Mohit Tater's Blog, page 677

E-Commerce, So Far…

The rise of eCommerce over the past few years is no surprise to anyone. The low barriers to entry, low startup cost and high potential profits are but some of the reasons why there’s been an explosion in business going online. In fact, according to Pew research, over 66% of Americans have purchased something online in the past year alone.

Nowadays there is a website for everything, with over 1 billion websites live in September of 2014.

The beginning of what we’d call the internet had some very interesting origins. As with many cool technologies, it was created in the 1960s by the US Department of Defence. Initally called ARPANET, it was designed as a communications platform so that if a computer site was compromised, communication and documents could still be sent across the country.

This system proved to be so successful that over time, other US D.O.D sites, universities and major corporations decide to join the network. This enabled a variety of different organisations to communicate more effectively and faster than ever before. Thus, the International Network or Internet, was born.

Although the internet began as an unwieldy command-line based system, fast development of the technology meant that the internet became increasingly accessible to your average consumer. Initially, the internet served as an academic tool, but in the 1980s, people saw the commercial opportunities of the internet which led to the development of the World Wide Web.

The development of the World Wide Web has continued to change and evolve with more and more people coming online every day.

The future of eCommerce

As the internet has developed, so will eCommerce, however, we feel it will continue to move and progress, faster than ever before. The evolution of eCommerce will develop before our very eyes.

More engrained in multiple devices

When eCommerce first started, it was only possible to sell using your desktop PC, however nowadays you can sell using a range of platforms like an Apple watch. In fact, there are fridges that automatically replenish your food via a WiFi connection. In the future more and more devices will support eCommerce, enabling consumers to purchase products and services wherever they are.

Frictionless checkout

Shoprocket led from the front with the modal checkout process which made life easier than ever to purchase a product from our client’s website. For our clients, this resulted in an industry leading 66% conversion rate. For their customers, this resulted in an easier checkout process than ever. However, we will continue to review, iterate and optimise the process to never stop improving.

E-commerce will Bring Sales from Brick and Mortar Stores

In the majority of OEDC’s eCommerce accounts for around 7% of total sales. Whilst this number isn’t groundbreaking in itself, the rate of growth shows that more and more people will be selling and buying online. You can already buy nearly anything, even groceries!

Fraud detection will become increasingly sophisticated

In recent years, the tech team at Shoprocket have noticed a rapid increase in the volume of fraudulent transactions. However, our tech team, and those at our payment processors, are constantly innovating and developing to ensure the safety and security of our customers. Although fraudulent transactions will still be attempted in the future, the clever brains behind Shoprocket, Stripe and Braintree will implement advanced security to combat any potential threat.

Faster Shipping

A lot of eCommerce sites already offer same day or next day shipping with their products. This was initially pioneered by Amazon. In order to compete, more and more stores will offer this in an attempt to effectively compete with one another.

This article was written by Daniel Johnson at Shoprocket, a fully-featured eCommerce Platform that enables you to start selling on your website.

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How To Invent A Brand New Business Model

The world today is experiencing an unprecedented flow of capital, talent, energy and passion into the startup ecosystem. This is great news for entrepreneurs, consumers, and the economy as a whole but also raises a concern if all this capital and talent is being allocated to the right businesses. To get it right, we need entrepreneurs and investors who could protect themselves from a potential ‘bursting of the bubble’ by focusing their attention on startups based on new business models and/or by designing resilient business models for their existing ventures. The following are a few pointers on how to do this:

Start with change management

Innovate! Innovation starts at the organizational level so it will be dead on arrival without proper change management. Innovation is not a KPI, it has to be embedded within the cultural fabric of a company. Dedicated teams are tasked with immediate product and service innovation, innovation 12 months from now, and finally five and ten years out. Small teams made up of practitioners from a variety of disciplines will be substantially more adept at the creative problem solving required of true innovation. The fresh perspective that a designer can offer an engineer, or that a supply chain expert can offer business development will unlock previously unconsidered solutions.

Test, test, test

Real innovation comes from design thinking — the process of observing and brainstorming that leads to a wealth of ideas, each of which needs to be tested. The failure of 19 ideas will make the 20th that much better for the lessons learned along the way. Think like a scientist, formulate a hypothesis based on what you believe to be true about your business, and test the hypothesis. Keep in mind that venture capitalists succeed because they hit home runs on a minority percentage of their investments.

Mind your P’s

Who are your customers today, who will they be tomorrow, what is their lifetime value, what are the reasons you’re gaining customers, and more importantly, why are you losing them? You can learn a lot about innovating your business model from the good old fashioned four, now seven, marketing P’s: product, price, place, promotion, packaging, positioning, and people. Think critically about each to find holes in your value proposition.

If you’re losing customers because of price, how can you deliver more value in your product’s value chain to justify your price? But remember that it takes more than a focus on cutting costs to disrupt industries. Cost cutting is a valiant, and necessary, exercise, and by no means do I intend to diminish its importance. Just look at Apple; Tim Cook cut his teeth at Apple as a supply chain guru, an operations genius.

Build on your existing foundation

No one is so savvy that they can do without the help of proven toolkits. Find the innovation framework that works best for you. Start with something that your entire team comprehends. Universal shared language around business is itself a catalyst to fostering an innovation culture. Strategyzer’s “Business Model Generation” and its latest “Value Proposition Design” are fantastic books for building a shared language because they hinge on the “how” in a way that teams of all disciplines and experience levels can get behind.

Rally against repetition

The most common reason a company fails at innovation is that it’s too good — too operationalized, too precise from a process perspective. All this adds up to routine; after all, routine creates optimization, optimization saves costs, saves time, and in almost all cases improves product quality. But routine is the enemy of innovation. Sure, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you’re going to have a very lean, six sigma-esque process. The problem is, you will never innovate because you will never try anything new. You need that small group of explorers that are dedicated specifically to inventing, innovating, and iterating on existing products and services inside your company.

Siloing them actually gives them the fresh perspective required to approach problems differently.

We get numb to the people, processes, and organizational ways of thinking that we experience day in and out. But the key to success lies in fighting repetition and unlocking fresh thinking with exploration. Go on…explore, fail, repeat and then, innovate.

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Gold or Silver? How to Choose the Right Bullion To Invest In

So, you’ve done your research. You know a well-balanced investment portfolio should ideally include exposure to bullion. But do you go with gold or silver? Truth be told, there’s no one correct answer to that question – at least not one that’s applicable to every investor. Learn the key differences between gold and silver and base your decision on factors including how long you plan to hold onto your investment, how much you are able to invest and what sort of risk profile you want to adopt. Remember, both metals offer inflationary protection and carry no credit risk, whilst each has taken its turn in the limelight as far as past price performance goes. The canniest of investors are likely to go for a long play investment in both metals. Read on, and find out more.

The Case for gold

Gold’s volatility factor is up to 70 percent lower than silver’s. Gold also carries more prestige. This is largely due to its rarity. The yellow metal is 18 times rarer than silver. And new discoveries are on the wane. Production has likewise fallen considerably over the last decade. Meanwhile, central banks are still buying up large quantities of the stuff, which is encouraging. Over the longer term, gold’s price has performed exceedingly well. Also in its favour is gold’s unrivalled status as the accepted alternative to currencies. The yellow metal has been used to store wealth for more than 3,000 years. You simply cannot say this of silver.

The case for silver

Silver has much going for it as a savvy investment choice, though its volatility means it is more speculative than gold. Notably, silver is more widely used in industrial applications. Whatsmore, the industries it’s used in – like, solar power and electronics – are growing. Silver’s price may be currently weak, yet it is this very weakness forcing producers to scale back operations. These aforementioned factors, at some point, are likely to affect silver’s supply and demand ratio to the point where its price will be pushed up. In addition, analysts concur silver may well offer investors better value than gold, as the gold/silver price ratio is currently further apart than it theoretically should be. Finally, even though VAT must be paid on silver purchases, it remains, of course, much cheaper per ounce than gold to buy. This offers those with even only US$1000 in capital to invest in bullion, an ‘in’ into the market.

To conclude

Silver or gold? Each is likely a good investment choice over the longer term. Yet as you’ve just read, they have their differences. Which is precisely why many advisors would suggest owning both. If you chose a total exposure to bullion amounting to 10 percent of your portfolio for instance, go ahead and split that 10 percent between silver and gold. How you weigh the split largely depends on your views on the health of the stock market and worldwide industrial growth.

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5 Things Every New Online Entrepreneur Should Be Aware Of

It’s vital that a new online business owner gets off to a good start when they launch a new business venture. To increase the likelihood of this happening, it’s important to understand what could advance or ruin a fledgling company. Below are five things every new online entrepreneur should be aware of.

Online E-commerce Technologies

Every year e-commerce technologies continue to evolve and improve. Start-up owners should be aware of these developments and should also be aware of the current state of global ecommerce if they intend to sell products and services over the internet.

Having a clear understanding of the systems required and how to use these systems more efficiently, will reduce the amount of money a new business wastes early in its development.

Access to Finance

It can be expensive to launch a new business. Getting access to finance is a key concern for many start-up owners. In many instances, it’s difficult to obtain traditional funding through banks and other financial institutions. However, if you find it difficult to get the capital you need to start your business or to develop a new product, crowdfunding and other alternative methods of raising money can be used to generate the initial capital required.

Marketing

A start-up company has to get the word out about its products and services as quickly as possible. This message has to be seen by as many potential customers as possible, so that your business starts generating leads, creates customers and builds momentum.

In the past, traditional marketing strategies and methods were expensive. Thanks to the latest internet technologies, this is no longer the case. Start-ups with small marketing budgets who know what they are doing can compete with huge organisations on social media websites or through the search engines.

Business Premises

Many of today’s online business owners have the option to work from anywhere in the world. This is a real possibility if you work alone or have a remote team based in different locations. In some instances, it may be necessary to have an office or dedicated premises to carry out your work. This is especially true if you will be hiring staff and have to meet clients face-to-face on a regular basis.

Employees and Outsourcing

Once you have a clear idea about what industry you want to enter, you have to find people who can help you. Unfortunately, many business owners don’t have the finances available to hire all of the full time staff they require when they start out. This is why outsourcing services are so popular. Outsourcing gives you the opportunity to hire people with all kinds of skills on a temporary basis. As your business develops, you may need to hire full time staff to fill some of the most important positions in your company.

Starting your own online business triggers a lot of emotions, which you have to control because there are many things you need to be aware of in order to make your company a success. The five factors above are some of the most important of these factors.

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6 Shortcuts That Kill A Startup

Starting a new business is not an informal process, and should never be treated like a hobby between friends. The path to true success does not allow for shortcuts. It’s not true that any startup needs to demand perfection, but all learn and follow common business practices from the beginning. Here are a few examples of situations and results that occurred due to ignorance, poor communication, lack of a paper trail, or procrastination:

Count a discussion between friends as a firm agreement

Agreements without some paper or email trail are easily forgotten or misconstrued. A co-founder who loses interest and backs out early will likely be back to claim his half after you reach unicorn status.

Delay incorporating until required by investors

This approach has tax implications you won’t like since the Taxman will tax your founder’s shares immediately at the valuation you give investors. If you incorporate much earlier and file the proper forms at that time, there will be no taxes until much later when shares are sold.

Reveal “secret sauce” before filing intellectual property

Filing a provisional patent cost very little if you do it yourself, and it holds your place in line for a year. Trade secrets need to be documented and dated, and business plans labeled as confidential. The alternative is to watch someone else claim first rights of ownership, with no recourse.

Do not disclose your new venture to a current employer

An early and open discussion with a current employer about a new venture you are contemplating is suggested. Clarify up front the potential for a conflict of interest or violation of a non-compete clause, and confirm the answer in writing. Late surprises lead to lawsuits.

Give away more equity than required to drive the business

A common myth these days is that every startup needs an investor, and large investments are better than small ones. In reality, the most common startup success results from bootstrapping, and too much money leads to poor control and sloppy decisions. Don’t give away your business.

Skip any due diligence verification on interested investors

You may be getting desperate for a cash infusion, assume that money is always green, and forget that every investor is as different as every employee. While fraud is always a potential concern, a more real issue is finding partners who support you rather than seek to control you.

Rely on commitment to a higher cause to get you through

Remember that all businesses, even non-profits, require revenue to survive and prosper. The fact that your business is “green,” or cures world hunger, does not guarantee you investors, or even customers. Reality check first your sizing of the opportunity, competition, and margins. Running a successful business is all about effective written as well as verbal communication, documented agreements, and conformance to legal and business norms. Too many entrepreneurs assume they can save money or time by shortcutting these early, and catching up later after the business has more traction. They forget that good business practices lead to success, not the other way around.

Actually, the biggest shortcut in new entrepreneurs is a lack of planning ahead. Every startup will encounter challenges that could not be anticipated, but it pays big dividends to avoid the ones that can be anticipated. You won’t survive if you don’t learn first from the mistakes of others, and insist on repeating their expensive shortcuts, as well as inventing your own.

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How Startups can Go Green and Save Money

Running a business is full of choices and decisions. With all of the conversation about climate change, it can be difficult to determine whether your business has an obligation to be environmentally conscious, and how to do so in a cost effective way.

Should Businesses Go Green?

There’s no easy answer to whether businesses should be required to go green. Businesses are run by people and people have to live on this planet. As people, we benefit from a having a planet to live and thrive on. Businesses could not be as successful without the bounty of natural resources our earth provides, so it makes sense to give back.

But businesses also exist to make profit. Sometimes the best option for the environment costs significantly more. That’s why chickens are raised in the U.S., shipped to China for processing and then shipped back. The labor savings more than makes up for the cost of transportation.

But there is no doubt that consumers are becoming more and more environmentally minded.  There can be significant benefits to setting environmentally friendly business practices and advertising those to draw people in. Below are some cost-effective ways for businesses to benefit the earth and save money at the same time.

Downsize

One of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to downsize. This could mean moving your office to a smaller building that uses less energy. That alone can save you money on both rent and on utilities.

If your problem is too little space rather than too much, you may want to analyze whether you need all of the items you have. That super deluxe copy printer may have seemed vital to your business when you bought it, but if you only use it once a month, you might be better off using a printing service. If you do decide to get rid of any large appliances, make sure to use an appliance recycling service that will properly dispose of or find new homes for the parts.

Use Different Materials

In some businesses, use of resources is inevitable. Publishing, for example. No matter how popular ebooks are, publishers are always going to use some amount of paper. But you can examine what type of materials you are using. For example, this printing company uses soy inks that come in reusable cartridges. They also reuse all of their boxes to ship customer orders in. Can you imagine how much waste could be avoided if every company reused the boxes their stock came in?

You can also find paper made from trees that regrow faster than others. Looking at flooring? Consider cork. It is extremely sustainable, and has been the choice of flooring for libraries and churches for ages, since it absorbs sound.

Even small choices can make a huge impact on your carbon footprint. The best part is that when customers see the effort you are making in caring for your environment, they will appreciate that and be more likely to do business with you in the future.

Jeriann Watkins is a blogger and small business owner in Boise, Idaho. She spends her time  making crafts out of scrabble tiles and reused bottles, as well as pinning millions of crafts on Pinterest that she will never get to. Check out her blog at dairairhead.com

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5 Tips to Help Prevent House Fires in Your Home

A house fire can be a devastating experience to live through. The most heartbreaking aspect of house fires is that most of them could have been prevented. All it takes is one careless mistake and lives are changed forever. With minimal effort, you can go a long way in helping to prevent a fire where you live, though. Here are five tips about how to prevent fires in your home.

Smoke Detectors

Most people would read about smoke alarms as being one of the big five and say, “of course, everyone knows that.” The problem is that more people know that smoke alarms are essential than put that knowledge into practice. Homes without smoke alarms or ones that aren’t in working condition are commonplace. It’s important to have at least one smoke alarm on each floor. Routinely check to make sure the batteries are charged. It’s also wise to buy new smoke alarms every ten years. If you’ve recently moved into a home and are unsure of how old the smoke alarms are, replace them.

Cook Carefully

The number one cause of house fires isn’t due to electrical problems. It’s because of careless cooking. All it takes is the cook stepping outside, getting a phone call or going on an errand (gasp) with food on a stove top. Fires can get out of control in the kitchen faster than most people realize. Always be aware of what’s going on in the kitchen. If you have to step out for a while, turn the burner off. Doing so will diminish your chances of a house fire by a large margin.

Candle Caution

Candles are another thing that you don’t want to leave unattended. Many people figure that they’re ok leaving a room with a candle because it’s contained. Things can go from bad to worse quickly, though, if a pet or child knocks the candle over. Another issue is underestimating how close the candle is to other objects. Cluttered tabletops or counters are one of the top culprits. If you must use candles, get into the habit of putting the candle out when you leave a room. Also don’t light candles late at night if you know there’s a risk that you could fall asleep with the candle burning.

Fire Extinguishers

Businesses wouldn’t think of operating without a fire extinguisher. There are laws to keep and the liability of doing so is scary. Unfortunately, such earnestness often does not transfer to the home. Things are more relaxed and there are no such laws to worry about. The problem is if you do have a minor fire on your hands, by the time the fire service arrives it could be an inferno. Home fire extinguishers are cheap and easy to use. Should you come across the need for one, it’ll be worth its weight in gold.

Check Electrical Items

Routinely check appliance cords and other electrical items. Check for cracks or frays in cords. If you find such issues, replace the faulty cords. Do your best to space cords out so that there’s only one cord per electrical outlet. 

It’s not difficult to take measures to ensure fire safety. It just takes a little time and attention to details. Sometimes the little things in life matter far more than they’re given credit for. If you’re in need of any fire safety items for your home or business, you’ll find everything you’re looking for at fireprotectiononline.co.uk and they will help to ensure your family and home is fully protected. With a small expense of time and money, you can keep your priceless loved ones as safe as they possibly can be.

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What Direction Will NRL’s New CEO Take The League In?

With the failure to complete a $1.7 billion TV and digital broadcast rights deal and an unsettled relationship with NRL clubs, it was no real surprise when Dave Smith stepped down as President of the National Rugby League last October. What was a surprise was that it took five months to announce Todd Greenberg as his replacement.

We don’t need to remind you of some of the gaffs that Smith, a former city banker, made early in his career – from not being able to name Cameron Smith at a press conference to getting players names mixed up and combining Benji Marshall and Ben Barba’s to produce ‘Benji Barba’, some sort of hulking half-back/fullback Frankenstein’s Monster of a rugger player.

At Sportsbet, we think it’s great to finally have someone who knows the game to be at the top of the food chain. Having been CEO of the Canterbury Bulldogs prior to entering League Central as head of football in 2013, his appointment is going to be a popular one with clubs, players, and fans, and his credentials speak for themselves.

But what direction do we think NRL’s new CEO will take the league in, and what impact will these have in the long-term for NRL Odds? Here’s a few ideas…

Stability

At the press conference announcing his appointment, Greenberg was adamant in his assessment that the NRL has been lacking stability, and his first priority was to bring everyone together.

“What I mean by that is bring the clubs together, we’re all in this together and the only way we can genuinely succeed and fulfil our potential is to do it together and that will be a big part of my early phase.”

This is music to the NRL club bosses ears, who have been previously warring with Smith over funding issues and the general direction the NRL was going in in regard to the signing of a new free-to-air TV deal with Channel Nine before an agreement was reached over the pay-TV rights.

Crowds

Any NRL President worth his salt will want to make the sport more popular and find a way to bring the crowds in. Greenberg is no different. His aims are big, but we think he can achieve them.

“More people at stadiums, more people in their lounge room watching our broadcasts and particularly more people watching through our digital platforms. If we get those key priorities right we will absolutely achieve our potential.”

Decisiveness

While Dave Smith’s run was successful in making the NRL financially strong, organisationally sound and strengthening the game’s connection to the fans one of the key factors in his downfall was the complete inability to sort out the salary cap issue with the Parramatta Eels.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, the club overspent in each of the four salary cap categories in the 2014 season with each breach amounting to:

NRL Top 25 – $101,718
NRL 2nd tier – $233,036
NYC Top 20 – $60,915
NYC 2nd tier – $8277

The Eels had been given multiple warnings about breaching the salary caps but took little-to-no steps to address it.

Greenberg has promised that sorting this whole issue is front and centre of his priorities:

“I know people want us to move quickly. We are moving as quickly as we can but we’ve got to deal with facts.”

Despite frequently butting heads with other club bosses during his time at the Bulldogs, Greenberg is a popular choice among the NRL fraternity and fans. And even better he can actually name the Aussie Captain. Phew!

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4 Growth Hacks For Startups

Let’s open with a harsh little metaphor;

Selling the idea of SEO as ‘new marketing strategy’ now, is literally the old generation of techno- orthodox yelling “Old is gold!’, while dying of paralysis and Alzheimer’s disease in their wheelchair. You don’t want to ask them how to befriend and rule the new generation that ride on Segway Hoverboards.

The second greatest thing to happen to a startup-idea is its tangible inception. The greatest, is its growth. Here in this article, we’ll see how that can occur within a short stipulated period of time by using certain “growth hacks”. Quite simply, this means creatively using dynamic online marketing strategies which are low in cost and provide maximum sale, exposure and growth.

Accurate Analytics Of Channels:

Metrics are important for startups because they give an accurate measure of numbers which can help us set our goals and move towards them. They help us know the strategic strengths and also the weaknesses which we can subsequently eliminate from the course of actions. But the next question is, what KIND of metrics matter? The answer lies in knowing what stage your startup is in. If its in the prelaunch stage, customer engagement and feedback metrics matter, for example, DAU/ MAU or churn. Since we are focusing on the growth stage, metrics like invite percents, sign-up percents, etc., matter. A simple and popular tool to use for analytics is Google Analytics which has important metrics like- Social Media Traffic referral, Pageviews, Bounce Rate, etc. Most importantly, these metrics help startups grow by preventing them from the “fall” from which most startups don’t recover.

Going Viral through Invites:

This is a popular and growing trend among companies which have referral programmes that give something extra to the invitee, as well as the invited. This technique massively grows the consumer base, simply because those joining it have a direct incentive- free gift! Another way to go about this hack is to simply leave the customers no choice other than to invite another ‘friend’. For example, if he wants to progress in a game, he must invite another friend to join the game. We’d think that this would piss the consumer off, but current stats show that his love for the game overwhelms his laziness to invite another.

Partnerships- for different areas of work:

Our parents always asked us to make good friends and they were right. Building great partnerships is a fundamental requirement for startups and the better partner one has, the more progress it is likely to make. The importance of this is accentuated when your partners are segregated and organised for different areas of work. To explain, Integration Partners are those which help us connect with a wider audience, by using the adjacent market already provided for, by the partner- for example, Mailchimp or Silverpop. There are also partners which combine product ideas and expose it to the same audience. Then, you have Referral Partners which act like ‘agencies’ and use your product for themselves, but in the process, also link new customers to you!

Social And Communal Sharing:

It is known now that this isn’t a mere strategy, but a solid channel of marketing. Social marketing, by sharing posts, on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., works to grow your company. Here, different social campaigns and techniques have been researched and known to have worked on specific networks. For example on Instagram, we choose the top profile for the hashtag we want to follow and like their pictures and follow them. This increases follow-back rate to 25% and after employing the hack for one week, amasses over 10,000 followers!

If you’re going to be born, you are going to need to learn how to crawl, walk and run. Getting to the zenith and maintaining isn’t easy but these researched and proven methods of marketing are sure to make you fair well in the race. All the best!

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Should I Invest in Stocks or Real Estate?

It’s a common question for those looking to invest their money in a safe bet, and the conundrum of picking between stocks and real estate is no easy decision. The short answer is: it depends. Choosing between stocks and real estate is a highly individualized decision; it depends on your personality, time commitments, and the specific investments you make. We’ll split the two options apart and break them down to help you decide.

Real Estate

The Pros
The Tangible Evidence

There are psychological advantages to investing in real estate, as it’s a more tangible use of your money. You can look at a piece of property and have the evidence of your purchase right in front of your face, while stocks are a more abstract concept and only seen when withdrawing.

More Knowledge

For many investors, a real estate investment is less daunting as they may have more in-depth and firsthand knowledge of the venture than they would with the abstract concept of stocks and bonds. Familiarity with the subject makes investing easier, and knowledge of resources will make it seem a more viable option for middle class investors.

The Cons
The Work and Time Commitment

A real estate investment can be the furthest thing from a hands-off venture. If you’re looking to rent out property, you’ll deal with maintaining the property, finding quality renters—my best piece of advice is to use a screening service like MySmartMove.com to make sure you don’t rent to a nightmare tenant—and making sure you’re following local, state, and federal regulations. The upside however, is that you can hire a property manager to take care of the bulk of these issues, but you’ll still be saddled with all the liability that comes along with renting out property.Continuing Costs

Continuing Costs

Rentals come along with costs, and you might be shelling out money each month instead of raking it in. Anytime you have a vacancy, you’ll be losing money and have no income to rely on, plus you’ll have keep up maintenance to ensure you can place a new tenant. With each turnover of tenancy, you’ll have to spend quite a bit of money to get the house up to code and in “livable” conditions.

Legal Issues

If you’re renting out property, get ready to take on quite a bit of liability. Unfortunately, cases that go to court involving landlord and tenant disputes usually fall on the side of the tenant, and this could leave you in the lurch for expensive legal fees.

Stocks

The Pros
A Quick Investment

Time is money, and less time goes into making a traditional equity investment. While investing in real estate takes time both before and during, you can make a traditional investment in stocks in just a few minutes.Flexibility

Flexibility

Stocks are more flexible than a real estate investment. As liquid assets, you can easily sell and buy, withdraw your money, or reallocate your investment into another area such as a retirement account.

Larger Returns

Smart stock investments can see you gaining much more in a single buy than you ever would with real estate investments. Some stocks are so volatile, that when positive changes happen investors can expect to see upwards of 40 percent growth on their money.

The Cons                     
Capital Gains Taxes

You won’t get any tax breaks from your investment in stocks, and you’ll have to shell out money when you see any real gains. Capital gains taxes come about whenever you have to pay taxes on stocks you have sold for a profit, and they can definitely add up. Even if you don’t sell your stocks, you will still be required to pay dividends during this time.

Limited Inflation Protection

While real estate investments can protect investors from inflation issues because of rising rental rates and housing prices, traditional equity stocks are not as protected.

Opportunity for Fraud

While investors have more control within their real estate ventures, those who place trust in stocks are placing their future on the shoulders of company management. If the company goes down, you go down with it.

If you’re attempting to decide between investing in the real estate industry and going with the equity market investments, take all of these facets into consideration before taking the plunge.

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