Understanding the Agriculture Market

Everybody has to eat. There are carnivores, herbivores, and locavores, but whatever diet a consumer chooses, it will always come at least partly from a farm.

That seemingly perpetual demand can inspire people to investigate agricultural businesses as an investment or entrepreneurial opportunity. And it can be a very profitable sector, but there are a few insiders’ points that would-be investors should understand.

Farmer and his vegetables

To start off, not every farmer owns a farm, or at least not every acre that he or she farms. While the idyllic picture of the family farm sometimes holds true, the fact is that a large percentage of farmers are actually renting a big portion of the land they tend.…

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Does Working From Home Negatively Impact Your Health?

Working from home is the dream, isn’t it? The flexibility, comfort of your own surroundings and ability to alter your hours as you please is a big temptation for many of us. Why wouldn’t you want to work from home? You won’t need to face that dreaded 6am alarm, ghastly commute and having to stand for an hour on a train which costs you £500 per month. The advantages are never-ending. Well, so it seems at first glance.

Work from home

A study by Timothy Golden revealed a different perspective on the matter. The findings highlighted that working from home can have a negative effect on both your physical and mental health.…

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Great CEOs are Down on The Basics

There are hundreds of advice columns for CEOs, so let’s start this one with an acknowledgment of how CEOs got where they are in the first place.

Chief executives are bright, fact-based big-picture thinkers who have an innate ability to tune in to what other people are thinking, feeling and doing and to turn that instinct (and knowledge) to their company’s advantage. Those are the basic attributes.

Business woman and CEO

CEOs don’t overlook the small details, but they don’t get hung up on them, either. They are big-picture thinkers, which allows them to focus on long-term company goals.

In so many words, a company can hire all the detail-oriented people they need.…

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Customer Acquisition: 3 Ways to Track your Leads

The truth about market nowadays is that you are left alone on this battlefield. If you think that you are competing with businesses providing similar goods or services, you are completely wrong. The real nemesis is informational noise; the rival to knock out.

Making a business deal

The customer acquisition looks exactly like an auction – business has to be ready to pay more to catch intending purchaser’s attention. In other words, your flower shop is competing not only with other flower shops but with restaurants, financial institutions, and insurance companies, as well.

The acquisition cost is usually reaching breakeven, while the real revenue appears with only second, third or even fourth purchase.…

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6 Things you Need to Create an Epic Social Media Presence

Large corporate brands have a wealth of social superstars at their disposal. The vast majority of small businesses do not, often preferring to micro-manage every aspect of their social presence to ensure every post is perfect. Going the self-managed route may seem like the best bet as you build your company’s reputation and reach, but there’s a lot more work that goes into creating an epic social presence than most people think.

Follow me on Twitter

Most small-to-medium sized businesses fail to reap the rewards that social can offer because they don’t regard it as a legitimate marketing option. There’s so much to consider and that’s why understanding what’s going on in the social-sphere is very important.…

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3 Cost Effective Marketing Ideas for Small Local Businesses

If you run a small local business, you know how difficult it can be to compete not only against other local small businesses, but also against the big corporate chains that have overtaken just about every industry and niche out there. This can translate to having to spend a lot of money, time, and effort on marketing yourself to get customers to come to you rather than go to the competition.

Local business ad on a car

Thankfully, though, there are some really cost effective marketing ideas that are effective at getting small local businesses on the map. Continue reading to learn more.

1. Make Online Instructional Videos

Hire a local videography company or go the DIY route and use your own camera and editing equipment in order to create engaging, fun, and informative instructional videos that you can then post online on your website, social media pages, and YouTube page for your audience to enjoy.…

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5 Ways You Are Wasting Your Time – and How to Stop

If you are like many small-business owners, “busy” doesn’t even begin to describe your typical day. It seems like you are always on the go, with a never-ending to-do list and never enough time to do it all.

Bored staff in a boring meeting

But have you ever stopped to consider how you are actually spending your time? How much of each day do you spend actually doing things that help grow your business? How often do you climb into bed exhausted, lamenting the fact that you didn’t get nearly as much accomplished as you had hoped? If that sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. According to one survey, small-business owners cumulatively waste more than 4 billion hours every year on tasks that aren’t vital to business growth, such as administrative and supervisory tasks.…

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The Need for Data Protection in an Increasingly Paperless World

While we are undoubtedly fortunate to live in technologically advanced times, this also brings challenges in terms of online security and safety. To understand these further, we need only look at the publication of recent data breaches involving the Office of Personnel Management and the Internal Revenue Service, which highlighted exactly how vulnerable organisations become when they share data either externally or internally.

Data protection

For firms that are required to share or store data, it is therefore imperative that there is a clear focus on creating secure, online network.

How to Prevent Data Loss and Secure your network in 3 easy steps

With this in mind, what practical steps can be taken to safeguard your network and prevent data loss?…

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Loan or Line of Credit? 7 Key Differences you Need to Know

There are several key differences between a loan and a line of credit (LOC). Differences you need to go before putting yourself at the mercy of a bank loan manager or outside lender.

Business loans

1. A loan is a one time deal

Once a loan is paid off, you have to reapply again if you need a cash-infusion in the future. A line of credit is always there to be drawn upon as needed, provided you keep it in good standing.

2. Loans are largely based on needs

When you need cash, you head to the bank or other creditor and apply.…

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5 Easy Ways To Find Potential Customers On Twitter

Do you need more customers? Despite being 9 years old and having 316 million active users, Twitter is still a mystery for business owners. Most still can not grasp how to navigate through the noise and find their target audience. What makes Twitter a great place for any business is the ability to search status updates and user bios based on keywords.

Twitter marketing balloons

The following 5 methods will teach you how to find new leads and potential customers for your business on Twitter today.

1. Search For Your Name

Take the time search your business’s name on Twitter. The result? You may find a number of unbiased tweets regarding your company’s products and services.…

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