Mohit Tater's Blog, page 692

Leveraging Your Eco-friendly Philosophy to Build a Powerful Brand Image

Brand image is the differentiation between you and your competitors. It makes you stand out from being a commodity to offering something that provides a stronger sense of value and market positioning. Branding is the reason behind brand loyalty and a ‘motive to buy’ for people to purchase your products or services from your business.

The green aspect of brand marketing continues to increase as people are increasingly becoming savvy, eco-friendly individuals who are actively seeking to play their part in preserving our planet. Companies that recognize the importance to ally themselves with green initiatives can provide an extra sense of value with customers compared to those who are known to put the planet in harm’s way solely for monetary gains.

Organisations can adopt initiatives to help the planet by practicing eco-friendly practices within their organisation that projects a powerful ‘green friendly’ brand image.

Encourage your company to conduct an environmental report to see how well your company is doing

Do you know if your company has ever conducted an eco-friendly report? Start off by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats to your company’s eco-friendly values by conducting a report to see where your company can improve.

By initiating an environmentally friendly business, your impact on the environment and natural resources will be reduced. Below are a few ways how companies can take action to improve eco-friendliness within their business. Companies can seek to use natural resources within their organisation. Some ideas include:

Developing solar energy initiatives

Developing a solar energy initiative within their company and endorsing the idea to their employees. This includes the company installing and using solar panel energy for their internal power needs. Additionally, the company could offer a subsidy or bursary to employees who decide to invest in solar panels for their home.

Using rainwater

Companies can install rainwater tanks for to use with their internal water systems. This type of initiative works well for car washes who use large amounts of water for their services. Additionally, the rainwater can be incorporated into water systems for watering plants, toilets and cleaning operations.

Using products that are made from recycled material

The company can encourage their organisation to use products made from recycled material, such as recycled plastic, furniture made from recycled rubber or stationery made from wood or bamboo.

Leveraging communication technology to reduce travel

Reducing emissions by reducing the amount travel. Instead, make use of virtual conference software and communications such as Skype, Facetime and online conference facilities.

Incorporating more biodegradable products

Rather than purchasing products that aren’t eco-friendly, seek to work with suppliers who offer biodegradable products or make products out of recycled material. Companies that are seeking to adopt a ‘pledge to recycle’ can help to lead the way in reducing the amount of consumption waste that businesses will often contribute.

Encourage your employees to recycle

Give your employees the opportunity to recycle by providing recycle bins and to participate in recycling drives where they can donate equipment, clothing and more.

Environmentally friendly printing solutions

Find out if your printer provider shares similar eco-friendly initiatives such as manufacturing their cartridges from recycled materials. Also, see if they offer any initiatives by allowing customers to recycle their cartridges with them.

Some habits that your organisation can start getting your personnel to adopt include:

Having your employees avoid using materials unnecessarily
Reducing your paper needs by asking staff to print double-sided
Encouraging staff to reuse use scrap paper for notes
Recycle by shredding excess paper – you could recycle this commercially or invite staff to take it home for their compost or mulch heaps.

If your company hasn’t taken the step towards becoming an ‘environmentally preferred company’, now is the time to take action. Focus on making the products that you develop or that you are supplied with either recyclable or environmentally sound. Your company can make a difference now to create a better future for our planet.

Build a Powerful Brand Image and Revel In The Spotlight

When it comes to business, we all know that branding plays an important role. It doesn’t matter if you’re a new restaurant or a slick recruitment agency, how you present your brand will have a huge impact on how successful your business will be. You could be selling Australia’s best cuisine or people, but without the right branding to market your products and services, a lot of people just won’t take notice.

This is why it’s so important to build a powerful brand image that really makes you stand out from your competitors and puts you at the forefront of people’s minds. In order to this there are a few things you should establish first.

Identify Your Target Audience

The importance of knowing who you are trying to talk to should never be underestimated, especially with branding. Take some time to create a definitive outline of your potential customers and partners, that way you can be sure you have a cohesive approach to your branding image. This will help you get buy in from customers and affiliate businesses and be a strong basis for a highly effective marketing strategy to meet their needs.

Set Your Business Goals

It’s time to get specific with your business goals. In order to create a powerful and effective brand image, you need to know both short and long-term business objectives. Spend some time identifying key areas for the business and growth, so you can then build on that to craft your brand persona.

Define Your Unique Selling Points

Once you have identified your target audience and established your business goals, you can now focus on creating your brand personality. Identify your unique selling points (USP’s) and consider the best way to market them to your potential customers. Try not to over complicate them and keep them relevant to your audience at all times.

Bedding in Your Brand

Once you have established your target audience, business goals and created your brand persona, you can now start to work on marketing. There are plenty of platforms for effective marketing, from traditional press through to online advertising, you simply have to decide on which ones are right for your business.

Undertaking promotional activities to boost your brand image is essential and will mean that all your hard work in establishing your brand personality will pay off. Make sure you shout about your brand and gain exposure in the right circles. Sending out press releases to local newspapers, radio stations, TV networks and magazines that are relevant to your target audience is a great way to get free advertising and some valuable exposure.

Another great way to build a powerful brand image is through networking. Attending networking events, industry expos and even online networking forums can be an effective way to make connections with potential customers and affiliate businesses that can help promote your brand. If you are attending networking events or expos, it’s always important to have professional branding, such as pull up banners and businesses cards that will further promote your brand and make you look completely professional.

Do not forget to jump on social media. This is a growing medium for brand imaging and promotion, so don’t be left behind. It’s a great place to connect with new and existing customers in your niche and by posting regular and engaging industry content you will boost your brand image online too.

When it comes to creating your brand image, always be sure to keep your business goals, target audience and key selling points in mind as these are your most powerful tools. Once you’ve built your brand image you can revel in the spotlight of your hard work and success.

WixStores- An Incredible Solution for Your Incredible eCommerce Site

Wixstores is a fantastic ecommerce website builder for building your online store. If you are looking to build an eCommerce site that sells products, offers discounts, and much more, Wixstores is the perfect solution.

Who is it for?

As was mentioned earlier, Wixstores is the perfect solution to build an eCommerce website if you are looking to create an online storefront for your client or sell your line of products online.

The Basics

Setting up an online store is what Wixstores does best. Just about any eCommerce website builder out there can do that. However, it is the complexities that an online store is associated with that makes Wixstores the best in its class.

It is quite easy to get started on WixStores. Signing up is actually fairly easy – pick your industry and what sort of an online store you would like to set up. Once you pick out this option, you are then redirected to a different page where you can cherry pick one template from almost hundreds of them. Most of these templates look so professional you would have a hard time choosing the best one for your online store.

The Features

Here are some of the brilliant features that you can expect to find in this website builder.

An array of well designed and beautifully crafted website templates
Galleries to display your products with a dedicated page for each product
A mobile friendly platform that is optimized for smartphones
A special interface for coupons
Easy inventory and order management, which also includes managing shipments and order tracking
Wix App Market has a pretty impressive collection of widgets, extensions and plugins, which can give your eCommerce website that little extra
A special newsletter service

Things I Liked About Wixstores

You can get set and go with just a few clicks and drags of your mouse. The drag and drop feature is so helpful that setting up your website is as easy as it gets.

Making your website mobile friendly is one of the important things these days especially if you are running an online business. All templates that you get here are responsive to mobile devices. Not only do they look great on smartphones and tablets, they come to you at no extra cost. Now that’s one feature everybody will like.

Not all shop owners are tech savvy and have the knack to set up an ecommerce website. For those who are not sure of how these things work, there is a dedicated help center that literally answers all your questions with just a few clicks and keystrokes. A lot of effort has gone into making this help center a resource center that shows how to set up and manage your website.

Things I Didn’t Like About Wixstores

Even though there is not any obvious downside to using Wixstores, there are so many things you can do with your account that you feel a bit lost at times.

How much does it Cost?

To unleash the full capability of Wixstores, you need to subscribe for a premium version. You can choose between the VIP or eCommerce plans. Packages start at about $16 per month, which is nothing given all the tools and templates you get. Make sure you look into all packages and what you get with each package here.

Verdict

Wixstores is a robust eCommerce website solution. Nothing comes close to it.

The Apple Watch Has Created a New Lucrative Market For App Developers

A world of fresh and profitable opportunities for app developers has been opened up by the recent launch of the Apple Watch. Whilst die-hard Apple fans, and tech obsessives alike, are always just desperate to get their hands on whatever the company has to offer, Apple executives know that the Watch’s mainstream popularity, longevity and sales potential will depend heavily on the apps that outside developers create for it. How do they know? Well, this proved to be the case with the iPad and the iPhone.

Apple needs the skills of the best in the business to turn what is currently an expensive timepiece, merely complimenting the user’s iPhone, into the latest ‘must have’ gadget rivaling the desirability of its other bestsellers. This makes designing apps for the Watch an exciting prospect. Here’s a rundown of the key challenges and opportunities for app development:

Size matters

The Watch’s tiny screens, the smallest of which is 38mm and the largest 42mm, top the list of things that will test the developer’s capabilities. Apple has been clear that they will want all apps to work equally well on both dimensions. So, consider the following:

Beware of putting too much information on one screen; don’t clutter it with extraneous detail.
Grouping items in a user-friendly way will help wearers find what they need quickly.
Make use of the full width of the screen wherever possible but ensure that text, such as conversations and instructions, are aligned to the left as this makes them easier to read.
Always use Apple’s own ‘San Francisco’ typeface, as this is the most legible font when displayed on the watch.
Use the built-in text styles, i.e. ‘Headline, Subhead, Body, Caption 1, Caption 2 and Footnote’, which automatically adjusts letter spacing and line height.
The colours you use are going to be even more important at this size of screen, so plan them carefully in advance. Always use black for your app’s background colour as it will help create the illusion that the screen is larger and ‘edgeless’.

Animation

The Watch’s small screen and compact processor presents a multitude of challenges for animation – but there are good reasons why developers should pursue solutions. Only 10 percent of the apps currently available on the timepiece are games, this is just half the amount on offer on iOS products overall – and games have proved some of the iPhone’s biggest, and thus most profitable sellers. What’s the best way to crack this market?

The good news is that the Watch is Apple’s most ‘intimate’ product yet. Users may feel even more committed to engage with a game or ‘event’ they are actually wearing on their wrist. Make a virtue of this.
When designing games, it’s important that they can be played in extremely short periods of play – think of the most common interaction as the time it takes for you to ‘glance’ at your watch.
Do users actually need to be ‘present’ during the game in its entirety?

Ideally, the applications will become smarter in the sense that key decisions or artificial intelligence in games could be made based on impulses or habits that is done by the user of the Apple watch.

Simplicity of use

The Watch’s great advantage is that it doesn’t need to be dragged out of a bag or pocket for use. It is, quite literally, at hand. Some of the most popular apps might turn out to be the simplest, ones that fix the wearer’s ‘problem’ with one ‘tap’.

Think about creating apps that create solutions: accessing a taxi as quickly as possible, finding out when the next bus will arrive, etc.
Beware things that will require a person to hold their wrist in front of their face for half an hour at a time – not a good look!
A Watch app should be perfect for ‘sneak peaks’ – for those occasions when someone feels too self-conscious, or it’s inappropriate, to whip out their smartphone but needs or wants to check something quickly.

An opportunity for creativity

As with any new piece of technology, it’s easy to focus on its limitations and to forget that, sometimes, creativity is aided by constraints. Most problems are, after all, eventually overcome. It’s those who are at the cutting edge of finding solutions who usually reap the greatest benefits, both financially and by having their ingenuity applauded. So what are you waiting for? Start developing!

Revamp Your Venue and Watch Your Customers Form a Line

Whatever type of venue you own, the idea of it going stale is likely to fill you with dread. If business is starting to tail off, or if the competition has opened up nearby, this can be a very worrying time for a business owner, and it’s no wonder that many panic, slash prices and start to offer pretty insane promotions to try and get people through the door. But maybe it’s what’s behind the door that’s the problem. When it comes to a venue you’ve spent most of your working days inside, spotting what no longer works is pretty difficult, as you’ve become so accustomed to it all. So maybe instead of offering cut-price meals or drinks, it’s time to take a good look around your venue and make some positive changes that will really get your punters excited.

Take stock of what you’ve got

This may require you to bring in a fresh pair of eyes but it’s well worth doing. Visit your venue as a customer and consider their point of view. Does this feel like a venue you’d like to spend more time at? What do you love about it? What could work better? Ask yourselves these questions, and be honest with your answers (and if you don’t think you can do that – bring a friend who can!). Then go and visit the competition if you can and ask the same questions. From there, compile a list, work out your budget and start to think about what you can do to make your venue better. It may be as simple as a lick of paint, or as complicated as putting down a new dance floor – once you’ve walked a mile in your customers shoes, you’ll have a better idea about what’s attractive and what’s not.

Are you giving your customers what they want?

If you’re creating an atmosphere where people can relax, have fun and socialise, then you need to keep them loyal to you. It’s all very well making your customers comfortable, but comfortable can equal boring, so you need to make little additions to keep them coming back. Whether that’s new tunes on a jukebox, a photobooth with pictures they can treasure from their nights out, or even phone charging stations, your customers will realise you’re trying to make the place great for them, and they’ll reward you by coming back time and time again. Some of these items aren’t expensive and will really build your business. You can find a photobooth for sale online fairly inexpensively, and phone chargers are inexpensive too! Consider implementing a suggestion box – or feedback from your website, and use it to constantly evolve your venue.

Do you need a refit?

The thought of closing for a few days to get new carpets or seating put in can be daunting – where will your customers go when they’re not with you? However, on the other side of this is the fact that if your customers get bored with your venue, uncomfortable on your old seating or frustrated by dated décor, then you’re likely to lose them anyway. Consider closing midweek rather than for the weekend, and then re-launch your “refurbished venue” with a huge fanfare and couple of offers for new faces. You’d be amazed at the buzz you can create by doing up your venue and hosting an opening night to celebrate this momentous occasion.

Change may be scary, but with it can come a new lease of life for a flagging venue too. Whether you’re looking to make small changes to your venue or completely revamp it, considering the points above will ensure that any changes you make will be positive.

Choosing A CMS for Your Small Business In 2015

In this digital age, you need more than a static website to establish a strong digital presence. You need to create fresh content, make use of email management systems and leverage search engine optimization to market your product/service to your target audience.

These are the reasons why most small businesses today create websites with a content management system (CMS). However, choosing a CMS platform can itself be a challenge with so many open source and commercial options available in the marketplace.

So for a small business with a small team of employees and a specific budget, what’s the best CMS to get started? In this post, you’ll learn about the different CMS options available and instances where they are suitable; the details will help you make the right decision.

1.  WordPress

WordPress is one of the simplest CMS to choose to create a small business website. Adding pages, images and posts is relatively simple through the WordPress dashboard, and businesses can choose one from the thousands of WordPress themes if they can’t afford to hire a web designer.

The browser based program allows owners to access their site from any remote location and on any device. It’s pre-coded for search engine optimization and the permalink setup allows your posts to get indexed in search engines. WordPress includes all kinds of plugins for marketing including social media plugins and contact forms.

Technical experience is not required and it’s intuitive to setup a site quickly. Content can be pasted from a Word document into the HTML editor of WordPress; something that can’t be done with other complicated CMS platforms. Sites hosted on wordpress.org require businesses to purchase a hosting package and a custom domain.

2.  Drupal

Drupal is a powerful CMS framework that can provide a solid foundation of small business websites that host a lot of content. It has been known for its ability to organize complex content types and powerful taxonomy.

Most small businesses think that security is something they shouldn’t be concerned with when choosing a CMS platform. Unfortunately, this is where they get it wrong. Cyber criminals around the world are focusing their efforts towards breaching small business websites, and sites hosted on CMS with weak built-in security often get compromised; consequences range from loss of reputation to legal liability. Drupal leads the way when it comes to CMS security.

And like WordPress hosting, Drupal hosting allows you to grow your small business website. Arvixe points out that this CMS has flexible hosting options including shared, VPS, dedicated and cloud servers available. Some service providers feature 24/7 managed Drupal hosting support which is backed by a team that not only understands hosting, but how Drupal works as well. Small businesses that have had their websites hacked in the past can gain a sense of security with Drupal.

Joomla

Joomla is an open source community based CMS platform that has strong social networking features. It provides greater flexibility than WordPress, but falls short when it comes to being versatile as Drupal. It supports eCommerce, social networking and more.

Joomla also offers a wide array of extensions, which in most cases are free, and the paid offerings are priced quite reasonably. Joomla is also one of the few CMS platforms that allow front-end editing. Also, small businesses can choose pre-made themes.

What’s right for your business?

There is no simple answer to this question. The best CMS depends on what you want to do on a small business website. If it’s basic content you want to post, then you would be probably better off with WordPress. However, if you want to host webinars, list 1000s of products, etc. then Joomla or Drupal might be a better choice.

Why Having A Profitable Business Doesn’t Mean You Are Financially Free!

Every entrepreneur is in business because they want to make money from the products/services they sell. The money they make is regarded as profit and many entrepreneurs who make profit from their businesses erroneously think they are financially free.

All their money problems seem solved since they are owners of a profitable business. But contrary to what many think, owning a profitable business doesn’t mean you’ve achieved financial independence.

I know this will be very disturbing to read, but no one ever said truth is easy to swallow. The truth is always a bitter pill to swallow. And here it is —being financially free is not the same thing as having a profitable business.  

Profitability and financial independence are two different things and this is what I hope to explain through this article.

What Is Profitability?

Profitability is the excess money gotten when you deduct the cost price from the selling price. It is the additional amount you added on top of the cost incurred to provide a product/service. Your business can be profitable but you the entrepreneur is not free financially.

What Is Financial Freedom?

Financial freedom is when your total income exceeds your total living expenses without your direct physical involvement. This is a state of generating a consistent flow of income from your assets. These assets could be a business or investment.

The point here is that it is income earned enough to meet your living expenses without you working. You know as an entrepreneur that you are financially free when you have time freedom. When you don’t have to bother about work or business or money.

From Profitability To Financial Freedom

A profitable business is the joy of entrepreneurs, but not all profitable businesses lead to financial freedom. For example, a highly paid lawyer makes money on an hourly basis from his/her legal expertise. It is sufficient to say that they have a profitable business. But can they continue to earn this level of income when old age sets in and they can no longer work the same hours again?

This is the question I hope to help many entrepreneurs answer through this article. Not all entrepreneurs even though they have profitable businesses are financially free. Entrepreneurs build profitable businesses especially during their prime years.

But not all entrepreneurs achieve financial freedom before their prime years are over. Not all entrepreneurs continue to make money without working. Not all entrepreneurs build businesses that can help them retire young and retire rich!

The real question here is this; will Your Profitable Business take you to Financial Freedom?

Now is the time to begin to structure your business to not only be profitable, but to last so that it can cater for you without you having to work. Building a business is like raising a child; you don’t want to raise a child that will not be able to stand by his/herself. You want to raise independent children that can stand on their own. That is what building a business for financial freedom is. It is about earning residual rather than linear income.

Two Kinds of Income: Which one are you working for?

In the world of business, there are two kinds of income;

Linear Income:

Profit from a business that solely depends on how much you work is a linear income. Linear income is income earned from direct labour or work done. When you make profit from a business that involves your active participation, then you are earning a linear income.

All entrepreneurs at some point must earn a linear income. The bottomline is not to get trapped feeling too comfortable in this kind of income for long. The bottomline is knowing that profitability is just the starting point to your financial freedom, but not the end in itself!

Residual Income:

This is where you want to be as an entrepreneur through your business. You want to earn income without necessarily having to work. You want your business to be profitably sustained that it can meet your living expenses regardless of the lifestyle you choose.

It is about building a systems-driven business rather than an energy-driven business. A business that is built on innovative products/services delivered by a team of committed people. It is only by doing this that you can guarantee your financial freedom. There is more to financial freedom than profitability. Financial income is about residual income —money made from assets not labour!

To your financial freedom!

Feel free to share your thoughts, disagreements or questions regarding this article in the comment section below. All views are welcomed; this is a collaborative learning community. Don’t just read, contribute!

About the Author

Tito Philips, Jnr., is the founder of DifferentiateOnline – an integrated digital marketing solution and the community leader of a tribe of unusual entrepreneurs at naijapreneur where they raise the bar of entrepreneurship. Connect with him on twitter @iMADphilips

Things Exhibitors Shouldn’t Forget

Image by Doug Kline via Flickr

Exhibiting can be a very tough job – and the last thing you want to do is make it tougher for yourself by forgetting some simple rules. Here are some dos and don’ts for exhibitors, whether they be old hands or first-timers.

DO
Plan Far Ahead

Preparation is the key to a successful exhibit – and with so much competition out there, if you’re planning to just wing it, you may as well not turn up. Set out your goals long in advance, check out what kind of exhibitors you’re going to be competing with, work on a pre-show outreach strategy, and don’t forget to give the exhibition guidelines a thorough look. And if you are exhibiting for the first time, business insiders say even as far as 18 months ahead isn’t too early to start planning – and they advise checking out other industry events before you become part of one.

Choose the Right Show

Sound simple? Go to just about any trade show and you’ll be able to spot a stand or two that looks like it should be at a completely different show – and possibly a different planet. It’s all about sellers meeting buyers, so know where the right buyers will be, and remember that some shows may not be worth your while if a dozen other exhibitors with the same product or service have snagged the right location.

Get the Right Look

Get in touch with exhibition stand builders to help find the look that will be just right for you. Flashy stands will definitely capture people’s initial attention, but not every business is a flashy one and experts say that having a stand design that makes you more approachable than your competitors is another way to stand out from the crowd.

Stay Professional

It is a rule that is often repeated, but one that people forgets about time after time: Keep your stand, your staff, and you looking professional. That means that visitors to your stand should find themselves dealing with welcoming people who know what they’re talking about, and not feel like they are interrupting somebody’s lunch, phone conversation – or hangover!

Take Care of Your Staff

Your workers are your ambassadors so they will have to be well-trained, knowledgeable, and able to spot a real prospect from a time-waster, and since exhibiting is hard work that takes up long days, they should also be offered plenty of rewards, and possibly even a party, for getting the job right.

DON’T
Forget to Follow Up on Your Leads

It’s another simple rule, and another one that is forgotten far too often: After the hard work of exhibiting, don’t allow the leads you’ve worked for to become old and stale, but keep them fresh and follow up as soon as you can. If you’re worried about seeming too eager, remember that your rivals may have no such qualms.

Stop Working When the Show’s Over

At an event – especially a multi-day one – plenty of opportunities exist even when the exhibit has wrapped up for the day: There are plenty of seminars and after-hours social events to take advantage of and even if you’re just socialising normally in the host city, don’t forget you’re likely to run into plenty of industry people!

Forget to Learn From Your Experience

If your exhibition fails to impress or you fall far short of your targets, treat it is an opportunity to improve instead of as a complete disaster. Think about whether your targets were too high, about whether you were engaging with the right audience, and about what kind of message you were sending, and work on ways to make your next exhibit a hit. And even if the show turned out to be a runaway success, there’s always room to do better!

What is Colocation?

Credit: torkildr

When it comes to technology, many business owners believe that it’s likely to be expensive, whichever way they choose to operate. However, that’s not necessarily the case, and there are several ways you can cut costs when it comes to your IT systems. One of the most effective ways is to colocate, and, whilst this isn’t a very well known practice, it can actually save your company money in the long run. Here, we take you through the ins and outs of colocation and explain why it could be a cost effective decision for your business.

What is Colocation, and how does it work?

Colocation, simply put, is the method of having your servers housed in a professional data centre. The providers of these colocation services often work with a range of different customers, utilising the customers’ own IT systems, yet housing them in their facility. The customer retains ownership of the IT servers, but the colocation provider, along with looking after the day-to-day maintenance and upkeep of the infrastructure.

The colocation facilities have different characteristics to many other buildings – not least the amount of cooling equipment required to keep customers’ servers and IT hardware cool. They also make use of air conditioning systems, but these are much more complex than those in houses or commercial premises.

Colocations are also required to have robust fire protection systems which can incorporate smoke alarms, sprinkler systems and gaseous fire suppression systems to name but a few.

Physical security is also a consideration that ‘colos’ (as they are often known) must take into consideration. Cages and cabinets are usually put in to provide control of who can access customers’ equipment, and can also be supplemented by fingerprint access, key card/code access and other physical security offerings.

Although colocation services can be provided to any country in the world, many businesses prefer to have services physically located in their own country, and this is often because they prefer to be able to visit the facility to check on their own machines and be certain that their data is subject to local privacy laws.

The Benefits of Colocation

Businesses looking into colocation will more than likely be doing so as it is a cost effective yet secure method of storing hardware. However, there are many other benefits that come with choosing colocation, including the below:

Reduction in Downtime

Any IT downtime can really hurt a business, and can ensure customers go elsewhere for their products or services. Whether you’re an up and coming SME or a large multinational, decreasing this risk is paramount. Heavily protected data centres give your hardware the ultimate in risk management, and provide much better protection than local hosts.

Flexibility

As your business grows, so do your IT needs. Housing your hardware in colos enables you to outsource many of your requirements, such as storage, tape backup, firewalls and Internet to a colocation provider, allowing you to scale up and down as your budget and staff requirements change.

Data Sovereignty

As briefly mentioned before, choosing a local colocation provider will ensure that your data is protected by local privacy laws. This is an attractive prospect, particularly to those businesses that handle sensitive information, and those involved in ecommerce, where customers’ personal details are required for purchase.

Of course the biggest lure to choosing colocation services has to be the reduced costs, especially when it comes to maintenance. Australian businesses, in particular tend to find the money needed to not only build, but also maintain their IT hardware systems financially draining. Colocation providers often include within their packages contractor management, utilities and maintenance workers, enabling them to use only what they need.

Motivating Yourself to Save for a Rainy Day – Even When the Sun is Shining

Even though many of us may have grown up with the wisdom of “saving for a rainy day”, we don’t always carry the advice to adulthood. We live in a consumer-driven, instant gratification society, surrounded by cultural cues that encourage living for today at the expense of planning for tomorrow. Accordingly it’s difficult for many people to motivate themselves to save unless they are in a serious financial crisis such as overwhelming debt. For many who aren’t in crisis, saving is an abstract concept: something for other people with more money, or something to worry about tomorrow. But today, there’s that sale at Selfridges…

The problem doesn’t lie simply with attitudes and conscious consumer choices, of course. The recent recession caused a long-term squeeze on real incomes, leaving record numbers of people with less ability to save and to pay off debt. Things are looking up somewhat; personal savings rates in the UK increased from to 5.80 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to 5.90 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a report on the Trading Economics site. Still, it’s a pretty safe bet that many people who actually could be saving more aren’t doing so. If you’re one of these, here are some tips for increasing your motivation.

1. Develop a balanced attitude. This is just as important as a balanced chequebook. To get and stay motivated to save, it helps to find a workable balance between savouring the present and keeping an eye out for the future (come to think of it, that’s a pretty good formula for achieving happiness as well as financial stability). It’s also important to balance positive and negative emotions about your finances; in other words, practice both positive and negative reinforcement on yourself, as needed. On the “positive” side, nurture gratitude for what you have now, even if there are things lacking in your life, and be optimistic about your future. Focus on the ways that having a nest egg will improve your life. On the “negative” side, if you’ve been through a financial crisis, don’t ever let yourself forget how bad it was. While you don’t want to dwell on your past failures, sometimes a clear memory of awful times can be a powerful motivation to keep you on the right track. Just remembering when you had to subsist on ramen noodles and stale crackers can spur you to put a few pounds into your savings rather than spend them on a latte and pastry that will only add calories but won’t be an investment in your future.

2. Set a realistic goal with a deadline, write it down, and make a budget. Other than a financial crisis, a powerful motivation for saving is to have a specific and tangible goal. Whether you’re saving for a down payment on a house or a new car, or something smaller, having a specific goal can motivate you to sock away money you might otherwise spend on frivolities and throwaway experiences. But make sure your goal is realistic; otherwise you’ll feel like a failure when you don’t achieve it. Write down your goal and set a sensible deadline. If it’s a big goal, break it down into smaller more manageable parts if possible so it won’t seem so overwhelming. Also make a realistic budget, being sure to allow a buffer to help you handle the unexpected. Working towards a goal will keep you motivated in a positive way to increase your savings.

3. Err on the side of frugality (with the occasional reward to yourself). Even if you have a little slack in your budget, try pretending that you don’t. For the most part act as if you are still in debt and have to watch every pound. This doesn’t mean you have to deny yourself or your loved ones every pleasure or adopt an austere lifestyle, but do avoid more expensive luxuries until you reach your goal. That said, you’ll stay more motivated if you reward yourself periodically – perhaps an inexpensive holiday, a new pair of shoes, or a reasonably priced meal at a nice restaurant for every £500 you put into your savings. Just don’t overdo the rewards. Again it’s all about balance.

4. Chart your progress. You don’t have to be obsessive, but a visual reminder of how well you’re doing can keep you motivated. You can make a simple chart and pick an increment of savings to track – say, every £100 or £500, for instance. Place sticker on a square (or colour it in) every time you save another increment, until you reach your goal.

Don’t let setbacks discourage you. You’re not perfect and may occasionally break your budget or overindulge, but don’t give up. Remember that motivation is half the battle, and if you can keep motivation levels high, you’ll face those inevitable rainy days with a smile.