Mohit Tater's Blog, page 633

Tips on Writing a Leadership Research Paper

When you are asked to write about leadership, you should clearly understand that a professor reading your research paper assesses not only your ability to gather information and analyze it but also your personal approach to leadership.

Due to this you should be truly careful when choosing examples for your paper and making conclusions, as they might give a clue on which kind of leader will you be in the nearest future. Here are some timely tips which will help you write a leadership research paper at the highest level of quality, emphasizing your own abilities and perspectives.

Rule #1. Know the Difference between Complicated and Complex Case Studies

To look like a real professional, you should choose engaging and even gracious case studies to prove your point or to base your analysis on. At this point, it is critical to see the difference between complex and complicated situations. If something is complicated, it means it is different, it requires more resources to be solved: more time, more people, more money. If something is complex, it means that you are in the middle of what is called “spaghetti situation”  with numerous stakeholders and options for actions. This situation cannot be solved solely by adding more resources. The goals of each stakeholder should be defined, and only then actions should be taken. Both options are good for your leadership research paper, just make sure you know which one is in front of you and how you should approach it.

Rule #2. Don’t Use a Beaten Trail

For what it’s worth, you should take it seriously — your professor is not eager to read another research paper on Henry Ford or Ogilvy. Use fresh role models if you have to mention them because it is hard to find even a teenager not aware of leadership style Steve Job used. It is important to show that you can dig deeper than the first page of the Google search because otherwise, your leadership paper will look too shallow and hardly interesting for anyone reading it. More of it, it won’t be interesting for you to write it if you don’t find some fresh ideas and examples to evaluate. Originality is not only about anti-plagiarism, but it is also about looking for the newest ways to deal with not original problems and tasks. You can use as examples successful cases from Kickstarter, the best stories from Silicon Valley and discover new leaders of the developing countries.

Rule #3. Always Leave Room for a Doubt

You might find it amusing, but a real leader always leaves room for unknown and unexpected. The theory of “black swans” has proven to be the most valid one in the current economic situation, and you shouldn’t sound too much sure in every decision you offer for the particular case study as a leader. Give options, acknowledge that there might be moments of uncertainty and point out the possible options for dealing with them. This approach will show to your potential reader that you are a professional and experienced specialist or at least can think like one.

Rule #4. Don’t Forget about Three Key Leader’s Features

No matter which side of leadership you cover, it is important not to forget about three qualities every leader should possess:

Clarity of thoughts and communication. Leaders’ thoughts are clear and concise the same as the way they express them. Even if a leader has perfect, successful ideas but can’t deliver them efficiently to the team, they will just be gone in vain.
A leader should see more in people than they try to show. Also, he or she should be able to make right decisions in the situations of uncertainty.
Personal integrity and devotion. An individual can’t lead if he or she lacks integrity and is not fully involved in the process.

When dealing the leadership case studies or a research paper, you should emphasize these qualities.

Rule #5 Cut on Drama, Add more Substance

Writing papers about leadership students often forget that they are not writing a novel and start using free space describe the horrible business situations and a heroic leader solving them. Decrease the level of drama in your paper and add substance: facts, working schemes, measurable results, etc. It is important to focus on measurable factors because thanks to them you can truly show the efficiency of the particular type of leadership. If possible, choose case studies which have some numbers from the very beginning, not only qualitative descriptions.

This is not an exhaustive list of rules and principles which a student should use when writing this type of the academic assignment. However, even if you keep in mind only these five, they will be quite enough for coming up with a research paper which your professor will truly appreciate.

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Will Regulation Kill or Civilize Cryptos Market?

After so much hype towards the end of 2017, cryptocurrencies have faced a shockingly bad start to 2018. Cryptocurrencies had finally broken away from being a niche financial industry, to becoming much more mainstream or commonplace. But 2018 has seen regulation somehow clip their wings.  Regulatory headlines have dominated the industry this year, with market price action indicating that this is a very sensitive issue to both traders and investors. But is regulation a crypto-killer, or a crypto-savior?

The Start of Regulation?

Ripple trading was the most affected in January as the token shed off over 60% of its value in January 2018 alone. Bitcoin and other major cryptos also posted losses of over 40% of their values. China was the first to act, continuing its assault on cryptos from late last year, by banning crypto mining and stamping out domestic exchanges. South Korea took the cue and went as far as raiding banks with links to cryptocurrencies as well as major exchanges.

The wind of tougher regulation crept into February, with China again extending the crackdown on exchanges to include foreign companies and blocking websites associated with cryptocurrencies as well as imposing a blanket ban on the issuance of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). India joined the party as the country’s Finance Minister categorically stated that the government does not consider cryptos to be a legal tender and that all measures will be undertaken to eliminate their use in financing illegitimate activities. There was, however, a glimmer of hope after the minister stated that the government would ‘explore’ the use of the blockchain technology in ‘ushering the digital economy’.

Controlling Crypto Trading

In a pointer on the direction regulation will follow, South Korea, after coming in hard on cryptos, introduced legislation that seeks to curb speculative crypto investing and also limits trading to real-name bank accounts. This gave a clue on what ‘bothers’ regulators and governments globally. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies promotes anonymous transactions between parties, something that poses serious money laundering threats and the finance of illegal activities. The threat is even much bigger considering that Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency, was first used as a means of exchange on the dark web.

The United States, a previous firm critic of cryptocurrencies, is also seemingly going the regulation route, rather than the path of a blanket ban. When testifying before the US Senate, SEC Chair Jay Clayton, said that he believed ICOs were a security, while CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo acknowledged that the blockchain technology and the introduction of Bitcoin Futures helped in getting crucial data that could be analyzed for fraud or manipulation, something that previously was not possible.

It is after this congressional hearing that the market has now began to welcome regulation in the crypto space. This has been well reflected in the market price action this week, with almost all the major cryptocurrencies posting steady positive gains. It is a vote of confidence for cryptos as governments actually consider regulating them.

The future of cryptocurrency regulation will likely follow the blueprint provided by the European Union, a region that has always been warm to the technology. The EU has issued major proposals; the first of which seeks to eliminate anonymity. Exchanges and intermediaries will be required to comply with international AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (Know Your Customer) policies, which will require users to issue proof of their identity as well as address when opening accounts. Another proposal is a set of instructions to both the public and regulators that will subject virtual currencies to taxation. This will solve the tax evasion issue. Finally, there is also a proposal to impose caps on virtual currency payments, something that will validate the status of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, because such caps currently exist on cash transactions.

Final Word

Regulation was always going to be a mixed pill for cryptocurrencies. This has been well witnessed on the market price action this year. There is, however, widespread appreciation of the disruptive potential of blockchain technology, which makes regulation a way of dealing with the negative threats of cryptocurrencies. Despite short term price fluctuations and negative impact on liquidity, regulation is an overall positive for investors. It increases value and legitimacy of cryptocurrencies and may well help entrench them into the mainstream global financial system.

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Restaurant Delivery Service: Outsource or In-House?

Restaurant delivery and the rise in off-premise dining are changing the food service industry. What was once a novel concept, practiced by only pizza joints and the most tech savvy of establishments, is quickly becoming the standard. As more and more restaurants adapt to the landscape, those who aren’t yet offering delivery or off-premise dining options must grapple with the reality that eventually, they could be a dying minority. This article isn’t to say that every restaurant should implement a food delivery service right away – but industry trends suggest that every restaurant, regardless of size, will need to confront the question of a food delivery service eventually.

Many factors go into deciding upon a restaurant delivery service: What resources do you already have? Will you need to hire more staff? Is your restaurant optimized for online orders? Ultimately, whether to keep a restaurant delivery service in-house, or outsource to a third party, becomes the question an operator must ask. There’s no perfect choice, as all restaurants are unique, but follow our list of the pros and cons to decide which method is best for you.

Outsourcing to Third Party Delivery: Pros
Expose you to new customers

For a restaurant, outsourcing to a third party means exposure to a vast new customer base. In most cases, a third party will already have loyal users, but the utility extends even further when you consider those guests who are coming from out of town and ordering takeout or delivery. They often depend upon the recommendations provided by useful apps from third parties like Uber Eats, and can usually filter their decisions by “category.” (i.e., Mediterranean). Association with a third party means your business gets in front of many customers who just wouldn’t find you otherwise.

Increased Revenue Potential

While both types of restaurant delivery service offer an increase in potential profits, a third party’s potential is backed by its loyal customer base. By getting in front of more customers seeking a convenient dining option, you stand to earn more money. When considering the volume of online orders against those that come from in-house, an operator should find an automated solution like a KDS that can blend the dual streams of traffic.

Cut Down on Staffing and Labor

When you outsource your food delivery service to a third party, they supply the staffing resources regarding drivers and delivery. Outsourcing the delivery portion keeps that labor burden off of your kitchen, so your staff can focus on preparing the food. Furthermore, hiring decisions, and most liability issues associated with driving and insurance, are handled by the third party.

Outsourcing to a Third Party Delivery: Cons
Costs

Third Party Delivery Services will take a percentage of every delivery sale you make. It’s how they stay in business. So while a third party can push your restaurant to their network, it comes at a premium — sometimes as much as 30 percent of the overall sale. Restaurants can develop an online or delivery only menu, relegated strictly to higher margin items, to curb these losses. Still, before taking on a third party, ensure you can handle these imminent costs.

Lack of Control and Liabilities

When you outsource your delivery service to a third party, you relinquish significant control over this part of your operation. Once the food leaves your restaurant, you really can’t control what happens to it. These drivers don’t work for you, technically, so if they give lousy service, many customers won’t necessarily distinguish between companies; the bad name may fall on you, and they won’t order again. Third parties can sometimes provide menu information directly on their platform, which can create consistency issues for restaurants who amend their menus frequently.

Less Brand Spotlight

While these third parties usually offer a great UI experience via mobile apps, it’s their brand that gets the spotlight. Yes, your restaurant does appear in their listings, but it’s on their portal, surrounded by their logos and design. Restaurant owners with particular branding preferences may prefer a more hands-on approach to their delivery.

In-House Delivery: Pros
Higher Profits (with a catch)

Some studies suggest that maintaining an in-house delivery team runs roughly 50% less expensive than employing the services of third parties. Restaurants with the existing staff and resources stand to earn more in revenue and retain more profit from each order. Furthermore, an in-house delivery team sidesteps set-up costs and other hidden fees that come with a third party. Remember though, the staffing burden, as well as incidental expenses, will all fall on you.

Keep the Brand Consistent

When you keep your food delivery service in-house, you keep your brand consistent on all platforms, and your loyal customers will appreciate it. Some studies suggest that if given a choice, 76% of delivery consumers would prefer to order directly from the restaurant of their choice rather than a third party. When you handle these efforts yourself, you reward your existing customer base with added convenience and stand to gain more with the added dining option. You also keep your brand front and center and maintain control over styling and verbiage across all platforms.

The Buck Stops with You

An in-house delivery team reports to you. You have an active, actionable part of the delivery process and customer service aspects. When something isn’t working right, you can make direct changes without having to work through someone else’s management. You make the decisions on how the delivery service runs, and you also collect more of the financial benefit. Of course, that autonomy comes with its own price.

In-House Delivery: Cons
100% Liability

With an in-house delivery service, you are entirely liable for everything that happens. You incur all the costs, you bear the entire brunt of every angry customer, and must use your own time and resources to restructure when things aren’t working. It’s a “with great power comes great responsibility” concept, the other side of the coin of high profits. Your restaurant should be able to handle these kinds of incidentals.

Staffing and Administrative Burden

A restaurant delivery service needs drivers and vehicles. Those vehicles need fuel and insurance. Those drivers need paychecks. A third party handles these kinds of nuts and bolts tasks for you, but in-house you’ve got to make all these decisions. You’ll be in charge of hiring, training, and goal-setting with your team, an iterative process that requires substantial time and effort. Make sure you’ve got those kinds of intangible resources before opting for in-house.

Startup Costs

Restaurants who are new to delivery may find that the upstart costs of an in-house delivery service, hiring staff and vehicles, for example,  are too high. This shouldn’t discourage them from embracing delivery outright. In these cases, they may try out a third party to get a feel for it and develop a strategy, before going in-house when the time is right.

What’s right for one restaurant will be different for another. Regardless, delivery will only become a more popular dining option in the future. Take a proper accounting of your restaurant, and these pros and cons, to determine which delivery strategy is best for you.

Looking to launch an off-premise dining strategy? Our industry leading kitchen display system can help your restaurant with a successful implementation. Through real-time order tracking and meal throttling, guests have access to real-time information while your kitchen maintains a steady flow of tickets – both for in-house and off-premise orders.

About the Author

Dylan Chadwick is a Content Marketing Specialist at QSR Automations. He graduated from Brigham Young University with an English degree and journalism focus and loves to write about technology. When left to his own devices, he enjoys loud music, adorable dogs and documentaries about the aforementioned.

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3 Gravest Mistakes Businesses Make Regarding Influencer Marketing

Who doesn’t like to watch Gigi Hadid in those stunning Tommy Hilfiger clothes? It is no doubt that popular celebrities can make your brand look fancy. But, the challenge still stands – how much does influencer marketing actually work for businesses? Out of all marketing strategies that businesses use, from search engine optimization to social media marketing, influencer marketing is one that is actually gaining a lot of popularity. But, some companies, not only the small businesses, but even the big ones continue to lose at influencer marketing. The return on investment isn’t very great, while a lot budget in spent the influencer. Here are two major reason where companies are going wrong about the entire concept of influencer marketing, despite working on large budgets and famous professionals:

(1) Most brands don’t realize that bigger stars aren’t necessarily the right influencers for your brand. The phrase, “the bigger the better”, doesn’t work here. It is important to realize that the influencer has to have a larger impact on your target audience, so you can’t pool in David Beckham for a food product, instead of probably going for a popular chef, who is actually related to the product. If the influencer isn’t related to your brand, people are going to find it difficult in believing in your product. So, instead of spending your time, money and resources into chasing a top star is just brutal wastage, that is the first turn you’ve taken wrong. You can also invest into micro-influencers who tend to have a good fan following, and who are specifically related to your field.

(2) Most companies don’t go beyond Instagram, when it comes to influencer marketing. If you want to build your brand, Instagram may not be the only available platform. There is Snapchat and Pinterest that are equally popular, but need a slightly different approach in order to make it worthwhile.

(3) Every company has this habit of trying to collaborate with any person who has a large fan base, and even after repeated setbacks, these companies don’t seem to learn from their mistakes and experiment someone new for their company. Before selecting an influencer, it is important to go through their social platforms, to the tiniest of the details. After a proper review of all the campaigns they’ve been a part of, how they communicate with their audience, how often do they post, etc. is when you consider the popularity factor.

Change your approach towards influencer marketing.

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How to Fund Your Startup Without Bankrupting Your Life

If you’ve ever worked at a startup business, you know they face several challenges. Perhaps the biggest is getting enough funding for your startup to thrive without putting your personal finances at risk. Luckily, you can take several steps to fund your startup without taking too much money out of your own pocket.

Know Where Every Dollar Is Going

Image via Flickr by 401(K) 2013

Most startups fail because they run out of money before they can ever gain traction. That’s why it’s so important to know exactly how you’re spending every dollar your business has. You need to establish a strict budget and then make sure you’re always following it. This is also true for your personal finances. If you track every expense you have, it’s easier to see where you’re spending money and where you can cut back to save money.

Get Startup Funds From Outside Sources

Although many entrepreneurs think they have to dip into their personal savings to fund their startup, you can find a variety of other sources to tap for funds. While bank loans and loans from the government are two of the most common options, you can also try crowdfunding, applying for grants, or looking for an angel investor. Additionally, consider joining a startup incubator, which can provide free resources that include consulting, office facilities, and funding.

Separate Business and Personal Finances

Keeping your personal and business finances separate is one of the most important steps you can take early on to fund your startup without bankrupting your life. This can help you in several ways. First, it gives your business more credibility. Second, it makes it easier to pay your taxes. Finally, it’s essential to helping you reduce personal liability should something negative happen with your business or if you ever want to sell it.

Plan Your Personal Finances Appropriately

You never know what will happen as you get your startup going, so it’s always a good idea to have a plan in place for your personal finances. This includes making sure you have enough money in savings to help you cover a couple of months of living expenses and managing your personal cash flow just like you manage the cash flow for your business.

One step you can take to get your finances in line is transferring your credit card balance to get lower payments or interest rates. This can help you save money so you have more available to deal with the irregular income that comes with a startup.

Make Sure You Pay Yourself

You’ll be putting in lots of hard work and effort into your startup, but that’s not going to put food on the table or pay the bills. It’s important that you pay yourself, even if it’s just enough to cover your living expenses. Additionally, don’t forget to set up a retirement account and put away as much as you comfortably can each month.

While running a startup has many challenges, funding it without hurting your personal finances won’t be one of them when you follow these tips.

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Recruiting: Done Right

Recruitment should not be reactive. Instead, follow a process to increase your probability of getting the best candidate who’ll bring success to your business.

It’s imperative to prepare recruitment documentation from the outset, including the job description and personal attributes that will thrive well in your office environment. When you write them, think about elements such as the daily tasks, essential skills and credentials, and administrative matters such as salary and estimated working hours (depending on the industry).

Make your job posting or advertisement precise

Base the job advertisement on the job description and personal specifications. Give enough information about the job so that applicants can decide whether they would be the right candidate that could meet and exceed your specifications.

To increase your advertisements chances of success, place it on at least two different platforms—almost certainly websites—so enough people will view it. When and where you advertise resides is an important decision to make when targeting the appropriate audience. LinkedIn is a great platform to start but there are a variety that you can place your job postings on.

Job advertisements should not encompass any biased language, such as “youthful” or “mature”, or “waitress” rather than “waiting staff.” Job applicants are protected by Ontario Human Rights Commission, so they could claim their failure to land the job was due to discrimination.

Make reasonable modifications

You must make reasonable modifications to remove any disadvantages facing disabled candidates during recruitment, so it’s a good idea to write a line in the job description that guides the applicants to make you aware if they need any (such as removing physical barriers before the interview) additional assistance for the hiring process.

Depending on how rigorous the process is, other modifications may include incorporating longer application forms to submit or asking the candidates to take personality testing.

Interview and selection

Interviews are a way to compare the applicant against both the role and the other candidates. You must use a consistent interviewing method and ask each applicant the same questions. There should be at least two interviewers to ensure there are no claims of bias or unfairness.

Once the interview process is over, the interviewers can rate the candidates to see who came out on top. Select the best applicant for the role and send an offer letter. It’s good practice to send a pending letter to the second best candidate to ensure they’re available if the ideal candidate doesn’t accept.

Don’t stop there

The start of employment is, perhaps, the most vital stage in the staffing process. It’s when your new employee gets the first impression of your business.

Good or bad, this impression can affect the employee’s decision about whether they want to continue working for you. It can even affect their future progress, so don’t underestimate it.

There are ways you can manage this. Consider putting in place an orientation plan, teaming your new starter up with a ‘buddy’, and offering training as soon as possible.

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4 Tech Trends Changing the World of Business

“Disruption” is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. Every person with a slightly innovative idea is talking about disrupting the established way of doing things. Some people succeed in creating disruption. The founders of Facebook, for example, managed to disrupt both social dynamics and how people get their news. Other people fail, and we soon forget about their ideas.

The role of a disruptor isn’t new. There have been disruptors walking the planet for as long as we’ve been able to use tools. And disruption has been slowly getting us to the world we live in now. The wheel was a disruption, and so were steam engines, coal engines, electricity, the first automobile. Disruption is powering change, and there are no bigger engines of change today than digital technologies. As we’re nearing the end of the second decade of the 21st century, these are the technologies that are having the most impact on the world of business.

Cloud Computing

Everyone who owns a smartphone and has an account with a digital services provider is aware of the cloud. The cloud is a place that stores photos, music, and other types of files. And while the storage capabilities of clouds are noteworthy, they are not the main reason there’s a fully fledged cloud craze going on.It’s not the best way to take advantage of cloud computing, either.

Cloud computing has been used to power three very important business models that are affecting the world of business — software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). In these models, software, platforms, and infrastructure are offered by service providers, with no need for users to host anything on their hardware. The effect of these models is that, for example, a real estate company can use the best real estate CRM on the market without a large upfront investment. More importantly, the company would need only an Internet connection to access the CRM. And finally, it would be able to scale up or down the services as much as it needs.

Remote Working

Remote working isn’t a tech trend as much as it’s a business trend. But it’s a trend largely enabled through tech developments that gave us instant messaging, video calling, and cloud computing.

In the United States, roughly 3% of workforce telecommutes, or works away from a place that is not the company’s place of work. Remote working comes with a lot of benefits for both the employees and the businesses. The bottom line is, however, that remote working is a trend that can cut costs for employees and businesses alike. For workers, it can improve access to opportunity by allowing them to work at better-paid jobs for employers from other countries. For businesses, it can open the door to an incredible pool of talent that doesn’t take geographical or national boundaries into account.

Big Data

Most of us have gotten used to the fact that the majority places we go online, and most things we do, are being tracked.  How we get to a website, what we do while we’re there, and how much time we spend doing it is only some of the information about our online activities that can be easily gathered. With the world getting near to its four-billionth Internet user, the amount of data that’s gathered is staggering.

Big Data is the term used for such large quantities of data. Gathering, storing, and analyzing so much data comes with a lot of challenges. That’s why it’s the big businesses that can really use Big Data right now. However, with data as a service becoming more accessible, small and medium businesses will soon enough be able to enjoy its benefits. Why would they want to do it? Analysis of so much data can provide valuable insights that can help businesses develop better products, and market and sell them more efficiently.

Artificial Intelligence

Thinking machines have been predicted in science fiction novels many years before we started developing artificial intelligence. But here we are, at a point in time when AI is about to become indispensable for businesses.

The AI we have today is far away from Arthur Clarke’s HAL 9000, but it can still do impressive things. From personal assistants to self-driving cars, from customer service to personal finance, AI is being used to perform activities that were, until recently, assigned to humans. Automation is probably the major of the ways artificial intelligence is changing the world of business.

The world was a very different place only twenty years ago. Every indicator points towards it being even more different twenty years from now. As disruption spreads and becomes more commonplace, who knows what new technologies will come up and what kinds of changes they will bring. For now, however, businesses who want to grow and be competitive need to keep an eye on these four technology trends.

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70 Trades Malaysia: Review And Opinión

FOREX trading can be a highly profitable market and, because of this, it has quickly become one of the leading destinations for traders and investors looking to put their skills to the test on a more extensive and puzzling industry than traditional stock exchanges. However, to find success in this environment, it will be necessary to use a broker, and with the high number of brokers available online, it’s imperative to see the right one. This time, we shall review 70 Trades.

The reason for this necessity is how easy it is to find an online broker thanks to the high supply of them. However, seeing how the internet can be a dangerous place for those not savvy enough to sort out scams, it becomes quickly apparent that blindly choosing a FOREX broker can be a risky move.

One of the said brokers is 70 Trades Malaysia, one that has been having quite a rough time when it comes to reviews and the opinion of previous users on several comments.

Due to the appealing options it offers. However, we think it’s necessary to check it out ourselves, looking to corroborate what other people say. So, for your learning, here’s our summary, review, and personal opinion.

Basics Of FOREX According To Wikipedia.

Taking from Wikipedia’s definitions, we shall give you a quick walkthrough of the terms and fundamentals of FOREX, so that you can understand everything we are about to explain here.

FOREX is short for FOReignEXchange, and it deals with the trade of currencies from around the world by traders who seek to capitalise the prices between different currency pairs and the disparity between buying and selling prices in various exchanges.

This market, being decentralised, is dependant on the individual situation of every country whose coin is being traded, seeing how political and economic events can drive the perceived value of a country’s currency.

The currencies are traded in pairs, such as USD/EUR, or JPY/GBP, in which one coin is worth an X amount of its couple.

According to Wikipedia, the most exchanged couples are EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and GBP/USD, with a 23%, 17.7%, and 9.2% of the transactions being performed between these currencies.

That confirms its decentralisation since we can quickly note that those currencies belong to some of the most influential economic entities in the world.

Investors interact with the FOREX market through the use of brokers like 70 Trades, which act as an intermediary and conduct the trades themselves, following the instructions given to them by their client.

Summary: Features Of 70 Trades.

What investors should look for when choosing a broker should be, first, what they offer over their competitors.

70 TradesMalaysia works with a trading platform named “PROfit”, which can be somewhat awkward for new investors who are used to other, more famous platforms like MetaTrader 4. However, it’s not very difficult to grow accustomed to the layout, with adjustable chart windows and several customisation options that help make the overall experience much more intuitive.

Other relevant aspects include:

The minimum initial deposit for your first login and account registration is $200.
Fixed spreads starting at 3 pips (in the EUR/USD pair), which is
 above average when compared to the rest of the industry.
The maximum leverage allowed by 70 Trades is of 1:200, which should be enough to suit your trading strategies, unless you wish to go for over-the-top trades and risks.
Several payment methods, including bank transfers, credit and debit cards, and online banks like Skrill or Neteller.
Professional advice for those who wish to understand better the FOREX market, divided into three levels (beginner, intermediate, expert). These classes go from explaining the basic concepts of the FOREX market on the beginner section to technical analysis and asset tracking for intermediates; the courses on the expert level close up with risk management and execution strategies as well as understanding analysis.
Professional advice for investing in primary products like energy and other industries, investing in gold, and even trading oil.
Trading tools like wallets, real-time data, and economic calendars and analysis.
Several operating plans that go from introductory to advanced and professional.
$100,000 demo account for you to practice before login into your real account and invest your money wisely.

Our Review Among Reviews.

The tools offered by 70 TradesMalaysia are varied and provide more than enough for any trader, both new and experienced, to start their FOREX career.

The only technical issue would present to seasoned investors who are used to other trading platforms since PROfit can appear dramatically different at first sight.

The $200 minimum deposit is notably high when compared to other brokers in the market and may be off-putting for a lot of traders, especially when seen against agencies who might go as low as a $50 minimum fee.

Similarly, the fixed spread (3 pip) is another thing to look out for, it being reasonably high if you take into consideration that you can find 1 pip spreads on the same EUR/USD currency. Another attractive option might be floating spreads.

On the upside, the demo account and professional assessment might be worth the $200, given how complete they are.

However, the primary concern is the lack of a strict regulatory presence, with 70 TradesMalaysia having only a Vanuatu license. And, while some might say that it’s still a license, the truth is that is not hard at all to obtain. That has undoubtedly been one of the weakest points noted in reviews.

Final Opinion about 70 Trades Malaysia

Our opinion would be to try out this broker only if you have the money to risk.

To be fair, this is good advice to apply to any online Broker. However, the high fee for minimum deposits is a big reason to be especially careful when trying out 70 Trades.

While the high spreads and bad reviews can put you off, the demo account alone should be good enough for you to try it out while making the most out of the training it provides which, on the surface, seem like one of the better plans there are.

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How Not to Invest in Your First Website

If you are looking to pump all your money into the first website you come across, here are some pointers on how not to invest.

You can’t take it anymore.

All this yawping about the huge ROI everyone is making with website investing. (You don’t know someone that is really making a lot of dough by investing in digital assets, but from what you hear, and read, you gather everyone is.)

Assuming you’re not fancying the least risky and most labor-intensive way to ride the wave- learning the ropes of internet marketing, building a digital asset from scratch, and maintaining it for a few years– you’ve perhaps been mooning around about all the money that is there to be made in digital asset investing.

Well, you can keep dreaming. No harm done.

Because, on the odd chance that you happen to acquire a web property that appreciates manifold, you’ll either sell it too soon and miss out on larger profits, or hang on to it for too long and end up exactly where you began. Or, in the worst case, you will also pick up half a dozen web properties that go to zero, one after another, and, between this string of losses, fees, commissions, taxes, and therapy bills, you’ll finally conclude that you could have done a lot better doing something else.

Should this happen to you, don’t be too livid with yourself. Most rookie investors who mistake the website investing for a ticket to fortune end up having a similar experience.

With that in mind, in this blog post, I am going to come clean about something you all should have suspected, if you are looking to dip your toes in the waters of website investing.

Note: Many of these points are valuable, yet new website investors often fail to heed them.

Not Having a Solid Investment Plan in Place

Successful website investors work out a clear plan, and they follow it through. The rookies, on the other hand, spurred by over enthusiasm, tend to go all in without a solid plan, like a ferry without a compass, and get stuck at sea.

A well thought-out website investment plan helps you figure out your objectives, your entry and exit points, the amount of money you will invest in a particular asset, any likely risks that are attached to it, the amount of money you’re ready to lose, and your strategy to diversify your portfolio.

Newbie investors who formulate a plan may have a tough time sticking to it, and take a different stance whenever an asset fails to perform as expected. That said, in any case, sticking to a plan you set for yourself will help navigate through things when the going gets tough.

Not having a plan in place can only cause you to stumble and make poor decisions that set you back.

Investing More Money Than You Have Access To

Investing in a web property is great for your future, but when you invest more money than you can afford, that is certainly not a good sign.

I remember working with an investor who was scrutinizing a listing that had an asking price of $100,000. He liked the value proposition of the business and wanted to buy it badly, so we sat down to discuss things with the seller. He had just $50,000 for the property, but that was not going to be enough to seal the deal. He needed to come up with at least $75,000 to get the seller interested. A week later he called up to tell me that he could dip into his savings account and access a few sources including his nest egg to make up for the deficit.

I asked him not to invest in that website.

Why?

Investing in an internet business is quite risky. Granted the huge returns in the offing, it is a risk worth taking. However, you need to examine its risk profile and understand the risks of investing all your money in it.

Whatever the case may be, do not invest what you don’t have. In so doing, you also give yourself a realistic chance to earn back your investment in a reasonable amount of time.

Not Doing the Necessary Homework

A real website investment is not made on any speculation, or on the basis of an income report that you read, but on a great opportunity that you identify- the one that seems to pay off on the long term thus justifying the risk involved.

New website investors tend not to do their legwork on the assets that they are looking to buy. More often than not, their experiments with investing in websites are little more than shots in the dark.

You should never play the guessing game with website investing; you may as well play a game of roulette.

You should try to collect and track enough information about all the assets so that you can attempt to make well-informed decisions about the web properties you can put your money down. Alternatively, you might want to hire a professional website management agency that can do all the dirty work for you like due diligence, negotiation with the seller, transferring the asset and the daily management once it’s transferred to you.

Not Appreciating the Risk Involved

As investments, web properties come with a certain level of risk. Newcomers, quite often, don’t estimate the risk of the assets they want to invest in, or their own degree of tolerance to that risk. Failure to do so can only cause them to take poor decisions that land them in a bit of a situation in no time. On the flip side, taking an overly risk-averse stand might deprive them of real opportunities to invest in assets with a lot of potential.

As with most things in life, it is quite important to find your balance. It is all about appreciating the fact that every web property is a risk in itself, and also identifying the risk boundaries that you are ready to push. Your tolerance to risk will help determine the assets you are likely to have success investing in. So assess your risk profile and figure out what you stand to gain as well as what you stand to lose.

Web properties in which you stand to gain a lot more, usually come with a greater amount of risk. Yes, there are many safe bets as well. Delve a bit deeper and pick these assets carefully so you can be fairly confident that they will rise in value, and bring you a huge ROI when you sell them off.

Don’t bet the ranch. Try to learn everything you need to before investing your money, stick to the plan, and your first investment just might reap great rewards. You’ll thank yourself later.

Investing it All in Appealing Assets

Newbie investors, if they are not doing their homework, often make decisions based on what appears to be a pretty good deal. They’re enamored right off the bat and fall victim to easy scams. Assets that look appealing at first glance may not necessarily be the most lucrative opportunity so appraise all the deals out there before finally picking one.

Many first time investors tend to pay a high price for a hot web property hoping that it will hold its value in the long term. On the other hand, there are newbies that see the bright side in investing their money in safe bets (digital assets that are sold at fairly low multiples), but that is far from true.  Sometimes sites that are sold at low multiples can be quite worthless, as well.

It all boils down to the value and the potential to grow. Seek high-value assets in the marketplace and invest your money carefully based on real reports about traffic, revenue and other aspects that matter. Just don’t be too fixated on price.

Final Thoughts

There you have it.

Investing in websites is not as easy as you think it is. I’ve known people that entered the market with great optimism, only to find themselves squelched just after a few months into it.

That’s the bitter truth of what you can expect if you fail to exercise caution and figure out things before putting your money down.

You would really do well to learn from these mistakes before you find yourselves lost.

If you want to get started with investing in digital assets, head over to Blackbook Investments to get more information.

The post How Not to Invest in Your First Website appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Four Tips to Help Set Up and Manage Your Mobile Sales Fleet

When your hard-working sales team is based in your brick and mortar building, it can be a bit easier to manage their day-to-day activities. But for business owners who have a mobile sales fleet, it can be a bit more challenging — both in terms of setting up the team and ensuring that they are as successful as possible.

To help get your mobile sales team up and running and primed for success, consider the following tips:

Hire People with Remote Sales Experience

When putting together your mobile sales fleet, you might be tempted to hire people with the most impressive sales stats on their resumes. Before you offer these sales stars the job, make sure that they have experience working remotely. Unfortunately, sales people who are terrific at landing deals in a traditional office or showroom environment may be less than effective on the road, so keep your eye out for resumes that include mobile sales fleet experience and go from there.

Provide Them with Always-connected Technology

It will be hard for your mobile sales team to close deals, manage invoices, email you and other important tasks if their laptop batteries conk out after a few hours and if it’s hard to get a decent signal. To prevent this from happening, invest in the best laptop platform that your budget will allow. For example, the 4G LTE laptops from Qualcomm are always-connected no matter where your team is working, and thanks to their Snapdragon platforms, the battery life is long enough to endure an entire workday, and the laptop will quickly recharge.

Offer On-demand IT Support

In addition to state-of-the-art laptops, your mobile sales team will probably also use smartphones, Wi-Fi, mobile credit card readers and a variety of other technological gadgets. While these handy devices are ideal for mobile sales teams, they can really cause problems when they decide to stop working. Provide your hard-working team with on-demand IT support that can help solve any issues as quickly as possible. You can either use your regular in-house IT team, keeping in mind that they may have to leave the office to meet a member of your mobile fleet at a remote location, or you can outsource an IT support company that can quickly send representatives to wherever your team is working.

Communicate Often and Provide Opportunities for Personal Interaction

While there are a number of benefits to having a mobile sales fleet — including a more flexible schedule for your team and being more convenient for your clients — working solo for days on end can be difficult at times. Your mobile sales team may feel isolated, and if somebody has a difficult interaction with a client, he or she may feel unsupported. To prevent these issues as much as possible, check in with each member of your mobile sales fleet on a regular basis — both at scheduled times and informally. Use text messaging, email and teleconferences to communicate with everyone and make a solid effort to get to know each member of your team on a personal level. Make it clear that if they have a challenging interaction with a client, they are welcome to call or text you at any time, and schedule meetings at the office once a week or so to see everyone in person.

As the work world becomes more mobile, remote sales teams are sure to become even more common. By hiring people with the proper experience for the job, making sure everyone has the tools they need and the IT support to get their jobs done and by communicating frequently, your mobile sales fleet is sure to be successful.

The post Four Tips to Help Set Up and Manage Your Mobile Sales Fleet appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.