for example:

High Demand

Luxury homes are always in demand; therefore, they are seen as the perfect investment opportunity that guarantees multiplied returns in the future. This demand is driven by the rising standard of living and increasing disposable income among successful entrepreneurs, high-flying corporate executives and professionals, and of course, the prosperous cuttings of traditionally well-off families.

Investment Value

Luxury real estate prices are burning and they are always soaring. Regardless of economic circumstances and other market variables, there will always be people who are not happy or satisfied with just any kind of home. As a result, the demand for luxury homes may rise and fall but never goes entirely away.

The Most Exclusive Properties on the Market

A luxury home has to be distinctive and exclusive, in a good and desirable way and this is exactly what the South Florida luxury real estate market has to offer. Here are some properties you may want to check out if you are about to invest on a luxury home:

Apogee

By the hand of award-winning architectural firm Sieger Suarez and The Related Group, this residential masterpiece offers 67 exclusive residences set right on the waterfront in the elite area of South Beach in Miami Beach with prices starting at 8.2 M

Bristol Brickell

The services and amenities offered in the building are at par with 5 star hotel services. This residence is also gated – providing extra security to its residences. You can find units at the low $445,000.

Muse Residences

This property is pure luxury in the heart of Sunny Isles, an undoubtedly ideal place to relax on sunny days facing the sea. Prices go from $4.9 M and higher.

Santa Maria Brickell

La Santa Maria Brickell is an architectural jewel in the sparkling Miami skyline. The residential building rises at a prime waterfront location in Biscayne Bay, and it provides the ultimate luxuries of a high-style lifestyle. Residences startat 1.7 M.

Echo Brickell

Amazing views, stunning marble finishes handpicked by architect Carlos Ott and high-end appliances, just a couple of the details that the penthouses in the Echo Brickell building will offer. Prices go from 4.8 M and higher.

Welcome To The World Of Investment

A warm welcome to the world of investment. If you’re reading this article, it is most likely because you’re a business and you want to get into investing. If so, then you’re in the right place. Investment is such an exciting area to get into, there’s just so many things that you can invest in. But at the same time, it is a really risky gamble. You might already know that not all investments pay off, and you want to be sure that yours does. Money is at stake, so it is often a rather stressful situation to be in. But with the help of this article we’ll make sure you’re making the right investments, and going about them the right way. Read on to find out more!

Types Of Investment

There are so many different types of investment that might appeal to you. One of the most popular is definitely real estate. It is such as exciting area to get into, and for business it could even lead to another little business venture. You’ll most likely have the right amount of money to get into this as well through your own company savings. All you need to do is first talk to an advisor who can help you out a little with how to get into it. It is pretty easy, but you need to talk about when is the right time to invest, what properties are going to make you the most revenue, and how much you should spend. Another area that is really popular is other small businesses. With this one you might not need any outside help deciding which you should invest in. You’ll already have a clear understanding of the business world and how it works.

Professional Help

There are professional people out there who have years of experience dealing with many different investments. These are the people you need to be talking to and getting some knowledge from. Take Chris Pivik, and investment analyst with years of experience. Someone like that is who you need to steer your investment in the right direction. They don’t necessarily have to control the whole investment for you, but if you work side by side with them, there’s no end to the money you could be making. Because at the end of the day, investment is really hard to get right, and it is a gamble. So you want to make sure you’ve got enough professional advice on board before you enter into it.

Money Worries

If you’re having money worries when it comes to investment, well… you’re well within your right to. We’ve already explained that it is risky, so you obviously are going to be worried about whether it’ll pay off. The main thing to do here is make sure you’ve got the money aside to actually waste. You don’t want to be throwing money into it hoping that you’ll get a return. It has to be money you’ve saved it purposely for this, just so you’re not putting yourself out of pocket.

Begin 2018 With An Investment Overhaul

There is no better excuse for a reassessment of your investment portfolio than the emergence of a new year. While many friends and family might be making resolutions to shift the extra few pounds put on over the festive period, attend the gym a little more regularly or spend more time traveling the world, you are keen to get your finances in shape. The most common route down which to see your money grow into a worthwhile nest egg is to leave it in the safe and secure environment of the bank. This is the least lucrative yet least risky way of accruing money. However, you’re keen to explore your other options and want to see if there are any better ways to invest your hard earned cash so that it works for you more aggressively.

Property

Bricks and mortar has been the go-to investment for people who are growing a little frustrated with their lack of return at the bank. If you have the funds for a deposit on another home, you should be able to purchase a second property to rent out. Get the calculator out and do some number crunching to ensure that any monthly rent that you achieve will cover your mortgage repayment. If you can find a humble abode that ticks along nicely without you spending too much money on it, you could have stumbled across a sound long-term investment. Over a decade or so, your property will be sure to have increased in value and given you a return much greater than merely having your money sat in your savings account at the bank.

Trading

Whereas stocks, shares and Forex were once the domain of professional investment bankers, hedge funds or those with millions of dollars burning a hole in their pocket, they are now much more accessible to the masses. Head to a site like investormint.com, and you’ll discover a wealth of impartial reviews regarding trading platforms, stock tools and financial decisions.

You could choose to specialize in a certain aspect of trading such as the buying and selling of foreign currencies or you might wish to take a jaunt into the world of cryptocurrencies. This burgeoning market is in its infancy making the market highly volatile but the returns potentially astronomic. As with any ultra high-risk investment, only use the funds that you can afford to lose and never see yourself venturing into debt.

Wine

A little-known avenue down which to pump some of your savings is wine. The wine market is buoyant with investors buying up cases of vintage years of chardonnays, beaujolais and shiraz. Wines like those listed at wine-searcher.com get better with age, and like antiques, they become rarer and more sought after. Investing in wine has outperformed equities 98 percent of the time over a five year period making it a solid and relatively low-risk investment option as long as you’re not looking to make a quick buck.

Make 2018 your most financially prosperous year yet by heeding some of these investment tips and watching your nest egg grow.

Profits Through Education - Investing In Yourself For Business Success

The world of business is a thriving but competitive place. Some business leaders are born to it; others need to work to become successful. Whether you’re venturing into business for the first time or you’re looking to improve the way you do things, education can benefit you to become a stronger business owner and generate profit. Here is a lowdown of some of the things you can learn to help you become more successful in managing your business’s finances.

Business finance basics

Many people who start a business do so with an idea, rather than a sound knowledge of running a business. If you’ve never had to manage a business’ finances before, it’s going to be a learning curve to get your head around it. There are some great financial literacy tools for small business owners that can help you to learn the ins and outs of managing your business’ finances and stop your business falling into the financial pitfalls that can halt small businesses in their tracks. While you can hire an accountant to look after your company’s money, as a business owner it’s important that you also develop a sound knowledge of business finance.

Supply chain management

Supply chain management is another area that can be crucial for business owners to learn, particularly small retail business owners who might not yet be able to bring these skills into the team. An online supply chain management course will teach you to create an agile supply chain strategy that will help you to learn the ins and outs of your business’ logistics - helping you to drive your business to success. The skills learned as part of a supply chain management course will help you to analyze your finances and make better decisions for your business, helping you to grow and play to your strengths. Learning while working is a great way to broaden your skills and can be done at any stage in your career to help you improve it. 

Marketing

Marketing is vital for business success. Not all business owners will have encountered marketing before, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be learned. Marketing is constantly changing and is an area where people are willing and able to share their knowledge online, meaning you can learn the essentials of marketing for free. Finding out more about digital marketing practices and being able to create a successful marketing strategy will benefit your business and help you connect with your target market. Marketing is essential for driving profits, and seeing which strategies generate the biggest leads can help you continue to build up the success of your business. 

Nearly 8 out of 10 new business will fail, in large part due to the inexperience of business owners. To ensure your business stands the best chance of success, take it upon yourself to learn to manage your business’ finances and become a more confident business owner. They say that knowledge is power, and the more knowledge you have - the more powerful your business can be. You’re never too old to start learning, so start your business education today.

Business Pitfalls You Might Want To Avoid

Running a business is no easy thing to do, and I think we can all agree on that notion. But, while there are always things that can go right, there are business pitfalls any entrepreneur will want to avoid. Being involved in every aspect of running a business can often mean that you end up spreading yourself thinly across every avenue you need to go down. Which is why these issues within your business can take a hold so suddenly. I thought I would share with you some of the common business pitfalls and how you can avoid them.

Legal troubles within the business

Issues can arise within a business that can be of a legal nature and many of which cannot be avoided. While, of course, it can mean that you have different aspects of the issue to fight, it certainly doesn’t mean the end. This is when an appeal attorney can really help you out. Enabling you to ensure that you do all that you can to resolve any legal issues within your business that you may be faced with. 

Invoices not being paid on time

Cashflow and finances are a huge problem for businesses, so it is so important to ensure that you get your invoices paid on time. Of course, many businesses offer a thirty-day window for payments, but this can sometimes leave a business short on funds. There are companies that will buy off the invoices for you, so this could be something you may want to explore if you find yourself struggling with finances and invoicing.

Not advertising in the right way

Marketing and advertising is a key aspect of any business strategy, so getting it right is essential. One huge common pitfall any business can face would be either not having the right strategy in place or focusing on the wrong sorts of advertising. It is all well and good posting to your social media, but if you don’t publish at the right time or engage with your audience, it can be a pointless task.

Not having the right team in place

It is always essential to make sure you have the right team in place. These people, after all, are at the forefront of your business. They could be front your stores or greeting clients in the office, or simply they may be answering the phones. But these people are the face of your business, so it is vital for you to get the decision right when it comes to hiring the right team. Staff turnover can be quite a high cost for any business to overcome. 

Risk management

Finally, risk management can be a huge business pitfall you most certainly will want to avoid. It is a case of identifying them and ensuring that the risk is easily identified and a solution is found to resolve the issue before it becomes a problem to your business or worst still a customer. The last thing you want is to create your own business pitfall to overcome.

I hope that this helps you become more aware of some of the issues your business could face.

4 Signs You Need To Expand Your Business Staff

Let’s face it: hiring staff is tough.

It’s tough because of the great variable of people. Sometimes, you go through a recruitment process and the exact right person emerges as the frontrunner. You know they’re the right fit for your business within five minutes of the interview commencing; it feels like serendipity that you’ve discovered them.

At other times, it’s… it’s not so good, let’s be honest. You go through dozens of interviews and you still can’t quite find the exact person you think would be a good fit for your company. In fact, if we’re being really honest, this scenario is far more likely than easily finding the perfect employee when you’re going through a recruitment process.

As going through the process of employing people can be so tough, many business owners have a tendency to put it off, to defer the stress to another point in time. To an extent, that’s fair enough -- if the business can manage without the extra staff. Below, let’s discuss the signs that suggest that your business isn’t managing without new staff. 

1. Work Is Being Left Undone

All businesses tend to operate on a backlog of sorts; if you keep running out of things to do during the day, then that’s a bad sign. But how big is your backlog? If you’re more than a couple of weeks behind, it’s a sign you need to hire more staff.

2. You’re Having To Turn Down Contracts

If you have ever had to turn down a contract or opportunity for work due to not having the staff to meet the deadline, then this is a red alert. Your business is clearly doing well, you have clients waiting for what you can produce -- don’t look a gift horse in the mouth just because you don’t like the process of hiring staff.

3. You’re Spending More Time Learning Than Doing

If you’ve decided that you would rather learn to undertake specific business tasks such as bookkeeping or webdesign rather than hiring a qualified professional, you are storing up problems. There’s a reason bookkeeping and webdesign (for example) are specialist careers; because performing these tasks well requires in-depth knowledge. If you’re constantly trying to get yourself up to speed with business aspects you don’t really understand, then your business is going to suffer. Hire someone who is qualified in these areas and get your focus back on leading the business itself. 

4. You Haven’t Hired Someone New In The Last Year

Finally, any business needs new ideas once in awhile. It’s easy to fall into a pattern of doing the same old thing, without ever stretching for the innovation that can truly make a business grow. If you’ve not brought someone new into your organization for 12 months, you could probably do with an injection of new blood. 

Sometimes, the only thing you can do is bite down and settle into a recruitment process. With any luck, you’ll find the right person, who can inject energy into your business and give it a new lease of life.

Abandon Ship! What To Do When Your Finances Hit A Rock

Running is a business is a unique experience, but there is one experience all business owners share. That experience is the phenomenon of going through a rough financial patch. For whatever reason, every company has to tighten their belt or even watch their finances fall of a cliff. It is not easy, it is not nice, but more importantly, it isn’t the end of the world.

Get A Quick Loan

Just because your finances are in bad shape doesn’t mean that you don’t have bills to pay. Your lenders might sound sympathetic but they won’t give you a reprieve because they want their money. From their point of view it is just bad luck. Due to their lack of sympathy, you can’t say you refuse to pay anymore. Not only will it hurt your credit rating but it will spiral out of control. The only option is to take out a loan to cover your debts. And don’t worry if you have bad credit as online loans for bad credit are readily available. At least with a loan you can continue to function while you come up with a plan.

Cut Back

Cut back means you have to cut back wherever possible. Some cut backs speak for themselves, like moving offices if the rent is too high. There are others, though, that aren’t as easy to spot. Transforming into a paperless office is a great example. You might think that it won’t make a difference but it makes a big difference. Businesses can spend hundreds and even thousands on paper every year. By getting rid of it altogether you don’t have to pay the costs. Regardless of the amount, you should make it happen. Remember that every little helps.

Hire An Accountant

‘Wait a minute, you just said I should cut back on my business expenses?’ Yes you should, but sometimes to have to spend money to make money. It’s a strange concept to understand, yet it is one that can save your business. Paying for an accountant to look after your finances will save you a fortune in a range of areas. Accountants, for instance, know how to structure your finances to avoid bank charges. They also know how to pay off debts so that you always have liquidity. Their expertise will save you money even if you have to pay them a wage.

Don’t Panic

Finally, don’t lose your head and make bad decisions. The shocking truth is that businesses often kill themselves in this period because they lose focus. As soon as they hear the news, they try and dig straight out of the hole and go for the Hail Mary. Your finances are a long-term project and you should treat them as such. So, take a deep breathe and think about what your next steps are, then execute the steps one by one.

How you react when you are in financial trouble is vital as the wrong reaction can be fatal.

Secrets of Improving Business Profit Margins, Without Spending A Penny

Many business owners are under the impression that spending money makes them money when it comes to improving their profit margins. While this can be true, it is far from the only way to boost your coffers. In fact, you can improve your business profit margins without spending a single penny - and focus on reducing your costs.

In today’s guide, we’re going to run through a few ideas on how you can enjoy better margins just by being sensible, making better decisions, and changing the focus of your business. Read on to find out more - and with a little luck, you will reap the rewards in the not-too-distant future.

Be more vigilant

First of all, it’s important to know where your money is going. This involves a broad range of activities, from tracking every last penny spent to holding regular reviews of expenditure and costs. It’s probably the most important and dramatic thing you can do if you want to start seeing higher profit margins.

Streamline your business

According to Rezzable, streamlining your company is the most important thing you can do. Streamlining is not just about cutting costs, of course, it's also about organising your business better, to ensure that productivity remains high. The idea is to make every single task in your business more efficient, and remove many of the flaws and blockages that many companies experience on a daily basis.

Focus on customer experience

Ensuring every customer sees your company at its best costs nothing. And, given that every penny your business makes comes from those customers, it makes sense to reward them for it. Offer a great customer experience, and you will reduce buying abandonment and brand disloyalty, and increase brand recognition and, most importantly, your profit margins.

Retain current customers

Instead of investing quite so much in finding new clients, start doing more to persuade your current clients to keep purchasing from you. Keeping customers is always cheaper than finding new ones - so consider how you are communicating with them, or offer them new deals and discounts.

Speed up your processes

The faster your turnaround time, the lower your cost per sale - it’s a simple premise and one that should tell you the importance of tracking your order and delivery systems. Making small changes can have a significant impact, and the less time you spend between order and delivery, the better your margins will be. Eliminate wasted time, automate what you can, and do everything possible beforehand to ensure speedier beforehand.

Cut low paying clients

What areas of your business are high producing? If you can work out where you earn your money, you can start focusing on dumping low paying clients, and do more to attract high payers. Don’t underestimate the impact low payers can have on your business, particularly if you are offering services. They drain your time, demand more for their money, and might actually end up costing you!

So, there you have it - a few handy tips to help you improve your profit margins Good luck - and feel free to share any tips in the comments section below!