Working remotely means you can work from anywhere around the world. Whether you want to work from your sofa or a new cafe in a new city each week, you can. There are more benefits to remote working than freedom and flexibility. You may also be able to increase your earnings due to being able to work longer hours, charging a higher rate, or having a side hustle.
In this guide, you will discover how remote working may potentially help you increase your earnings and maximize your salary. Let’s go.
You Can Work Longer
When you run your business from any location, you can work as long or as little as you want. In most cases, working longer means you can earn more money. Whether you work in crypto currency exchanges or manage a marketing agency, the more hours you put in, the more money you will earn.
Although working longer may seem tough, and it can be, it is an option if you want to increase your annual salary.
Turn Your Hobby Into A Side Hustle
When you work remotely, you have more freedom. It is up to you what you do with that freedom, but if you want to earn more money, you may benefit from introducing a second income stream.
If you have a hobby that could be sold as a product or service, then take advantage. Even if it earns you a little extra money, that can go a long way and cover your monthly household bills. Thus, you will have more money to spend on nice things or save.
Increase Your Rates
Working at a company means you have a set annual salary. It may be more than you need or less than you need. The beauty of remote working is that typically, remote workers can charge higher day rates or project fees.
With an increased rate, your salary will increase significantly. You can leverage how much you charge a client depending on how much work they are requesting. In time, that amount can increase with the more skills, knowledge, and expertise you have.
Fewer Outgoings
When you work remotely, you may typically have fewer outgoings. There will little or no commuting costs, fewer meals out, and fewer work clothes to buy. There are many areas where you can save money, which will maximize your income.
This will not necessarily increase your salary, but fewer outgoings will increase how much you can save.
You do not have to be freelance or have your own business to work remotely. Some companies encourage and support remote work. This is as they often report higher levels of employee retention and engagement, reduced turnover, higher employee satisfaction, increased productivity and autonomy, and lots of other benefits. Thus, if you can work remotely, try it and see how much more money you can save.
SEO is a phrase business owners and marketers alike have heard much more of in recent years. While many know it simply as this – a phrase, it is a critical marketing tool. Once you have your head around SEO, the growth opportunities will flourish.
What is SEO?
First things first, what actually is SEO, and why is it so important? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of increasing traffic to your website. This means that when relevant keywords are typed into Google, your site is one of the first that comes up. As a marketing tool, this is invaluable as it provides a consistent stream of customers directly to your services.
SEO increases traffic by specifically targeting relevant individuals. Increasing visibility to these groups of people will help your page to gain visibility. SEO is a great way to drive success within your business and intertwines with your business goals by increasing ROI and getting your business’s name out there.
Living in a digital world means utilizing technology has never been more powerful. Technology can be our friend and our enemy. If we are oblivious to its power, we do not make progress. But to harness technology and SEO’s power is to see long-term, visible results in line with your business goals.
How does SEO work?
SEO is based on search engine algorithms. The key, therefore, is in beating the algorithm. While out-smarting technology might sound like an impossible task, in understanding SEO, you get to know the key trends.
Simpler is better. The first step is to ask yourself: ‘what would I type into Google if I were looking for this service?’ This is what search engines prioritize; they rank sites higher up if they reflect what users are typically looking for. Understanding your audience is the driving point behind improving SEO.
Google’ trawls’ new URLs, meaning it actively processes new websites or ones that have been updated. Trawling essentially means storing the site into an index, where different sites are categorized.
Sites with high engagement rates are ranked higher up. The good news is that Google continually trawls sites. So, all you have to do is make the right tweaks, and Google will reshuffle your site’s place accordingly.
There are many factors that affect SEO. Some of them are as simple as using particular keywords or phrases. Getting this right is straightforward and proven to reap results.
SEO is an organic process and essentially prioritizes content which is relevant or interesting. Search engines determine this based on the content itself and more mechanical factors such as the site functionality.
As a marketing tool, it is unparalleled in its capacity to drive organic growth. While paid or promoted ads can be a great way to drive traffic to your services, there is not so much of a focus on quality. Sites such as Facebook will still try to promote ads to the right audiences but are not as tailored for this as SEO.
Ways of improving SEO.
In order to be favoured by the algorithm, your content needs to be relevant to your audience. This goes beyond just describing your services, and relates more to using the right keywords. As already mentioned, using key phrases is an excellent tool for boosting SEO. Knowing the right phrases means doing a bit of research as obviously, it will vary drastically depending on your business.
If you are unsure of how your SEO is already, do a quick search. If your site comes up on the first page, you can rest assured that it’s visible to others too. The next step is getting this ranking even higher up, targeting people who will truly find value in your work.
Another key aspect of SEO is User Experience (UX). Enhancing UX means making your site as user-friendly as possible. This includes things such as relevant content and a site that is easy to navigate around. We’ve all clicked onto a site before, not been able to find what we’re looking for – and given up. Having a positive user experience is extremely valuable in driving traffic to your site, and is largely rooted in the technical side of things. If approaching more advanced SEO services, consider taking it to the specialists. Using an agency can help to provide you with all the tools you need. As a business owner, you can’t be an expert in everything. Sometimes, outsourcing particular tasks is the best way to drive results effectively and efficiently.
Inefficiency is bad in business because it means wasted resources. Unfortunately, if you are wasting resources you are also wasting money, such as supplies, person-power, and time. All things your company must ultimately pay for. That is why a focus on efficiency is essential if you are looking to maximize your business success. Happily, you can discover some fantastic ways to improve the efficiency of your business, below.
Automate.
Many businesses see automation as a luxury they cannot yet afford. However, the truth of the matter is that automating certain processes can save so much money in the long run, that they are well worth the initial investment.
In particular, look to automate repetitive or mundane tasks, as these can often be performed much faster by using an automated process rather than a human.
Also, by automating such tasks you will free up your employees to work on other projects. Indeed, this can have a double benefit. Firstly, you workers are likely to be happier focusing on more complex and project-dependent tasks, which means better motivation and productivity. Secondly, you will have more personal power to devote to these which can both speed them up and help to ensure the most positive outcome. All things that will boost the efficiency of your business.
Pick the right people for the task at hand.
Another way that you can ensure your business is as efficient as possible is to assign the right people to the tasks that need completing. What this means is playing to your employees’ strengths and previous experience.
Of course, sometimes, particularly specialized tasks will need to be completed by experts that you do not have within your business. Writing a customized software program for example which would mean you need to outsource an IT expert to help you.
Similarly, if you have a complex marketing task then you need an outsourced marketing agency to help you. Indeed, it is the most efficient way of doing things concerning time, quality, and cost. After all, getting your own non-expert employee ‘up to speed’ in this area will take considerable time and effort. Neither of which is a particularly efficient way of running your business.
Minimize distractions.
Distractions, in their many forms, are efficiency killers in most businesses. We are talking about things that seem important but aren’t, such as meetings, answering emails as they come in through the day. Even queries from other employees can hamper people focusing on the task in front of them, something that means it takes them extra time to complete it.
With that in mind, minimizing any of these efficiency sapping distractions is essential. One way to do this is to ban meetings, or at least limit them to a maxim of 10 minutes. A great way to do this is to make everyone stand for their duration, as they will quickly put a stop to anyone that is going on too long.
Distractions from email and queries by other employees can be solved with the same solution – batching. This means you assign a time in the morning and afternoon of each day where people can answer emails and ask questions of their colleagues such as 30 mins. However, outside of this time, both activities are not permitted, and so the distraction they cause is greatly reduced.
Entrepreneurs think a lot about marketing. But, in many ways, marketing is just the short-game. The long-game is technology. Ultimately, tech is what decides whether a company is successful or not.
3D printing is arguably the most exciting technology in the manufacturing space right now. It has the potential to completely change the way the world’s production systems operate, providing consumers with better products at lower prices.
Strangely, though, industry as a whole is skeptical about what it can achieve. Entrepreneurs in the segment know that additive manufacturing has been around since the mid-1980s. And it hasn’t – as they see it – had a massive impact on their operations.
Advances in technology, however, are changing things. In 2021, we’re seeing a step-change in capabilities similar to what happened when Apple released the original iPhone back in 2007. A whole new space of possibilities is opening up. And only companies that prepare now stand any chance of thriving.
In this post, we take a look at some of the weird ways 3D printing is going to disrupt business and help to create a better world.
Non-Mass Production
Mass production was one of the greatest inventions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Industrialists saw that they could produce products in bulk and lower the unit cost. It was great for consumers.
Unfortunately, though, it led to product homogenization. Everyone had to accept virtually identical models and there was a lack of customization.
3D printing promises to change all that. Today, it’s possible for customers to order the exact product they want and then have a machine print it out for them.
What’s more, there’s virtually no limit to the level of customization that’s possible. Users can even upload their own designs or get professional agencies to create them for them. It means that the production of one-of-a-kind goods is going to explode.
Prototyping
As industries learn more about 3D printing, they are realizing that it can help bring costs down.
In aerospace, for instance, companies are now using additive technologies to create new prototypes that replace the need to individually manufacture separate parts. Companies can simply print and test parts all day long, without having to go to the trouble of creating separate molds.
Spares
It’s a similar story when it comes to parts and repairs. It’s now easier than ever for companies to simply order a new replacement part freshly printed, instead of having to rely on supplier inventory.
Imagine if, in the future, your spare parts inventory could be just a lump of raw material and some designs stored on a cloud server. It would massively reduce your costs and improve your efficiency because you could create the parts you need instantly onsite without having to wait for delivery. It sounds futuristic, but that’s the world that’s coming.
It’s clear that 3D printing is going to be a disruptive tool for companies. And that’s why it’s imperative to begin preparing now. You want to have a strategy in place before compelling mass-market products arrive.
This is a contributed post
Featured image courtesy of: Photo by Mushroom from Pexels
Running a small business can be a highly rewarding experience. It can also be filled with hassle, struggle, and stress! The good news is that by outsourcing certain tasks, you can reduce some of this stress, and still run an effective and profitable business. Keep reading to find out more.
Marketing
Could you do a reasonable job marketing your business to potential customers? Probably, if you were motivated enough and had enough time. However, whether it makes sense for you to spend all that time and effort on something that is regarded as a specialist subject is the real question you should be asking here.
After all, marketing will be one of the many tasks on your to-do list. Although if you outsource it to a professional firm you can ensure it will be handled by experts. These will be specialists that not only know how best to market your business, but also the latest trends and developments in marketing as well. Something that means they can offer your business a substantial advantage against your competition.
IT Management
News flash! Being able to reboot a PC by switching it off, and then on again doesn’t make you an IT expert! Indeed, because the field of IT is moving so quickly right now, anyone that isn’t dedicating their entire working life to it will struggle to stay abreast of the latest developments.
This can become a massive problem, what with nearly every business relying on IT to function! What this means is outsourcing your IT problems to specialists will ensure they are resolved as fast as possible and your business is up and running again with a minimum of downtime.
You may even want to circumvent dealing with such issues altogether. That is where outsourcing the whole of your IT and network management comes in. After all, a good management company will be constantly monitoring your service with a view to spotting issues before they become serious enough to stop work.
Accounting
If you adore numbers, spreadsheets, and brushing up on the latest regulations then you may want to deal with your accounting, in-house. However, if these things are not your strengths, finding an expert accounting agency to help you is often well worth the investment.
There are many accounting and financial tasks that can be outsourced, such as preparing periodic accounts for accurate reports on your business’s performance, as well as budgets, cash flow, and forecast work. Indeed by handing off these jobs to experts you can concentrate on other issues in your business that will help it thrive.
Shipping and Logistics
Running a business with its own logistics arm is a complicated and expensive feat. Also, because there are so many shipping companies, covering so much of the world in a fast and reliable way, controlling your own logistics is largely unnecessary for most businesses.
Of course, when choosing whom to outsource this function to it is important to consider several things. Price is essential, but the quality of service is also important. Remember that clients like to be able to track their package’s progress, and change the delivery location and date at will. Therefore choosing an outsourcer that can offer this is important to your long-term success.
