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7 Ideas To Help You Shake Up Your Career Prospects

When it comes to your career, you may find that you just don’t really know what you need to do to get to where you want to be. Or maybe you don’t know where you want to be. And it can be soul destroying. You may feel anxious about it and worried about your future. But there’s no need to be. You may be feeling lost or a little stuck right now, but that doesn’t mean that you will forever. Instead, you may find that you just need to stop for a moment, take a step back, and think about what to do next. Sometimes, all you have to do is shake up your prospects a little bit. There are always ways to progress in your career, start again, or just head in a different direction.

It doesn’t mean that you’re a failure because you’re not happy with where you are or you don’t know where you’re going. Instead, it just means that you need to slow down and get a lot more intentional about this. You know you want to earn well and enjoy your career, but you just don’t know the route to take. And that’s okay. Instead, you just need to think about the right plan of action and that’s exactly what we’re going to go over in today’s post.

Here’s what you need to do when you’re ready to shake up your career, climb the ladder, and reach your dreams.

1. Look To Your Life Goals

To start with, it’s always a wise idea to go back to your goals. And if you haven’t done so yet, setting goals for life can help you to work out what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. When you look at your goals, it can help you to work out what you should be doing next in your career.

2. Create An Action Plan

Next up, you might want to focus on creating an action plan. Take a look at your goals then figure out some of the steps that you might need to take to get there. This can give you a rough guide on what you need to do to shake up your career.

3. Focus On A Promotion

Maybe what you really need to be focusing on right now is getting a promotion? If you feel like you don’t have any prospects lined up, looking at your current career role and focusing on what you need to do for the next can give you something to work on.

4. Consider Going Back To School

It could even be that you consider going back to school too. Maybe you want to get an advanced degree so that you can get further ahead? Or maybe you want to shake things up and look at a program to become a speech language pathologist or something else that you’re interested in? Sometimes, getting further education is what you need to succeed and find happiness.

5. Think About Moving Fields

Maybe you even want to move into a new field? Doing your same role but in a new industry could be fun for you. It could be the case that you love the idea of going into something entirely new? Going back to school would help with that.

6. Get A Mentor

Sometimes, it can also help to have a mentor. Someone to give you advice and hold you accountable can make such a difference in your career. So think about finding one today to help your prospects.

7. Start Your Own Thing

Finally, you also have the option of starting your own thing. Don’t worry so much about how this will work out or put pressure on yourself. You can start a side hustle alongside your day job and just start off slow. Then, you can definitely always look to supplement your income, keep working at your business, and see where it takes you. If you’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur or your own boss, then this is definitely going to be a great option for you.

Now that you’ve read through all of the different ideas, do you have a clearer idea on what you can do? Sometimes, it feels like you’re stuck where you are, and you can’t see where you’re going. When really, you just need to take a step back and work out your options a little more. And as you can see, there are plenty! So enjoy planning and see where your career takes you.

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4 Big Reasons Why Every Business Should Accept Payments Over The Phone

Offering a wide range of payment systems is important for businesses these days. There are more ways to pay for goods and services than ever before and it can be frustrating for customers when you don’t accept their preferred method of payment. So, you need to make sure that you are set up for things like contactless and mobile payments. However, a lot of businesses focus on new payment options but neglect the old-fashioned methods, like paying over the phone.

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Most young people think that paying over the phone is an outdated way to do things and there is no need for businesses to offer this option anymore. After all, isn’t it easier to make a direct card payment or use mobile payment apps? It might seem that way, but there are actually a lot of benefits to paying over the phone and some people still prefer that option, so your business should offer it. Here’s why phone payments are still an important option to include.

The Older Generation May Prefer Them

Young people are used to technology and they will usually use the most up-to-date payment methods. However, a lot of people in the older generation do not necessarily trust things like contactless payment and they might not be confident using an online payment form. They prefer to do things the way that they have done in the past. Offering a phone payment option makes them feel more comfortable and can increase your sales with this demographic.

Phone Payments Build Trust

There are a lot of scammers online, so people may feel uneasy about putting their card details into a website that they don’t know. This can be a big problem when taking your business online and it may affect sales. But phone payments can help build trust and give people an option that they feel more comfortable with. It gives you more legitimacy if they can speak to a person on the phone, so people will be less concerned about getting scammed.

They’re Easy To Integrate

Businesses sometimes avoid using phone payments because they think that it takes a lot of work to set up and involves using a completely different system, but that isn’t the case. If you use an integrated virtual terminal system, you can accept payments via mail or phone as well as taking standard card payments. All of the payments are taken on one centralized system, so it’s easy to track payments from different sources. This makes it quick and easy to set up phone payments.

It Increases Customer Interaction

Customer interaction is important for building relationships and getting repeat customers. Connecting with people online is a good way to form those relationships, but it’s not a substitute for more direct contact, like speaking over the phone. Taking phone payments gives you a great opportunity to increase customer interaction and demonstrate amazing customer service.

Even though phone payments have been around for a long while, that doesn’t mean they are obsolete. If your business doesn’t accept payments over the phone, you could be missing out on these great benefits.

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How to be Money Savvy Whilst Still Leading a Healthy Lifestyle

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Trying to lead an active, healthy lifestyle can sometimes feel tricky when you want to watch what you spend and stick to a dedicated budget. However, it does not need to be stressful if you are organized and can plan in advance. So here are some ideas to get you feeling inspired if you need help sticking to a healthy lifestyle routine without spending a fortune.

Plan Your Meals

Pre-planning what you are going to cook for the week is a good way to cut back on excessive spending on your grocery shop. This will allow you to only buy the necessary fresh produce that you need so you can put together some lovely home-cooked meals, without any excess food being wasted. If you compile a list of all the things that you need before when you visit the grocery store you are more likely to just buy what you need. So if for example, you need some high-fiber breakfast ideas for a healthy gut, you can just buy the necessary items in advance and know that you have them at home.

Eat Before You Shop

It is a good idea not to visit the grocery store when you are hungry as you are more likely to make impulse purchases, which will increase your food bill. If you have a tendency to throw random items into your grocery basket, then making sure you are not distracted by a rumbling stomach will help you to stay focused and on budget.

Buy Seasonal Produce

There is a vast variety of foods that are available in the grocery stores all year round. However, if you do not want to spend excessively on groceries then it is best to buy seasonal produce. You will not need to overspend on fruit and vegetables that have been flown in from another part of the world just so there is an endless supply. If you opt for seasonal produce you will still be reaping the health benefits but at a fraction of the price.

Look For Promotions

It can be useful to bulk buy certain non-perishable goods so that you have essential items when you need them. It can also save you some money in the long run if you are able to buy large quantities of an item that you use regularly. So definitely lookout for special promotions on your next grocery visit.

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Make The Most of Your Nearby Park

Instead of signing up for an expensive gym membership that you are not guaranteed to use, why not go for a brisk walk, run or cycle to your nearest park. You can easily exercise for free here and also spend time outdoors in the fresh air, which is great for lifting your mood.

Join an Online Fitness Class

With a huge number of professional trainers and fitness gurus active on social media, it is a lot easier to find the necessary exercises that you need. Many tend to provide live-streamed videos where you can join in with the fitness class or it is uploaded onto their social media page at a later time. Having a professional that knows what they are doing and can guide you through the exercises is a great way to be active without having to spend any money either. So it’s a win, win situation.

Exercise With Company

You might be more inclined to keep fit if you exercise with a friend or family member. If you arrange a time and place to meet in a local park to go running or cycling together, this might give you the necessary boost that you need to keep fit. Whereas if you were to exercise on your own you might be more inclined to not go out because you don’t feel like going anymore.

Reduce the Number of Takeaways You Consume

Of course, it is good to treat yourself by ordering food from your favorite takeaway restaurant when you don’t feel like cooking. But relying on them regularly will certainly start to eat away at your budget. Takeaway meals cost a lot more than buying the ingredients yourself and cooking them from scratch. They are also likely to contain a lot more salt and sugar in the meals. So if you really want to be healthy, try and cut back on the number of takeaway orders you have each week.

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Why Is Your Website Losing Traffic?

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Does your website seem to be attracting fewer visitors? There could be many reasons for a drop in traffic. Below are some of the top possible reasons as to why your website is losing traffic.

Loss of rankings

It’s possible that your website may be appearing lower on search engine rankings. Something as small as being relegated from page 1 to page 2 of Google could have a big impact on your traffic – many company websites are reliant on traffic from search engines and lower rankings means a lower chance of search engine users clicking on your site.

There are so many things that can cause rankings to shift (including many of the other factors mentioned below). Often the best way to maintain good rankings is to invest in ongoing SEO. Companies like Cardinal Digital Marketing are able to carry out SEO tasks for you such as adding keywords into content and building backlinks. This is easier than trying to do your own SEO, which requires doing a lot of homework.

Lack of new content

Keeping your site updated with new content is essential for keeping it fresh and for keeping visitors coming back. This could include updating your product inventory, posting new blog posts, or posting new promotions. Fail to add new content and you could notice a steady drop in traffic.

Try to add new content at least once per month to keep your website fresh. Make sure that new content isn’t hidden – shout about new products, features, and deals on your homepage if possible.

Slow page loading speed

A slow-loading website is likely to put off many visitors. This could result in fewer visitors returning to your site. Page loading speed is also a big factor in determining search engine rankings, which could in turn affect traffic.

Ideally, web pages should load in less than two seconds. If your website is taking five or ten seconds to load, it may be time to consider ways of reducing page load speed. This could include optimizing images, reducing code, displaying fewer ads, and possibly migrating to a faster hosting server.

Bugs and errors

You should also be careful of bugs and errors on your website that could be fending off visitors. This could include broken links, buttons that don’t work, strange formatting, or failed redirects.

There are scanning tools that can scan your site for bugs. You could also consider hiring a website tester to go through your site and look for any problems that may need fixing.

Failure to keep up with the competition

Have you been keeping tabs on your competitors’ websites? It’s important to make sure that your competitors haven’t got a cooler website than you. If your website looks old or boring in comparison, don’t be surprised if you experience a drop in traffic.

Websites need to be constantly redesigned in order to keep them fresh. You also need to make sure that your competitors aren’t offering better deals or products/services, so make sure that you’re also updating your promotions and inventory/services.

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Patio Season: Top 5 Design Ideas

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It’s that time of the year where everyone wants to have a patio makeover. It’s no surprise, as the heatwaves across the world are bringing people out of their air-conditioned homes to enjoy the sun. If you can’t travel to your chosen holiday destination, then the least you can do is sunbathe at home. For this and more, the patio has become our sanctuary. It’s an ideal place in the home to relax because you are never too far from the kitchen where you can go and make a snack and you aren’t too enclosed where you can’t hear the birds singing. However, patio designs are forever changing, they always present a challenge to those that find it difficult to style outdoor areas. We have to approach this area, with one eye on practical sense and the other on charming decor.

Romantic English

If you go to the south of the UK, mainly in England, you will find so many quaint little patios. These are on par with the French when it comes to simple beauty. Vines and large plants surround the patio bench, where you can sit in comfort. The plants around the benches keep you cool, as they absorb carbon dioxide and pump out soothing oxygen. Not to mention, the benches have cute cushions on them, usually made out of a mixture of cotton and wool. All local of course, as the British patio styles all, originated from local rural residential areas like villages and towns.

Consider placing some bamboo chairs around a bamboo side table, where you can place your tea and snacks. The stereotypical red and white chequered tea towels of the English countryside should make an appearance. Remember to add a stone sculpture as this is a very common feature in many rural patios. They go for something that is more or less British rococo, something like bathing ladies or tall warriors. It’s a great style which you should try and see in person next time you visit England.

The all-white Nordic

Perhaps out of all of the patios, the Scandanavian one is the most neutral. It’s very white, but you can have lots of patterns and stripes in your seating area. For example, you can have strong wooden chairs with deep seating positions, but have plenty of cushions to keep you comfortable. If you find that you live in an area where it rains or you have lots of wind to cope with and you don’t want to clean your cushions for hours on end, here is how to clean outdoor cushions with relative ease. All-weather covers are an absolute must, they will prevent your foam or sponge from getting too wet and too dry.

Your white dining table should be made out of a lighter wood such as cedar or a lightweight oak which you find in some parts of the Nordic nations. Pine is also a wood that is great for patios because it is so light and easy to style. Placing some flower pots around your patio is a great idea to break up some of that heavy neutral look.

Modern hangout

If you want something modern, contemporary, and practical, go with the minimalist patio design. This is something that everyone can get on board with as it’s also the cheapest. All you need is a pergola or perhaps if you already have a shelter of some kind over the patio, that will do too. Hang some hammocks from one pillar to the other, making sure you set the right height so it’s not dangerous to fall out of. Then you can nail a wooden board to the pillars so you have somewhere to place your drink without knocking it over. Perhaps a windshield would be good too, in the form of a small wooden piece along the side.

Now all you need is some LED lights that you can hang or fit around the patio. You can control these types of lights with your phone making it super convenient when you want to turn on the lights or change their color while relaxing in the hammock.

Placing some plants around the edges of the patio not only defines the space boundaries but also, gives you a little bit of a separation from the lawn. A glass coffee table surrounded by some chairs would be a great addition, but make sure that it’s a roundtable instead of rectangular. The latter will prevent movement around the patio as no one wants to be hit by sharp edges.

The rustic option

When you go to Greece or Rome, you will never forget how wonderful their patios are. They are made completely out of stone. There isn’t a single brick to be found and they use very old but strong wood such as oak, walnut, and others. Funnily enough, these usually grow in northern Europe, so they ship them in just to make their chairs and tables for the patios.

The rustic style means that the tables won’t be painted usually, but they will be smoothed down and given a nice coating of oil. This prevents them from drying and cracking but also gives them that wonderful orange and red color that you see so much in travel ads.

Consider seating that is basic, such as a wooden bar stool or perhaps a rattan rocking chair. You will also see footstools and ottomans in the rustic patio styles, as many of the old men in Italy used to use them to play cards and put their feet up in their villages. Some candle lamps would be brilliant too. Make sure they are made out of clay or wood that has been treated with fire-resistant oils.

Mid-century style

These patios came out of the 1950s but they started to become popular in the 40s. The mid-century style was very popular because it used very lightweight materials, used very large seating arrangements such as the large wicker sofas and big open vineyard seats. This style was taken on by America and they took it to the next stage.

They introduced a large fire pit in the center where you can sit and swap stories, roast some vegetables or meat, and heat up your coffee in the snow. The lightweight seating and cushions were affordable so you didn’t mind if they sang once in a while.

You can also go for what the Americans did, which is replace the lighter wood choices of Europeans, with the heavier teak wood. This is wood that you might find in sofas for your living room, so it’s sturdy and won’t be moved around by gusts. In more recent times, modern composite chairs made of steel and wood have been found in American patios. The steel is painted black and the armrests are wooden, so this is comfortable on the arm and you don’t burn yourself if the seats have been out in the sun all day. The powder-coated steel chairs and tables are also an option.

Which of these patio styles do you think has the best approach for your lifestyle? The classic English country patio is great if you have a small garden and patio. If you want something that is more modern, go for the American style. If you would like something with a bit more history, more of a mature feel, then go for the rustic patio. All of these will bring a great deal of style to any home.

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5 Signs You Need A Better Job

Working from home has been a great experience for many of us, but not all. Yes, we like the idea of being able to roll out of bed and just get on with work without the usual commute. But if the underlying job itself isn’t what you want, then it is still a chore.

In this post, we take a look at some of the signs that you need a better job and the alternatives available to you.

It’s Disrupting Your Sleep Patterns

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It’s okay for bosses to demand your time, so long as they compensate you for the hours you work. But it’s not okay for any job to get in the way of basic life processes, such as eating and sleeping.

Unfortunately, many people find that their work keeps them up at night. They worry about how they will face the day ahead and whether they will be able to do what’s being asked of them.

Prolonged sleep deprivation is dreadful for health, so you must avoid it at all costs. If your job won’t let you sleep, it is better to take a different one, even if the pay is lower.

It’s Boring

Nothing is worse than being bored at work. The hours pass so slowly and you’re always watching the clock. After many years, it is enough to drive you mad.

Switching jobs can be a great way to get out of the boredom trap. Plenty of employers, such as Teach for America, offer engaging work that keeps you on your toes.

You Don’t Like The Company Ethics

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Working for a company with bad ethics can take a terrible toll on your conscience. You believe in doing things the right way, but your employer doesn’t. It creates endless conflict within you.

The only solution here, usually, is to leave, unless you are in a position of authority. Turning your back on a company and letting them know why is a great way to force them to change. They don’t want valuable employees walking out on them.

It’s Harming Your Health

Jobs shouldn’t actively harm employees’ health. But if you are actively stressed all the time, then it can. As stress levels in the body rise, the immune system begins to falter and you can wind up feeling a little worse for wear. Eventually, you can get chronic health problems that take a serious toll on your ability to enjoy your life.

You Feel Like Anybody Could Do Your Job

Feeling replaceable is a sure sign that it’s time for something to change. If you are highly replaceable, then you are at a disadvantage against your employer. You have no power because they know that they could replace you in an instant.

The trick here is to educate yourself outside of work so that you can take on more niche and skilled jobs. The better your education, the more likely you are to find high-paying jobs in the future.

So, do you need a better job? Or are you happy with the one you have?

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How To Manage A Remote Sales Team (Like A Boss)

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Working from home is a challenge and requires you to adjust your management technique, especially if you’re in control of a sales team.

Fortunately, making it work is easier than you think. In this article, you’ll learn some of the techniques that you can use to improve the efficiency of your remote selling team, even if you’re all working away from the office.

Invest In Shared Resources

Don’t assume that every member of your sales team knows how to work from home. Many won’t.

It’s a good idea, therefore, to invest time and energy into creating shared resources that everyone can use quickly and easily when they need them. Set up a Google Docs account and make important instructional articles publicly available. These storage systems make it easy for remote workers to access the information they need at any time of day, regardless of their time zone.

Improve Trust In Your Relationships

It can be difficult to establish trust with a remote team. When they can’t observe you physically, they can find it hard to build a connection with you.

The trick here is to improve communication between team members as much as you can. As a sales manager, you have to lead from the front. Your interactions should set the standard for the rest of the team.

Where possible, implement group Zoom conversations every morning. Ask team members to all make short contributions that benefit other members. Where possible, encourage cross-chat, for instance, between senior sales reps and new recruits.

Be Clear About Your Expectations

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Sales reps like it when managers set expectations. Research shows that they are much more likely to feel engaged in their work.

Make sure that each rep has a sales quota and then use software to track their performance. Make it clear what results you expect on average so that each member of the team can strive for excellence.

If there’s a problem with a sales rep’s performance, you’ll need to hop on a video call with them to figure out whether there is a way to resolve the problem. Be clear on your ground rules for calling cold prospects and how sales reps should be representing your brand. If possible, create a system that allows you to record calls to ensure compliance to protect your brand.

Use Team Communication Tools

Sales reps shouldn’t be isolated, even if they’re working remotely. As in other sales situations, they should have other reps around them, showing them the ropes.

It’s sometimes a good idea to get sales reps to “shadow” more senior members of your team. This way, they can observe the sales techniques that work, and those that don’t.

You can also schedule meetings that allow your team to get involved in your sales strategy. You could have sessions in which you brainstorm new sales ideas.

Make sure that you have a chat app that sales reps can use to talk to each other throughout the day. This can help to replace those essential chats that employees have besides the watercooler in a real office.

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