Do you feel as though your business pricing isn’t quite right? Maybe you feel as though you need to make a change because you are losing out to your competition and want to do something about this. Either way, if you take a look below then you will soon be able to make the right changes.
Price Skimming
Skimming, in terms of business pricing, involves setting really high prices when you introduce your product and then gradually lowering them as you see new competition hit the market. This type of pricing is best for businesses that are entering an emerging market. It gives you the chance to capitalize on the buzz regarding your business while giving you the chance to undercut competition at a later date.
Market Penetration Pricing
Instead of starting with high prices, and slowly lowering them, you will take over a market by undercutting your competition. When you have a reliable customer base, you can then raise your prices. You will have to take a loss up-front here as this will give you the chance to get a strong footing in the market. This is the best way for you to develop a loyal customer base, but it is not for everyone. If you need help with your pricing you can always do a conjoint analysis.
Premium Pricing
Premium pricing is for companies that want to create a high-quality product, and who want to market to high-end individuals. You will need to develop a premium or luxury branding strategy here so you can make sure that you are appealing to the right type of customer. If you have launched your business already then you can experiment with these strategies so you can find out what works best for you.
Economy Pricing
If you adopt economy pricing then this involves targeting customers who want to get things as cheaply as possible, and who want to save as much as possible. Big box stores, including Costco and Walmart, are really good examples here. Adopting this pricing model does depend on your overall costs and the value of your product, so give this some thought if you can.
Bundle Pricing
When sellers pair different products and then sell them for less than they would individually, this is bundle pricing. This pricing method is a very good way to try and move a lot of product in a very short space of time. A good bundle strategy involves getting a lot of profit from high-end items within the bundle, even though a loss is experienced with the low-value items. If you want to adopt this strategy then you need to make sure that you plan your bundles carefully because it is too easy to lower the price more than you should and then pay for it in terms of your overall profit.
If you want to make the most out of your pricing strategy then you need to do your research and make sure that you are always taking into account your profit margins.
As an employer, you want to do what’s best for your employees because it all trickles back down into the success and growth that your business achieves over the course of the year. Employee training is an important part of maximizing your business growth, which is why it should be a particular focus in 2023. Here are five tips for training your employees effectively this year.
Budget wisely for employee training
Think about how much you have available when it comes to funding your employee training. This varies from one business to another and it’s important to only allocate as much as you can when it comes to employee training.
While employee training is important, it’s not worth it for your business to suffer financially because of allocating too much. Even if you’re presenting one or two employees with a training opportunity once a year, that’s better than nothing at all.
So with that in mind, be careful and selective when it comes to budgeting for employee training.
Set employee expectations
Employee expectations are important to set when it comes to training your employees successfully. Consider what your employees want from the training they receive and whether they have any preferences for the type of training they receive.
For some employees, they might not be as fussed about the type of employee training they get, whereas others are more specific in what they’d like to get from these opportunities. The more you listen to your staff, the more you’ll get out of your employees from training throughout the year.
Offer employees mentors
To help with employee training, one option that might be useful is offering mentors. Mentors are great for helping guide employees and to help them learn more about their role or a role you might want to nurture them to take on in the future.
Think about offering employee mentors where possible to help boost the level of training they’re getting in real-life situations. Rather than just sitting and learning in a classroom, they might find they benefit more from learning from those who are already excelling in the roles or career paths your employee is in.
Invest in a LMS
To help with monitoring and managing employee training processes, it’s worth investing in an LMS. LMS or learning management systems as they’re commonly known, are great for helping track their progress, understanding how much is being allocated to each department, etc.
By using an LMS, you’re going to ensure every employee and every department are getting equal opportunities for training, rather than the budget going back to the same people again and again. It promotes fairness in the business, particularly when it comes to training.
Check up on staff during training
Finally, be sure to check up on staff during their training and to ensure they’re happy with the progress they’re making. Getting feedback on the sessions is useful for understanding how effective or purposeful the training was for those individuals in question.
These training tips will hopefully train your employees effectively in 2023. Make sure to use these tips to benefit your workforce this year.
Taking the time to learn about online safety, how to prevent hacks, keep your computer secure, and avoid the most common threats is all well and good. However, many of those tips aren’t going to help if you think you have already been hacked. Here, we’re going to look at how to handle getting hacked as well as possible. Try to stay calm, but it’s important to act decisively and quickly. Here are a few tips to help you do that.
Know the warning signs that you have been hacked
Before you jump to any conclusions, you should take the time to think about whether or not you really are a victim of hacking. There are a few signs of hacking that you should keep an eye out for, such as random popups or email password resets being sent to you that you didn’t request. You may find that you are being redirected to websites you’re not intending to visit when browsing the net. Another common sign is that your friends, family, and contacts will get suspicious or unexpected messages from you. If any of these happen without explanation, it’s time to suspect that you have been hacked.
Lock down your email account
If you have lost access to your email or you find that contacts of yours have been getting unexplained and weird emails from your address, then it’s likely that it has been hacked. If your email has been hacked, then you should assume that it’s an emergency situation. Use whatever options your email provider has to lock your account. Change the password if you can, apply two-step authentication so that the hacker would have to have your phone or another device to able to access it, and even consider creating a new email address if you’re worried about how compromised your current address is. Unfortunately, our email addresses are often so linked to other online as well as financial and business accounts that losing them can mean dealing with a major threat.
Get your other accounts back
If any of your accounts have suspicious activity on them, especially activity from an IP located far from yours, then they will usually send you a warning message, as well as methods on how to reset the account to lock anyone out. If you have lost something like a password manages password or an email account that can be used to access these other accounts, be they for social media, online subscription services, or otherwise, you should follow their instructions to reset them and lock the hackers out as soon as possible.
Let people know
If you’re hacked, then your accounts can become a risk vector for further attacks. Hopefully, friends and family should get in touch to let you know that they’re getting suspicious messages. Otherwise, if you lose an account that has the possibility to reach out to them, then you should get in touch with them as soon as possible, telling them to delete any suspicious messages, emails, or messages that are coming from you and to especially never click links that come from an account that you think you have lost, as it may be a phishing scam or a link that downloads malware, for instance. If you’re not able to get your account back, then they can help by flagging and reporting it, in the hopes that it might get taken down.
Monitor your bank activity
A lot of us have our financial details tied in with our other online accounts. This can include your bank account and other finances. As such, you should make sure that you keep a close eye on them, especially for any untoward transactions. If you have any reason to suspect that they are in your bank account, your PayPal or otherwise, then you need to get in touch with them as soon as possible and ask them to lock your account and help you recover it. Most banks will have some level of protection for your money so that you don’t lose everything, but you don’t want to take a chance on it.
If your PC is taken over
Most hacking attempts, and successful hacks, result in someone getting into your email or other accounts. However, there are cases in which someone might get remote access to your PC. You can check for the signs of remote access if you’re not certain. If you’re able to confirm it, or if you can actively see them controlling your PC, then you should immediately disconnect from the internet, change your online and device passwords, and use antivirus to hunt down and delete any malware. If you’re still getting remote access, then you might want to wipe the device entirely. Make sure that you secure your Wi-Fi router, as well, as it can be a method of attack.
If you get a ransomware message
A ransomware message can be one of the scariest things to receive. A ransomware attack is when someone gets access to your computer or accounts, and uses the threat of exposing or deleting your personal, private, and financial data to get you to pay them. For one, learn to recognize fake ransomware, which is becoming a very popular spam email as of late. If the ransomware threat is real, they will usually be able to prove it, by showing you that they have truly compromising data, or by using methods that show they have already gotten into your system. If you get hit by ransomware, there are steps to follow, including capturing proof, quarantining the affected systems, and reporting it to law enforcement. Whether or not you pay the ransom is something that you have to seriously consider, however.
If you have done all of the above but are still worried about the threat a hacker poses to you, or you’re panicking and not sure you’re able to handle the situation right, get in touch with your local computer security expert. Handing it off to a professional is sometimes the best thing to do.
A big struggle of being self-employed is maintaining a good cash flow. You do a lot of work for clients, but it could be weeks or months before the money comes in. You send out an invoice and it gets lost in the swill of emails they receive every day. Time passes and you desperately need the money to survive.
Finding ways to secure faster invoice payments is crucial – and you’re about to learn how. Keep on reading to discover some of the best ways to do this.
Offer multiple payment methods
One common mistake is sending an invoice with only one payment method attached. Typically, you’ll leave your bank details and expect the client to send a bank transfer over. This is quite an arduous task and it’s an easy thing for them to set aside and forget about.
Instead, you should be looking for credit card merchants services to set up multiple payment methods. When an invoice is sent out, instead of only getting one option, they can click a button and pay instantly via credit or debit cards. You’re making the payment process more fluid and easier for the client, which can encourage faster payments every time.
Ask for money before the work
Self-employed individuals have gotten into the habit of requesting payment after completing work. It makes sense, but think about how other businesses operate. If you pay a business for a service, you tend to pay upfront and then receive the service. Why should it be any different for a self-employed worker?
Start asking for money upfront, so you’ve got the cash in your bank before the job begins. You’ll negate cash flow problems, making it easier to run your own little business. Or, you can ask for a percentage of the final fee as a deposit. It gives you some money, and when combined with the other tactics we’re talking about, should still enable faster payments.
Invoice as soon as the job is done
If you can’t get money upfront for whatever reason, the next best option is to invoice as soon as the job is done. When you send off the final project to a client, attach your invoice in the same email. We moan about clients being late with payments all the time, but sometimes it’s not their fault. If you wait a few days/weeks to send an invoice, you can’t complain that it’s late.
Get into the habit of making invoices in advance and then sending them the moment a job is over. You’re more likely to see instant payments like this as you’re fresh in the client’s mind and they don’t have any excuse to neglect the invoice.
Try any or all of these tips and you’ll notice faster invoice payments from all of your clients. Also, while you’re creating invoices, make sure there are clear payment terms. Outline in the invoice when the money should be paid and what happens if it doesn’t get paid by that date. If clients see that you charge extra fees for late payments, they’ll definitely pay on time.
If you want to be a more productive person each day, it’s wise to embrace technology and make your life so much easier. We live in a world that is surrounded by technology and it feels as though it’s going to take over at some point. While this is not the case, you may as well make the most of the technology we have at our disposal. It can help with the likes of simplifying work and getting things done so much quicker. Where are you are working on a project for yourself or you have things to do in your job, certain pieces of software can be life-savers.
There are different programs coming out every year that can genuinely make life so much simpler for everyone. The same can be said about certain applications on smartphones and other devices. We should all look to embrace this kind of thing – here are a few specific reasons why:
Daily Tasks Are Streamlined
Whether you are doing something serious for your job or you are doing something for recreational purposes, certain apps and other programs can align everything perfectly. Planning things out on your own is absolutely fine, but it might take a little longer and a few things could be a little tedious along the way. Certain apps will be able to plan everything out for you in a matter of moments and make life so much simpler as you do your tasks.
You’ll Have More Access To Information And Knowledge
The Internet and a multitude of online programs are caked in pieces of information that you will thoroughly use. From something as simple as Wikipedia to an amazing program like AI Achievers, you will be able to ask a question and get the perfect answer in response. You won’t have to worry about technology doing things for you, and lowering your brain power – it’s just a niftier way to get things done and to gather more knowledge.
Connecting And Networking Becomes Even Easier
We live in a world where we are able to contact one another very quickly. Whether you want to get in touch with a work colleague or you want to speak to a friend, there are so many different ways we can do it. The more apps you have, I’m always you’ll be able to take part in networking and you’ll be able to progress a lot quicker. Having lots of different methods of communication also makes you look a lot more professional when you were trying to achieve things.
Health And Well-Being Are Promoted
There are lots of different apps around in this day and age. This means that if you are looking for an app or a piece of software that can help you with your health, you will be able to find something that is perfect for you. Again, it will make everything so much simpler and break things down in ways that perhaps you never knew before.
Entertainment And Enjoyment Increases
While we have lots of responsibilities to take care of, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t enjoy life from time to time. If you have plenty of different entertainment choices due to the app you are using, it makes the days go by a lot nicer. There are so many different things we can use in order to pass the time and keep us happy.
Do you find it a struggle to get the kids up first thing in the morning? Millions of parents around the world do! Some days are easier than others, but most of the time it’s difficult to motivate the kids to get up, wash, get dressed, and then eat a hearty breakfast before heading out to school. And if you’re in need of a hand to get the kids moving during those early hours, here are some tips that could help.
Let Them Regulate Their Own Wake Up Time
This might sound like a very bad idea, but if you want your kids to get better at being up for school, you have to let them get on with it! So give them an alarm clock, walk them through setting it for the right time, and then see what happens next.
Most kids will get up when it goes off and will even enjoy feeling like a grown up in the scenario. However, if they’re late waking up it’s entirely on them, and that sense of responsibility will really bring the reality their way!
Use Meditations to Help Them Face the Day
If your kids are cranky or hyper in the morning, it’s best to do something that’ll help center them. Include it as part of your morning routine to make sure your kids quickly get with the program; a meditation, or prayers to start the day, will both work here.
Get the kids to stand up and shake off sleep, then close their eyes and breathe through a moment of mindfulness. It’ll help them focus on what they need to do today, and make it much easier to get the rest of their morning routine done!
Keep Their School Equipment in the Same Place
The morning routine might be daunting for your kids simply because it’s so tricky. They have to go all over the house collecting their school uniform and to pack their bags – no one wants to have to do that much work first thing!
To make this much easier on them, institute a rule: the bag gets packed the night before and is left in the same place to be picked up before going out the door. The dining table or at the bottom of the stairs are the two most popular areas for this.
Give Them Something to Use Up Their Energy
Adults lose a lot of morning energy as we get older. However, kids have it in spades! So put on a song that they like, or give them an activity book to go through while they’re eating their breakfast; both are great things for keeping their mind on the task at hand without being too disruptive. And if you’ve got a hyperactive morning child on your hands, the TV can be the worst thing for motivating them to get moving before school.
School mornings can be slow – we all know that! But they don’t have to stay that way!
