4 Tips for Finding High-Speed Internet in Your Area

The ways we get information and consume entertainment are always changing, and these days, a reliable internet connection is a must for most people. Unfortunately, finding the best service provider for your needs can sometimes be a difficult or confusing matter. If this is the first time you’re looking for high speed Internet service in your area, or if looking to switch to a new service, check out these tips for finding a low cost high-speed Internet service provider.

Contact Your Cable Provider

If you already have a cable provider, you should check with them to see if they can offer cost effective Internet plans to you. Oftentimes, cable providers will bundle services such as cable, Internet, phone, and email. A reliable high speed Internet provider will usually offer different tiers for however much data you plan to use each month. If you don’t like the deals your cable provider is offering, if you tell them that you are considering switching to another provider, you may be able to lower your fees.

Check With Friends

Sometimes, you might need to check your network of friends and family to see if there are any good deals that have slipped under your radar. You probably know many people who have cable and Internet, so when you decide to compare broadband Internet plans, make sure you ask around to see if anyone you know has any tips for you. Through this method, you might just find a deal that isn’t advertised anywhere else, and plus, you and your friend may get a referral bonus for signing up for the same service.

Look Online and Compare

One of the best ways to compare high speed Internet packages is, ironically, to look online. Most service providers have websites that explain the deals and terms of their Internet packages. At worst, a little online research can at least inform you of the availability in your area. Of course, if you don’t yet have regular access to the Internet, this task might be a little difficult. If you don’t have Internet at your home, your local library will probably have computers with Internet access for you to use.

Call Around to Find Service Providers

If you aren’t able to get online, or you aren’t finding enough information online, you can trying calling around to check availability of high-speed Internet service in your area. You should be able to pick up some leads by looking through a phone book. The benefit of calling around to different providers is that when dealing with a human being, you may be able to negotiate somewhat on the terms of your package. In addition, the service provider may offer deals over-the-phone that you can’t find online.

A reasonably priced high-speed Internet service is almost a necessity in today’s society, but sadly, availability can sometimes be limited, or at least difficult to ascertain. By following these tips, you’ll have an easier time finding Internet, and hopefully, your difficult task will be a little easier.

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4 Tips for Finding High-Speed Internet in Your Area

Top Tips for Cutting Back on Entertainment Expenses

Have you been looking at your bank account balance at the end of each month and wondering where your money is?

Obviously bills can sneak up on us and accumulate quickly. But did you know that entertainment expenses tend to be something that people spend an awful lot on as well? You might only spend a few dollars here and a few dollars there. But when you add your expenses at the end of the month, you might have a rather surprising total.

In order to help you reign in your costs, we’ve put together some simple tips. You can use them to help you cut back on the amount you’re spending on entertainment.

What Counts as Entertainment Expenses?

If you’re curious to know what you’ve been spending on entertainment each month, it’s important to outline what these expenses include. Typically, entertainment costs include anything you spend on hobbies and toys, audio and visual equipment, and playground equipment.

They could also include admission fees to places such as zoos and amusement parks, recreational clubs, and events/movies/shows/musicals. These fees are basically the “fun” costs if you will.

Once you look at how broad the category is, it’s easy to see how your expenses can add up quickly each month. So now let’s take a look at some savings tips.

Look for Discounts

As you start to look around, it’s amazing just how many promotions and discounts are available to people. Look at the movies for example. Instead of going to that new must-see movie on a Friday night, head to the show on a Sunday afternoon for a matinee. Matinees are typically half the price, and they are usually less crowded.

Amusement parks and zoos tend to be cheaper during the off-season. Also, there might be an early bird special at that golf course you wanted to check out. And perhaps the kids can visit the museum for free on weekends. Looking for discounts obviously requires research and planning, but the savings are well worth it.

Cut Back on Dining Out

While everyone loves being able to dine out at various restaurants, the fact of the matter is that eating out isn’t cheap! If you happen to buy your lunch for school/work each day, eating is even more expensive.

Instead, make a habit of dining in more than you dine out. You can still treat yourself here and there, but it should be a treat, not a regular occurrence. This also means packing your lunch and snacks whenever possible.

Maybe you find that you eat out in the evenings because you don’t have time to cook. In that case, you can always set aside time on the weekend to make meals in advance. Place the food in single, serving size freezer-safe containers. In the morning, you can then take out the containers you want, place them in the fridge, and reheat them at dinner time.

Entertain at Home

Of course, you don’t want to give up getting together with friends and family, but there are cost-effective ways to do so. There’s no need to meet up at the local pub, hot new musical, or new dining spot.

Instead, you can entertain at home. You can rotate so that everyone gets a chance to host. In so doing, you also spread out the costs of hosting.

Entertaining at home can be a wonderful opportunity to get out some classic board games or card games. You can also watch a movie on TV, play video games, or just catch up with friends while enjoying some great snacks.

Using Creativity to Your Advantage

Cutting back on your entertainment expenses is really about being creative when it comes to your choices and options. As you start to engage in these cost-effective habits, you’ll see that even though they are saving you money, you aren’t sacrificing any of the fun.

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Top Tips for Cutting Back on Entertainment Expenses

6 Brilliant Startup Tips That Will Help Women Entrepreneurs Succeed

There was a time when people considered even the idea of a woman running a business to be a joke. But these days, the number of women-owned businesses is actually growing twice as quickly as other startups.

Photo by Bench Accounting

More women than ever have taken control and are making the move to start and launch their own businesses. Sure, it is not easy for women to make their way in the startup world. But it is no longer deemed impossible. With great passion, the right mindset and durable support systems, women can go on to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams.

Nonetheless, it is no secret that female entrepreneurs face some difficult challenges when launching their businesses. This is especially true when they do so in fields dominated by men. They struggle to find other women with whom to engage in business deals. And there is also a lack of female role models.

Furthermore, women who run their own startups also have to deal with the perceptions of others. Often their peers and friends consider their work to be a side project or a hobby instead of a serious business venture. This state of affairs can be incredibly frustrating and often discouraging for aspiring female entrepreneurs.

Here are some top startup tips that can help women overcome these challenges.

1. Find your passion

Bear in mind that you will have to devote long hours to your business. It is therefore a good idea for you to choose an industry that you are passionate about, and not one you simply like.

When you are passionate about something, your enthusiasm will show. And your belief in what you are doing and your energy will translate to your employees and customers, thereby sparking their enthusiasm about your business.

2. Align your business with your personal goals

Are you interested in building a full-time business? Or are you just looking for a way to work part-time in order to supplement the family income? What is your goal? Money or freedom? Or maybe both?

There is no rule in any book that says you have to work round the clock when you are running a business. It is up to you to launch a business or opt for a business style that is in accordance with your personal and business goals.

3. Keep your work and home life separate

One of the most common mistakes that female entrepreneurs end up making is not striking a balance between their home and work lives. They don’t realize that this imbalance reduces their chances of success.

Therefore, it is important for you to set aside time for your work and personal lives. Ensure that each is getting the attention it deserves. You need to establish standard office hours and make it a priority to stick to them unless there is an emergency.

Likewise, you should work just during office hours and not send emails or accept calls after hours. Your clients and customers are going to conform to your schedule only when you also follow it. This means that you shouldn’t contact anyone after hours if you want them to follow your rules.

You should also have a separate work area, whether it is at home or outside, and you should shut the door after your hours are over.

4. Learn to use technology

Technology has pervaded all aspects of our lives, and your business is no different. With the widespread use of technology, it has become increasingly difficult to keep home and work life separate. The enticement of an incoming message is enough to keep you distracted.

You might not be able to concentrate on what you are doing, such as spending time with a loved one or doing a project. Check your emails only at certain times of the day, or let them wait till morning. Use auto-responders for phone calls or let calls go to voicemail after hours.

5. Make great connections

Working alone can be difficult, so the connections and contacts you form are going to be invaluable because they can help you navigate the business world. But your contacts are valuable not merely for your business.  Through them, you can also form a support group where you can share your ideas, along with your frustrations and goals.

Networking is important in any industry, especially when working in real estate. In order to create a successful real estate business or any other business of a similar kind, you need to have some resourceful contacts.

6. Define your brand clearly

Always remember that it is essential for your brand to have a clear definition. What is your brand and what does it stand for?

Make sure that everything you do conforms to your brand, whether your logo design, color scheme, presentations, correspondence, company mission, culture, or customer service packaging. Don’t make the mistake of deviating from your brand. Your clients will remember you through your message and consistency.

These are some excellent startup tips that can be immensely useful for female entrepreneurs. Through this advice, women will be able to make their dreams of launching their businesses come true.

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6 Brilliant Startup Tips That Will Help Women Entrepreneurs Succeed

Facebook Advertising Tips for the ECommerce Entrepreneur

According to a study conducted by MarketingSherpa a couple of years back, the average gross margin for eCommerce stores was found to be somewhere between 30% and 40%.

Gross margin, by definition, is the difference between revenue and cost of goods sold. If you take into account the operating expenses, salaries, taxes and other expenses, the net margin for eCommerce stores can be quite minimal.

It does not actually make sense to advertise your eCommerce store in this scenario. Pay per click advertising has become quite expensive over the years. The conventional logic of identifying niche targeted keywords to advertise might not be profitable any more.

This is also the case with Facebook advertising. The average CPC can be around $ 0.35, and this number is likely to be much higher for newsfeed ads that are known to offer the highest conversion rate. In this article, we will take a look at a few tips that can help eCommerce advertisers sell their products on Facebook.

Use Retargeting Ads

Two million blog posts are written every single day. At the same time, the consumption of internet-based media content has dramatically risen. One study showed that the average user consumes nearly eight hours of media content each day.

And media consumption on the Internet itself has risen 105% between 2010 and 2015. This is a fantastic opportunity for eCommerce advertisers to make use of non-sales targeted content to draw in their niche audience and then retarget these readers with product ads.

Take the example of an eCommerce store selling spare auto parts. The store owner in this case could publish content that covers topics in which a car owner would be highly interested. Once the audience has been drawn in through organic means, these readers can then be retargeted with product ads on Facebook. The CPC in this case is likely to be way lower than that of regular Facebook ads.

Sponsored Message Ads

Facebook has recently been experimenting with ads delivered over Facebook Messenger. In essence, the user would receive from the sponsor a new message notification with which they might engage.

To eCommerce business owners, Facebook Messenger is a lucrative channel. The reason why is they can set up personalized conversations with each of their prospective buyers.

For best results though, you should let the user initiate the conversation with you. You can achieve this by using conventional advertising techniques and using the “Send Message” call to action.

Clicking this CTA will take users to the Messenger window where they can have a conversation about the product with the eCommerce store. You can check out this guide on Facebook advertising from Shopify for a more detailed tutorial.

Use Facebook Offers

The Facebook advertising platform has a number of elements that makes it attractive to eCommerce advertisers. One popular feature is “Offers,” which allows advertisers to promote an offer exclusively to Facebook users. An offer in this instance can be a discount of a certain dollar amount or percentage value. Offers can also be free giveaways or even BOGO (Buy One, Get One) deals.

Advertisers can choose to host the offer campaign within Facebook or redirect it to their own websites. They could also choose to restrict the campaign to their own Facebook groups or make it available to the larger audience across Facebook. The Facebook Offers feature works really well if you sell impulse goods that customers are ready to buy without any significant forethought.

Tie in Facebook Advertising with Other Marketing Channels

As an eCommerce business owner, you are likely to make use of a bunch of marketing channels. These might include advertising, email marketing, content marketing and even offline advertising.

Quite often, marketers make the mistake of assuming that these channels are independent of each other. Because of this misunderstanding, they carry out their campaigns in silos. But doing so is sub-optimal. It not only leads to an inefficient campaign but also could be expensive since you might be spending money acquiring the same customer twice over these different campaigns.

It is important to bring together these different channels in order to have a single view of your customers. You could do so by integrating your audience from your email marketing list with the one from your Facebook channel.

Or you could bring together your retargeting campaigns from both Facebook and Google. Streamlining your campaigns ensures continuity and also brings down the cost of acquiring one unique customer.

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Facebook Advertising Tips for the ECommerce Entrepreneur

4 Tips to Attract the Best Employees

In running your business, are you doing everything conceivable in order to attract the best employees?

As the New Year draws ever closer, now would be a good time to assess how you are going about bringing in new talent.

Keep in mind that hiring such talent is not simply the result of placing a help wanted advertisement online and/or in the newspaper.

Not only do you have to get qualified candidates through the door for the interview process, but you then have to determine which one or ones are best positioned to help your business moving forward. As you might imagine, there are no 100 percent guarantees when you hire someone. They could be one of the best workers ever to come through your doors or one of the biggest mistakes you will end up making.

That said do you know how best to go about attracting the top employees?

Incentives Can Go a Long Way

So that you are able to have the best odds of bringing in and keeping to-flight employees, remember these four tips:

1. Workplace – First and foremost, do you have a workplace environment that is second-to-none? For many workers in today’s workplace, having a place to call home for many years is not the norm. In many cases, employees will use one job to eventually get to another one. In doing so, they may turn out to be great workers in their time at a place, though they could also turn out to be real duds. By offering a workplace environment that is inclusive and makes people feel welcome, you stand a better chance of getting solid employees, employees willing to go the extra mile for you and ultimately stick around;
2. Incentives – Offering your employees incentives will be a great means to keep them around, not to mention make sure they are happy during their time with you. For example, solid group benefits for employees are a great place to start. Given how expensive medical insurance is becoming for many individuals these days, paying for a sizable portion of their medical needs oftentimes proves a big help for both you and the employee. If you’re worried about the costs becoming too astronomical for you, shop around for the best medical plans out there. In doing so, you can oftentimes find a plan that is financially cost-effective for you when all is said and done. Other incentives include not only increases in salary over time, but also the ability to grow within the company (see more below).

Don’t Overlook Growth Importance

3. Growth – When it comes to growth, many workers will state that having a chance to climb up the corporate ladder is important to them. Without those opportunities for growth, some employees will feel like they are simply going through the motions each day, something that is a problem for you and your customers. Be sure to make growth opportunities one of your key offerings when sitting down and interviewing candidates;
4. Honesty – Lastly, don’t you like it when employees are honest with you? Assuming the answer is yes, you need to return that ounce of respect. If you don’t, you can lose people (both figuratively and literally) before you know it. Be honest with workers when there are problems, be they with the individuals themselves or the company in general. If you see cutbacks coming down the road, don’t wait until the last minute to inform those impacted by them. Also speak honestly in grading one’s performance level. If you’re not honest with them, you hurt both them and your business overall.

As a business owner, how do you go about attracting the best employees to keep your company churning along?

Photo credit: Pixabay

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

 

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Essential Tips For The Budding Entrepreneurs

Hundreds of thousands of startups around the globe keep on knocking the doors of opportunities every day, but only a few make it to success. Hence, it is palpably clear that success doesn’t come handy; one has to toil up the success in the pervasive and brazen competition. Thus, I am going to line up a few essential tips for the budding entrepreneurs, which will help them carve out their entrepreneurial success with sheer accuracy and greater efficiency.

So here it is how you can smartly turn your experiment into success, but remember there’s no substitute for hard work:

1. Know Whether Your Business Idea Is Really Powerful Or Not

A great business idea is the backbone of your dream venture, thus it has to have something really appealing for your target audience. Therefore, you must weigh up every aspect of your product/service idea way before its launch and also ensure it contains at least one unique selling proposition (USP). And, what else can be effective than obtaining a firsthand customer behavior data to weigh up your business idea! Again getting genuine data for customer behavior can be tricky and tedious; thus plan it well. In the last, consider yourself successful, if you’re able to answer a few questions successfully, as listed below:

• Is there something useful for the customers?
• Is it a genuine solution to a real problem?
• What customers will be getting?
• Does it deserve any payment?
• Why will anyone bother about it?

2. Dissect Your Business Prospect

No matter how much you’re enamored with your idea, a scrupulous dissection of the opportunity, which you’re going to explore, will brighten up its chances of success. Hence, never forget to mull over the crucial insights related to your market, competition, audience, outlay, and price point. For this, you can always leverage the data and matrices, made readily available by popular social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc. Prioritizing the needs in sync with your business structure is equally important to inch closer toward your entrepreneurial success.

3. Take Actionable Measures

Ideation is the foremost step indeed, but until you do not map out ways to materialize your ideas, you will not make any progress. So firstly, gear yourself up for preparing smashing business plans and once you’re done with it, choose the right resources (especially manpower) for the execution of such plans. Remember, your association with passionate, committed, and dedicated team members will not only help you turbo-charge your plans but will also enable you in breaking the ice as and when a need arises.

4. Smartly Use Social Media To Win Your Customers

Social media is a buzzword and an integral part of almost everyone’s life nowadays. Adapting to social media simply means that you’re supercharging your promotional needs as it empowers you with a wider and quick reach to the masses. In addition to this, social media is a great medium to entertain your customers; so write for them, listen to them, and live for them. All you need is to be smart enough to tap its benefits for rapport building and business development. So act smart and write a riveting story of your social media success.

5. Stay Focused To Your Aims

Small wins and failures will be a part of your business objective pursuit. But, you are advised to neither get carried away by such wins nor get disheartened with the loss of anything obscure. Rather use your wit; create a fine balance among the two and strive to accomplish your ultimate objectives without getting distracted with anything else on your way.

You may probably have own ways to further your business prospects, which can be promising too. But a mere addition of the above tips to your existing plans will certainly add new dimensions to your whole entrepreneurial dare. A thoughtful consideration of the above tips and their careful implementation will place you step by step closer towards a win-win situation.

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Essential Tips For The Budding Entrepreneurs

10 insider tips for the traveling blogger

The traveling blogger is a fish out of water.

Away from the comforts of the home coffee maker, fluffy bunny slippers, and reliable wifi, they must be prepared for anything.

Of course it’s great to step out of your comfort zone and see humans face to face. It’s fantastic to get out your passport and see the world. It’s even better if you can continue to run your business without skipping a beat.

This blog post is a handy dandy roundup of my 10 best insider tips for the traveling blogger.

Use these as a starting point, and you won’t end up in the fetal position in your hotel hallway, begging passers-by for their Mophie chargers (see Tip #1).

Tip #1 – Be All Powerful

It’s more important to pack your charging cords than to pack your underwear. Seriously. But here’s a great tip I received from my sister-in-law (who travels frequently). If you forget your charger, ask at the hotel front desk; often they have a pile of cords that have been left behind by your fellow travelers. Away from my hotel, I always maintain my charge with my Mophie, the greatest invention since sliced bread. Throw a power strip in your suitcase for bonus points.

Tip #2 – Stay Connected (but Securely)

You know not to go on sensitive sites or apps using hotel free WiFi, right? It’s a little better if it’s password protected, but you still need to be cautious. The pros use a VPN to be completely secure while traveling. If you’re concerned, you can even buy a temporary VPN service, which simply encrypts your activity to keep the bad guys away.

Tip #3 – Leave Your Room

Writers need to fill their brains with new ideas, new viewpoints, and fresh air. Don’t go into your hotel room, close the blackout curtains, and eat room service. Be sure you keep up your healthy routines, use the fitness center or go for a jog outside! You might find yourself full of blogging inspiration from your new location.

Tip #4 – Be Prepared

At some point in your travels, you may find yourself in an unfamiliar conference room, in a long tunnel, or stuck in the middle of nowhere. Some things that will ease your panic: a USB stick with your presentation or work-in-progress on it, pre-loaded Google Maps, Band-Aids (for the blisters from your new shoes), and a granola bar (in case they’re serving Haggis).

Tip #5 – When in Rome…

If you’re traveling out of the country, don’t forget to check your data plans for overseas travel (some phone carriers have amazing roaming deals now). Do yourself a favor and buy a plug adaptor (American plugs won’t work in Europe). Appreciate the cultural differences and educate yourself about them before you go (in some countries, you are expected to sit in front with a taxi driver, rather than in the back). Pack a washcloth/facecloth if those are important to your routine, as they won’t be provided in most European hotels.

Tip #6 – Fly in Style

If you travel frequently, invest a little bit of time and money into TSA Precheck, you’ll thank me later. Take advantage of curbside check in (bring $ 2 per bag for the expected tip) and wave at the long line of people who inexplicably always wait in the inside queues. Take a screenshot of your digital boarding pass to access it quicker on your phone. While we’re talking about phones, download the airline’s app if they have one, and get details like gate change alerts and delay notifications early.

It goes without saying (hopefully), but it’s always a good idea to dress nicely and be respectful to the airline personnel, giving you both good karma and a better chance at being upgraded.

Tip #7 – Get Ahead of the Curve

Use your blogging platform to queue up some posts in advance of your trip. Use any downtime during the year to stockpile some great posts that are evergreen and can go live when you’re traveling. Queue up your blog post social promotion as well, while you’re at it.

Tip #8 – Don’t Forget to Bring Back Content

Take pictures, do some video interviews, do some travel journaling…make sure that you come back with content you can use for the rest of the year. You might want to bring a fresh notebook so you can jot down ideas on the road.

Tip #9 – Be Suitcase Savvy

Put something weird or colorful on your suitcase handle so you can identify it at baggage claim. Put a plastic trash bag in the suitcase for your wet swimsuit or dirty laundry. Pack like a flight attendant by rolling everything; you can fit twice the number of outfits. When your dentist gives you that little packet with a toothbrush and toothpaste, put it in your suitcase and just leave it in there for your next trip.

Tip #10 – Consider Unplugging Completely

This goes against all of the previous “bring your cords” advice, but if you’re able, consider taking a digital break. If you’re traveling because you’re supposed to be on vacation, prep some content in advance, let your audience know that you’re going away for a week or two, and take a deep breath. It’s important to be consistent, but it’s even more important to maintain your sanity.

What’s your best travel tip for the road-weary blogger?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

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10 insider tips for the traveling blogger

5 Essential Tips for Hiring a Project Manager

The right project manager can make or break any development project, whether it be small or large.

Whether you’re upgrading products you already have or creating a new product, you’ll find that an individual skilled in project management can be the deciding factor in timelines and overall success. If you’re beginning the search for a project manager, consider these essential hiring tips and make the right choice.

Are You Sure You Need a Project Manager?

Many companies are quick to jump on hiring a project management professional, but some businesses find that this full-time service isn’t essential. You need to examine the role you’re looking to fill. Did you already clearly define the project? Will in-house team members complete the project? Is it low-cost?

Did you answer yes to any of these questions? You might find that a full-time project manager isn’t the best solution. On the flip side, you could use the aid of a project manager if your project looks like it will take more than half a year to complete. You could also use one if the project needs external vendors or employees or if it is extremely critical to the future success of your business.

Writing the Job Description

Your first task to attract qualified candidates is crafting the perfect job description. Be as specific as possible, and include more than the skills or competencies required. You’ll want to outline the behaviors you expect from a project manager, be specific with the tasks he or she will face on a daily basis, and outline your salary offerings.

The more specific your job description is, the better able you’ll be to weed out unqualified individuals from the very start. Cutting down on unsuitable applicants will save you time and money during the recruiting process. As you go to post your description, consider using several outlets.

That may mean a post on Indeed.com or Monster.com, a job listing call throughout your networks, or even a post on Craigslist. You may also consider hiring a head hunter; it’s worth the investment to place the right person.

Consider Credentials and Certifications

There are numerous certifications for those in project management, and you should consider the standard PMP certification an essential. Those that have received the title of Project Management Professional have completed the right amount of work experience.

They have spent countless hours studying how to pass the PMP exam and have passed the test with the right scores. Those that pursue this certification have committed to excellence in their field. The road to accreditation can take months and even years, and it often represents a substantial monetary investment.

There are other certifications to keep in mind, including the PgMP and PRINCE2, so read up on the related accreditations. Then determine what might work best for your project in particular.

Find Someone Who Can Prioritize

Prioritization is arguably an essential characteristic in any role, but it’s vital for project managers. Every detail and every task they encounter will be urgent, with other employees’ roles dependent on their ability to get things done. It’s important to ask all candidates how they prioritize.

The best project managers are able to easily and quickly discern which tasks they need to complete first. They can then delegate applicable tasks to appropriate team members. Asking project manager candidates how they decide which project to tackle during high pressure situations can give you valuable insights into their prioritization skills.

Ask About Their Conflict Management Capabilities

Project managers are tasked with managing groups of people. As every company knows, having multiple personalities and work styles in one group can lead to conflict.

It’s important to hire a project manager who can help your team work through these conflicts with problem-solving abilities. Your project manager needs to understand conflict resolution, be able to adapt to different situations, and be able to look for resolutions in high-stress situations.

It’s not always easy to find the perfect project manager for your company. However, with these hiring strategies you’ll be well poised to place the right individual on your team.

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5 Essential Tips for Hiring a Project Manager

Fraud Prevention Tips

Previously we talked about a few of the lesser known fraud types that many small businesses encounter.

Part 2 of our series on fraud, covers some tips to help identify and prevent the damages from fraud. Many forms of fraud can be prevented by proactive policies and often with common sense. While some schemes are so well planned that even seasoned professionals have a hard time identifying it, many types of fraud follow recognizable trends and can often be prevented. Here are some tips to help identify, prevent, and mitigate fraud.

General (applies to all business types)

• Create a payment acceptance guide / poster for all employees and keep it readily available. This should be a short, easy to read, list of how payments should be accepted. Anything that is outside of these guidelines should be considered against company policy without approval from a knowlegeable supervisor. Keep this as short and concise as possible, it should be something an employee can review in 20 seconds or less. Most fraud will require an employee to deviate from the normal method of accepting a transaction, and this is meant to immediately prevent the lowest hanging types of fraud.
• Talk to your employees about fraud and encourage them to notify you or a supervisor of anything suspicious or simply out of the ordinary with regard to accepting payments. This will keep everyone on the same page, and can help you and your employees develop better practices and a higher understanding of potential threats.
• Do not ever accept an authorization number from a customer or their bank. Only accept authorization numbers generated when you process a transaction or if you manually call into your credit card processor’s authorization line.
• Don’t allow issuing cash refunds on any credit or debit transaction that was processed as a credit card, and do not allow issuing a refund to any card other than the one used to make a payment. Basically, unless the customer entered a PIN number on a PINpad, only credit back to the original card used to make a purchase.
• Be especially vigilant of customers requesting refunds, credits, or abnormal transactions involving prepaid gift cards. Prepaid gift cards work differently from normal credit and debit cards and some issuers have been known to have large security and functional holes in their authorization and funding systems.

Card Present

• If available at your processor, use a terminal that supports EMV, chipped, cards. EMV eliminates fraud occurring from cards that have been electronically stolen and copied to another card. Businesses with unattended card readers such as gas stations will see the greatest benefit from EMV.
• Make sure a supervisor is required for any returns or credits to a credit or debit card. A very large portion of fraud is committed by employees and customers in the form of issuing credits. The money issued during a credit can be difficult to impossible to account for without vigilant bookkeeping practices. Credits should always be strictly controlled.
• When the card is present, always check the back of the credit card for a signature, before asking for ID. If no signature is present ask the card holder to sign the back of the card, then ask for their ID and see if the name and signatures match.
• Although card brands do not permit requiring an ID as condition of accepting a payment, you can still always ask for one to verify the purchaser is the person standing in front of you and whose name is on the card.
• Be especially vigilant of cards that appear to be damaged, potentially altered, or cards where the beginning numbers don’t match the type of card being offered (Generally beginning with 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard, 3 for American Express, and 6 for Discover). After printing a receipt, you can also verify the printed card numbers on the receipt match the numbers on the actual card. When thieves make copies of stolen cards, they often encode them onto cards with a completely different number or an entirely different type of card than the one the numbers were stolen from.
• Be critical of situations where a customer’s payment isn’t typical, such as trying to pay with a series of cards that keep declining, refusing to show an ID, refusing to sign their card, etc.

Card Not Present

• Requesting the CVV code helps ensure that the buyer has physically has the card in hand, or at least had it in their hand at one point. Electronically copied cards will not have the CVV number. While not a guaranteed method, it’s a good step to help protect your business.
• Always use the Addresses Verification System (AVS). AVS verifies that the billing information matches what the card issuer has on file by matching both the street number and the zip code. However, AVS does not work with most international cards, so this may not be as useful to merchants who have a large percentage of customers paying with non-US issued cards.
• Any shipments to the customer should be shipped to the billing address when possible, and shipments with a high dollar value should require a human signature with the carrier. While this can sometimes cause convenience problems, it is the best way to protect your business and guarantee that at least a human was there to receive your shipment.
• Only use shipping services, such as UPS or Fedex, that allow you to cancel or reroute an item after it has been picked up. The only thing worse than taking a loss on fraud, is identifying a transaction as fraudulent and not being able to prevent the package from being delivered after it has been shipped.
• Orders requesting expedited or overnight delivery should be scrutinized more than orders requesting ground or other economy shipping. It is common for customers to want their items quickly, but thieves also want to get products in their hands as quickly as possible, and will almost always pay for the fastest possible shipping method no matter the cost. Anecdotally, in more than 15 years of operating ecommerce sites, we’ve never seen a confirmed fraudulent order shipped anything less than 2nd day air, the vast majority are shipping the fastest and most costly method possible, which is typically Next Day AM or equivalent.
• Searching the shipping address of an order in a search engine can often reveal if the order is being shipped to a forwarding address, an empty or for-sale property, or sometimes even just a vacant lot. All of these situations are a major red flag for potential fraud, and should require further review before fulfilling an order.
• Be especially cautious of orders where the buyer changes the shipping address after ordering. This is a common method used to circumvent AVS and other address based screening methods of identifying fraud.
• Online or phone orders where the buyer is indiscriminate about the cost of shipping or cost of the products being ordered should be considered highly probable for fraud.
• Additionally, any customer asking for a catalog and price list when you have everything on a website should be considered suspect as well. Unsolicited requests for prices, product lists, and what payment methods a business accepts, are often nothing more than electronically generated emails from scammers scraping emails off ecommerce sites.

Additionally, take a look at our 30 second fraud checklist for ecommerce merchants.

The information above is to give you a better idea of what you can do to help protect your business from fraud. Training yourself and your staff can go a long way to protecting your business, especially if you continue to keep that training up to date as your business moves forward. New technologies may help businesses limit their risk in some ways while opening the door to other possible threats, so it important that you keep up with, and understand, the relevant practices of fraudsters. Make sure you implement standard operating procedures within your organization so that you have a baseline to judge potential threats against. Fraudsters are not in the business of getting caught, so if they see a business operating in a manner that is not conducive to their success they will often move to another target.

The Merchant Account Blog

Fraud Prevention Tips

Business Travel Tips (For Women): 14 Tips From Experienced Travellers

Traveling all the time for business is incredibly rewarding but it can also be quite exhausting. With that in mind, here are 14 essential business travel tips for female travellers sure to save you time and preserve that much-needed energy!

1. If you need a bag you can check, choose lightweight fabric & all-directional wheels

Four directional wheels might just be the best thing to ever happen to luggage, making it incredibly easy to navigate through busy airports. A lightweight bag also means you can carry heavier items in the bag—or just enjoy having a lighter load.

2. Try not to check a bag at all

Yes, traveling light takes some getting used to, especially if you’re the type of woman who has a crazy beauty routine, but you’ll save hours upon hours of time just by skipping the bag check line every time you fly.

3. Keep some clothes in your carry on

Even if you do end up checking a bag keep a change of clothes and some personal care products in your carry on. You never know when there might be a delay.

4. Keep your travel sized stuff in a Ziploc bag

You’re probably going to be asked to take all this stuff out of your bag at some point when going through customs and even if you aren’t a Ziploc bag is a good way to make sure your shampoo doesn’t leak all over everything.

5. Wear your bulkiest shoes on the plane

Bringing more than one pair of shoes? Pick the one that weighs the most and takes up the most space, then wear those while you’re traveling. They weigh your luggage but they aren’t going to weigh your shoes.

6. Stick with one airline

Pretty much every airline has a rewards program or credit card of some sort. If you stick with the same airline every time you’ll be able to earn free flights and all kinds of other fantastic perks.

7. Opt for leggings

Going on a long flight? Got some time in between getting off the plane and going to your meeting? A pair of leggings will be far more comfortable than pants and is still presentable enough to wear in public, especially if you’re wearing a long shirt to cover them. Of course, this only works if you’ll have time to change before your first business meeting.

8. Pack color coordinated clothes

You should be able to mix and match your tops, pants, skirts and accessories to suit your mood, especially if you’re going on a long trip.

9. Bring an eye mask and ear plugs

Most hotels are pretty quiet most of the time but you don’t actually know how bright or loud it’s going to be until you’re already staying there. Keep a pair of earplugs and an eye mask with you on every trip so you can get to sleep easily.

10. Bring your own snacks

Did you know that you’re actually allowed to bring your own snacks on the plane? So long as they’re kept in a sealed container while you’re going through the airport you’ll be fine—and your own snacks will always be healthier and cheaper than anything you’ll find at or near the airport.

11. Invest in a lightweight but sturdy mini-umbrella

Frankly you should have one of these whether you travel often or not, but it’s even more important when you’re traveling. There is simply no way to know for sure what kind of weather you’ll find when you get off the plane and being small, they take up next to no space!

12. Buy a high quality hair dryer for the road

Make sure your hair dryer is lightweight, designed for travel, and dual voltage so you can use it in Europe as well as in North America. Hotel hair dryers aren’t always the greatest and you don’t want to be showing up at a meeting looking anything less than your best.

13. Invest in good noise cancelling headphones

A good pair of noise cancelling headphones will completely change your life. Now you will no longer have to hear the child crying in the row behind you or the couple chatting loudly in the row in front of you. Be willing to spend at least $ 80 on a good pair.

14. Bring a separate, sealable bag for dirty clothes

Keeping your clean clothes and your dirty ones in the same bag is a bad idea. Not only does it make it easy for you to forget what you’ve already worn, it can also stink up your clean clothes if your dirty ones are really sweaty. Buy a small cloth bag which is easy to fold into your carry-on when not in use. Look for one with a sturdy clasp or zipper to keep it closed even when the bag is getting knocked around.

There you have it, 14 tips that combine to make your business travel experience a breeze. We’d love to hear your travel tips as well!

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Blogtrepreneur – For Busy Entrepreneurs

Business Travel Tips (For Women): 14 Tips From Experienced Travellers