How Some Preppers Make Money While Doing What They Love (Prepping)

Once you decide what you want to do with your life, you must take the steps required to make it happen.

Start doing what makes you happy, say your passion for writing stories, blogging, or creating dresses, then make it a business. I have listed some ways to make money while doing what you love.

1. Sell Your Homemade Preserved Food

After you have grown and harvested your food, there is the process of storing and preserving it. Most crops come in glutes, a period when all of one crop or certain types of crops are mature and there is an abundance. 

If you are unable to consume all of it simultaneously, you will need to store and or preserve it so it can be sold as well.

One of the oldest methods of preservation, curing can be done with various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods.

You can do it on meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of combinations of salt, nitrates, or sugar, with the intention of drawing out most of the moisture from the food by the process of osmosis.

In addition to salting, many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, or cooking the food, particularly meats or fish.

Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of food transformation and preservation in the world.  It is the process of converting or cooking food through the process of bacteria converting acids and other compounds to sugars.  One of the most recognized products of fermentation is sauerkraut.

When you love experimenting with food, you can try selling your own products to your family and friends, and when it becomes popular, you start your business big.

2. Making Cheese and Bread

The bread is versatile; it can be toasted for jams and butter, cut into cubes for stuffing and croutons, broiled with vegetables, meats, and cheeses to produce the delicious tartines (open-faced sandwiches) that are so popular in cafes today.

How to make traditional French bread

Ingredients for traditional French bread are:

1. 5 1/2 to 6 cups of all-purpose flour
2. 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4. 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
5. cornmeal
6. 1 egg white
7. 1 tablespoon water
8. The recipe for French bread:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt. Add 2 cups warm water, and beat with an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook on low to medium speed for 30 seconds.

Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and add the remaining flour (cup by cup) until incorporated.

On a lightly floured surface, knead in enough flour to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes total. Shape into a ball. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn once. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

Punch dough down, and divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into a 15 x 10-inch rectangle. Roll up, starting from a long side. Moisten edge with water and seal. Taper ends.

Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet.

Lightly beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush on. Cover with a damp cloth. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Let rise until nearly doubled, 35 to 40 minutes.

With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across the top of each loaf. Bake for 20 minutes.

Brush again with egg white mixture. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until bread tests are done. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over-browning. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on a wire rack.

How to make your own cheese

We have been experimenting with different aspects of home economics in order to make our house an engine of production rather than a house of simple consumption; this means learning new homesteading skills.

While I plan to learn more cheese-making techniques, I thought it best to start with the easiest, queso fresco or queso Blanco.  This is a semi-soft cheese that melts slowly and can be fried or used in Mexican dishes when a bright, slightly salty cheese is called for.

The technique is quite simple: warm the milk, sour the milk by way of acid to separate the curd from the whey, strain the whey, season and cure the final cheese.

Bread and cheese are a match made in heaven! This sideline would enable you to follow your passion for baking! Why don’t you give it a shot?

3. Learn to sew, hand sew and mend

Buying a few yards of fabric is significantly less expensive than buying a new shirt from a department store, or even a discount store. 

Knowing the basics of sewing with a machine or by hand is the essence of thrift and you can make this a business by creating hand-sewn dresses and selling them to your friends or start to put up your own online shop which features your designs.

How to sew by hand

If clothing or household linens were thrown away because of a small hole or a loose hem rather than being repaired, what a waste of resources and money. Learning to hand sew can preserve clothing, and keep treasured linens rather than tossing them out.

Here are a few stitches that are used in creation and mending. Try practicing on a spare piece of fabric until you have reached a good level of proficiency.

Running Stitch

A basic stitch is called a running stitch. It’s used for gathering, mending, and tucking. Depending on its use, you can either knot your thread or take a couple of back stitches to hold it in place.

It’s also called a basting stitch because the stitches are closer together (<unk>4-1/2 inches). Place your needle through the fabric from the back (wrong side). Nock the thread into the fabric. Bring the thread back up. Make another stitch across the fabric.

Backstitch

Traditionally, the stitch was used before sewing machines to make clothing. You should always work from left to right when using this stitch.  Taking a small stitch, insert the needle in the previous stitch bringing it out past the point when the thread emerges.

Continue by inserting the needle into the end of the previous stitch for each stitch, this will lock the threads.

Blanket Stitch (Buttonhole Stitch)

Fashion and linens, such as duvet covers, need buttonholes. If you are making them by hand, you must learn the blanket or buttonhole stitch.

In order to begin, you must secure the thread on the wrong side of the fabric near the hole, then insert the needle from back to front through the fabric 1/8  inch from the edge of the buttonhole.

Take the working head and place it behind the eye end of the needle, then behind the needlepoint. Pull the needle through the hole, bringing the knot to the fabric edge. Then continue making closely spaced stitches and knots around the hole to secure it.

Hence, if you like to delve into the fashion industry, or just want to show your talent in making expensive-looking dresses or shirts, this field might give you an edge.

4. Custom Tie-Dye Shirts

If you like dressing up or creating trendy shirts, then this business is for you. Making custom tie-dye shirts is a great opportunity to express your creativity. You have to let the world know that you exist to attract customers, sell your products and pull in custom orders.

You can reach people who like tie-dying by letting them know about your store and convincing them to buy their first piece of custom-dyed clothing from you by using some clever color schemes and designs.

This requires you to know your audience and where they are likely to hang out both online and offline.

One way to do this is to create targeted Facebook ads that are shown only to people who like certain pages (such as other tie-dye pages). You could leave business cards at a beach bar where you often see tie-dye-clad tourists.

An effective and well-designed website will also appear in search engine results for people searching for tie-dye products halfway across the globe. There are many possibilities for advertising, but in the beginning, only a few that seem to fit your audience or that worked well for your competitors.

A tie-dye business is well-suited for custom orders, but you’ll need to market the options to help people figure out what they can get. Develop a portfolio that highlights different color combinations, materials, products, and designs.

You can display this portfolio in different ways, depending on your budget and where you want to advertise your business. You can choose to use a binder at your event booth, or you can use a Facebook album as reference material.

If you have the courage and the creativity to pursue this business, then this one is for you!

5. Bath Bombs

If you search online, you’ll find a lot of trending videos of people using bath bombs. They either use it to make their bath time fancy or experiment with it.

Bath bombs are colorful, dry balls that melt into water and release essential oils. They’re a luxurious treat that comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and scents. Both kids and adults enjoy them, and their popularity has exploded in recent years.

Lush reported manufacturing 13.5 million bath bombs in 2014 and was on track to produce even more in 2015. Even though they’re just one company, and that the products sell for $4 to $10 USD each, that’s a huge industry!

A small business doesn’t have to have a big factory like the one Lush owns to compete in the market. A bath bomb is relatively inexpensive, easy to make, and anyone with a bit of time and effort can take advantage of the craze.

One of the most common ways for entrepreneurs to start making bath bombs is by making them at home, then moving on to a manufacturer or drop shipper through their business growth.

An online-only business also minimizes overhead expenses since you don’t have to invest in all the fixed costs of running a store.

The bath bomb craze is still going on online, and this is a great career opportunity for you if you love experimenting and creating bath essentials.

6. Create a YouTube video.

With everything available online today, it’s possible to make a profit. Being a YouTuber is one of them.

Make a video for YouTube, and if it becomes popular, you can run ads on it to make money. Youtubers are earning over six or seven figures by simply uploading their videos.

YouTubers need to create video content that is intriguing, unique, and educational for a specific audience. While creating your video, be mindful that you don’t want people to just start watching, you want them to watch the whole thing through.

And better yet when they’re done, start talking about it, share it with their friends, and heck, maybe even watch it again! As a result, you can accumulate a loyal following, lots of viewers, and even make money!

How to Set Up Your Youtube Channel

It is easy to set up a new YouTube channel, especially if you already have a Gmail account, which allows you to link it to your email address.

1. Sign in to Youtube
2. Click your picture in the top right corner (desktop version)
3. Select “Create a Channel”
4. Decide if you want to use the name associated with your email address or create a custom name for your channel
5. Add details to the “about” section
6. Customize the look of your channel with a cover photo and profile picture
7. Upload your first video
8. Add playlists, fill out your profile with more details, and link to your other social media accounts

If you love sharing your life online, then you’ll love this platform!

7. Write a book.

When you publish a book, you can earn money from the sales once you publish it. You can always go the ebook route and self-publish, or find a publishing company that will take you on.

There are many ways to earn money by writing books.

You can publish on Amazon and market the book to earn passive income from sales.

But you need to follow this step:

1. The ebook needs to be written in format (if you are not a good writer, then you can do your work with sniplly.com).
2. You need to create an eye-catching ebook cover (Also you can hire from Fiverr OR if you want to create from yourself, you can go to canvas and you can create should create an eye-catching ebook cover (you can also hire from Fiverr OR if you want to create from yourself, you can go to Canva and you can do it).
3. You must publish your book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing in both kindle format and paperback format.
4. The last step is to do marketing/advertising. (You can hire someone on Fiverr to do this).

By using this method, it takes a while to rank your book, but you’ll get sales whenever someone buys your ebook.

Writing is never an easy job, but if you love it, making money is just a bonus.

8. Start a blog

A common misconception about starting a blog is that you must be a great writer to be successful. This couldn’t be further from the truth. For the most part, people read blogs to get a personal perspective on things, so most bloggers keep it very informal and conversational.

The format makes it possible for many successful bloggers to write about a variety of topics under one umbrella.

In addition, you don’t need to be an expert on any of the topics you write about to have a successful blog.

Visitors to a cooking blog do not want to read a textbook from a food scientist; they want to hear about someone who has actually cooked some real meals, mistakes and all.

Spend some time building a website in an area that interests you and other people. Focus on topics that will never get dated (“how-to” articles are great) that people will use. Once you have a decent site with some good content, you can quit writing and make money from your old stuff.

The niche of travel blogging attracts many people who like to be on the go. If you have traveled a lot, you can share your experiences and advice that you have collected along the way and reach a huge audience.

As you engage your readers, you can get all kinds of sponsorship and generate revenue.

If you’re creative enough then you can start your own blog and make money from it.

9. Fun Candles

It is no secret that everyone loves candles, and the demand for them will only increase as the weather cools.

The candle business is one that is very profitable if you have good quality. It should be noted that 80 percent of homes in the United States use candles. According to the National Candle Association, sales of candles in the United States are valued at $2 billion yearly.

Also, profits from candle sales are high. The great thing about this business is that you can start it with little or no money at all and the production cost is also quite low.

Regardless of how much you pay for your materials, the profit margin is quite high. Consider factors such as seasonal demands on days such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving as well.

Can you smell your success through a candle business? If yes, well this is the right track for you!

10. Offer online services

It’s even easier to sell services at home than it is to sell products; the hurdle is allocating your limited time. “Time is money” is never truer than when you’re operating a  service-based business.

Service-based home business ideas include:

1. House cleaning
2. Freelance writing
3. Personal training
4. Virtual assistance
5. Dog walking
6. Marketing
7. Designing

It takes a lot of networking and word-of-mouth referrals to find suitable clients, but satisfied customers will likely stay with you for a long time.

Therefore, you don’t necessarily need a large number of customers to do well, as you do with a product-based business. Depending on the service you provide, you can support yourself full-time while working from home with a small number of high-quality clients.

There are many opportunities out there, you just have to spend time with it and really exert your effort in finding one.

11. Biogas

Growing your own gas is a method perfected by people in underdeveloped countries. We examine how they do it and how you can, too.

For countries like South-East Asia and Africa, blackouts, floods, and going without gas and power are expected daily. Their forms of creativity are perceived as innovations for those of us living in more developed regions, in search of green energy and off-the-grid living.

Throughout my travels in Southeast Asia, one household item that stood out was the DIY biogas digester.

The process of making a biogas plant is quite easy. I’ve done a test with a very small container and it worked quite well even though my system only used a balloon to hold a small amount of gas.

These materials are less expensive to make, easier to keep, and the only output they produce is high-nutrient fertilizer. That could be a game-changer. Let’s see how this works, and how you can make them.

7 Steps To Make Your Own Biogas

1. You are going to need some materials to start with. Some of these you might already have around the house, some you might have to pick up from a store or online.

• The container: I would go with one of those 20-liter office water cooler bottles if you can get one. This is the smallest I would recommend as my small balloon experiment was pointless other than being a test. In southeast Asia, there seems to be a very abundant supply of water poly drums. I would say get one of those if you want to run a big supply of gas, otherwise, a moderate container would just be a simple water cooler 5-gallon bottle.
• PVC hosing to connect from the biogas digestor to the gas holder and valve
• PVC piping
• Gas tap valve
• T-valve (it should have three connectable points)
• Funnel (for the scraps and manure)
• Gasholder: most of the biogas digesters I have seen use a tyre tube (something you would use in the water when you go swimming). This can be unsafe depending on where you store it as eventually it is going to be full of gas so will become a highly flammable item. You should be considerate of where you place it as this is a safety issue.
• Superglue or an airtight sealant
• Saw to cut PVC pipe
• Black paint for the water container to stop sunlight

2. You need to measure the PVC pipe against the height of the container. Mark it off and saw it off at the same height as pictured above. This will be the inlet pipe.

If you are using the 5-gallon water cooler bottle you can also put your ingredients in through the top and then keep the cap on the top of it. At the start when you put your manure and water in this it would be the best place to do that.

You will also need to measure out an outlet pipe that would be running horizontally through the container. Measure the PVC pipe at half of the width of the container. This way you can use it as the outlet from the middle point of the container.

3. Mark the outline of the PVC piping onto the top of the container and on the side of the container. For the inlet pipe, you want to have it located on the top, in between the middle and the outside of the container.

For the outlet, it should be about 10cm from the top width of the bottle. You can use the picture below as a reference. biogas digester

Once you have made the markings, cut them out. There are various ways to do this depending on the material you are working with. The video that I have used as a demonstration from these kids used a soldering iron, however, a drill would also do the trick.

When you feed the inlet pipe in (from the top) make sure you leave 2-3 inches of space at the bottom. This is so inlet waste can drain through the pipe and if there are any blockages you have space to push the contents down through the inlet pipe.

You will also need to do the same process for the gas feed, this would be done in a position similar to the one below. Once that’s done, feed the piping through.

4. After you have fed pipes through we need to airproof our container. So we should be using a sealant like rubber glue or as used in this example, super glue with sand.

Make sure your pipes are covered on the exposed ends with caps. We only want to open them when we are feeding waste into the inlet pipe, or pouring our fertilizer out of the outlet pipe.

Don’t forget to seal your gas feed hose.

5. Remember that T-Valve that we had in the equipment list? Use that on the end of your gas hose. You also need another two pieces of PVC hosing. One of them will connect to the tyre or wherever you choose to store your gas reserve, while the other will be attached to the valve.

The valve is the end that you will use to cook, or to burn off if you are using this merely for the nutrients in the fertilizer.

For some people, having this near the kitchen window means that they can feed their gas piping through the window and into a camp stove or side burner so that when they want to cook, the gas is there ready to go.

6. Attach the middle part of the T-valve to your hose that connects to your tube. You should have an air nipple on your tube that you can use to feed the gas in. Just leave this on and will be full in a week depending upon the materials you use in the biogas digest.

One hack is to also sit a plank of wood on the tube and eventually set a stone on top of that. The extra weight keeps the pressure of the gas in the tube so that when you are ready to cook with your gas you can release the valve slowly for a good feed of gas.

7. The last step, use your fuel. I didn’t just put this picture of cow poo in here for nothing, it’s the best type of fuel for our biogas digester. If you don’t have cows around you can use any other sort of manure. Even chicken poo is good enough to get the bacteria working in our digester.

When you are using your fuel I would suggest using 1kg of manure with 1 liter of water. Let it sit for two days before you add any other things like food scraps or anything else.

As a small project, you can give this a go with hardly any cost whatsoever and then increase the size once you get more confident with the process. You can increase the size to however you see fit.

By sharing your knowledge in making biogas, or by making other people’s personal use biogas, this job will give you boundless opportunity to make the biogas industry known and to also profit from it while helping the environment. 

CONCLUSION

There are many ways to make money while doing what you love. Homesteading is one of them. Just make sure that you inspire, educate, or entertain others in order to make your craft unique and effective.

Above all, don’t be afraid of the unknown. Do whatever it takes, whether it’s taking on a new project or saying ‘yes’ to something out of your comfort zone. This will help you (and your company) grow.

Having said that, don’t be afraid to explore and try things that will make you happy and earn in your own ways. You are in control of your happiness and growth.

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How CNC Machining Has Changed Manufacturing

Generally, most industries are experiencing a drastic change in how they conduct their business and embrace modern manufacturing. Growth and use of CNC machines is a key factor towards this rapid change. With the use of a CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machine, your business can increase production volume with accuracy and better quality.

The history of the CNC machine can be traced back to the 1940s, when it was introduced. CNC machines have a long journey of technological advancement to get where they are today. In modern manufacturing, CNC machines support CAD (Computer-Aided Design) files to produce prototype parts.

Usually, this is a computer-controlled process, and hence the products are greatly automated and technical. Additionally, the process will save your extra business dollars as they do not require any physical interference throughout the manufacturing.

Below are ways in which CNC has changed manufacturing.

1. Sustainability

There are different ways in which today’s manufacturing experienced sustainability through CNC machines. Compared to conventional manufacturing, CNC machines result in no waste as they require fewer additional materials. For instance, if there is an error in the traditional manufacturing process, the whole process would be considered a waste. Such mistakes will lead to increased production costs for the manufactures.

However, today manufacturers can awe their thanks to the CNC machines as they help the use materials with less waste or no waste at all for most projects. The ability to utilize most of the materials with no mistake makes the CNC machines super-efficient compared to humans.

Additionally, not only do the CNC machines require fewer materials but also few machine parts. In traditional manufacturing, you need separate tools such the saws, sanders, and drills giving your business a huge expense burden. Nevertheless, you don’t have to worry about all these anymore since CNC machining incorporates all necessary parts. Purchasing a CNC machine is close to buying different machines but for a single price.

2. Speed

Traditionally, drills, mills, routers, and lathes were operated by humans before the CNC machines’ arrival. To develop the required features, they had to understand the drawings and decide on the possible ways to do so. Additionally, engineers included the necessary features for the complex parts that required hand reorientation and remounting. All this was to make sure that all required dimensions are in check. To design and manufacture, all this used to take a lot of time.

Today with the arrival of CNC machines, they read the 3D CAD files then the computer will design the processes automatically. To ensure that the key dimensions are maintained, it is possible to include an engineering design. Furthermore, with advanced CNCs, you don’t have to waste time unhooking parts as they contain articulating heads and tables to reposition tools.

By programming the CNC machine, the operators can read the CAD files saving the time used in the manufacturing process when manually operated. The use of CNC has changed how the manufacturing of many components works, including complex ones.

3. Repeatability

In addition to the fact that the CNC machine has the advantage of speed, it has also brought about more accuracy and precision. You can be sure of a few errors with CNC machines as they don’t require part repositioning or remounting. The manufacture of quality products is a result of better precision and machine accuracy. Part to part precision relies on the initial machine mounting, while the part accuracy depends on the machine’s accuracy.

4. Fewer Processes

CNC machines have the advantage that they can do most of the manufacturing stages all by themselves. This reduces the cost of extra machines, tools, and even human work. All this is because CNC machines only apply software and computers to monitor the processes. With the software, all the desired projects are preprogrammed by the CAD uploading the machine’s information.

5. Scalability

Greater outputs within a short period are the joy of any production. CNC machining has brought with it this benefit to the modern manufacturing industry compared to conventional machines. With advanced machines, you go on with the production for the most hours of the day, and they also can perform more operations than before.

6. Turning Thoughts into Products

One of the most changes that CNC machines have brought to the manufacturing industry is that you can turn your ideas into reality. By this fact, CNC machines are useful in creating prototypes and design testing. With a CNC machine, you only need to get an idea, have the CAD preprogram it, and then continue producing the prototype any time. Also, this helps producers to have well-tested products.

Conclusion

One way for any manufacturer to achieve success is by applying digitization. With digital implementation, you can stand out in the industry with better products and business operations. Therefore, as a manufacturer, you bring change to your manufacturing process and start using CNCs.

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How to Effectively Send Newsletters

Sending newsletters is an excellent strategy to market your business, increase brand visibility, generate leads, and create relationships with your target audience.

If you plan to send newsletters, you need to consider particular elements for effective campaigns. You want to ensure you get value for your time and money. Here is what you should do.

Choose Your Focus

Before sending newsletters, determine who your target audience is. Check the demographics of your audience, such as age, locations, sex, and purchase behavior, to send targeted newsletters that can solve the needs of your audience.

Try and understand your audience’s pain points, the industries they are interested in, and the topics they often use when searching for products.

You can test some of your audiences through surveys as you ask questions relevant to their needs. Find out from your existing subscribers if your products or services make sense to them and what you’d like you to do to make them more satisfied with your brand.

Above all, make sure your focus makes sense with your overall brand identity. Focus on your target audience, and make sure the branding of your newsletter is also matching your print branding, in-store and website content, and more. 

Let Your Newsletter Be Simple and Catchy

Everyone is busy out there doing something, and you never know if your audiences have time to go through your newsletters. That is why you need to create catchy and straightforward titles that can quickly draw your audience’s attention and prompt them to open and read your emails.

Sending newsletters with long titles can turn off your readers, and they are likely not going to open the email. You do not want to waste time sending out newsletters that do not add value to your business.

So, always make it simple and straightforward. This is what determines the readability of your audience. You can search from various online sources to see what your competitors are doing and create your titles accordingly.

Change the Subject Line Often

Some people do not get value from sending newsletters because they keep using the same subject repeatedly. This makes everything boring to your audiences, and the majority may start ignoring your emails after a short while.

Avoid using the same subject consistently. Instead, let it reflect the latest changes in your business and relevant information. However, the focus should remain the same.

Readers will keep looking forward to your newsletter, which would mean that you’re creating value for your audiences. This is the best way to attract the right people to your business, generate leads and sales and create long-lasting relationships.

Be Consistent with the Communication

Create a consistent schedule to keep sending newsletters to your audience. It could be on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly schedule or depending on your preferences. But ensure you keep the communication effective by sending unique content that will make your audiences keep reading your content.

The best way to make it more effective is by sending emails simultaneously. It keeps your readers looking forward to your newsletters, and they can always create time in advance to read your content.

If you do not send consistently, there will be a communication gap, and your readers may start to forget about your brand.

Always Review Your Progress

Before you start your email campaigns, you should create the goals you want to achieve at the end of your campaigns. This will help you run targeted campaigns and focus on ensuring you get value.

However, it is best to monitor the progress to see if you’re making an impact. You need to create a reporting platform that gives you invaluable insights into your progress.

You want to know if your subscribers enjoy reading your newsletters and what action they are taking. It helps you to see the rate at which your audiences read your newsletters and how many people access the emails.

This information can help you analyze your strengths, weaknesses, and threats and devise creative ways to make your email marketing campaigns more effective.

Use Trending Topics within Your Niche

Different news comes up every day about different industries, and that is what most customers focus on. They want to read the latest trends relevant to their needs. In this case, you need to ensure you send out newsletters with trending topics that will quickly trigger your audience to open your emails.

Look for trending topics within your niche and include part of the content in your newsletters. Connect your products or services to the trending and relevant topics that resonate with your audience’s needs.

Promote Your Newsletter

The success of your email marketing depends on your email list. You first need to create a list of valuable subscribers to avoid sending out random emails to people who have no interest in your business.

Be proactive when building the list and focus on promoting the newsletter through your website and social media channels.

The Bottom Line

How you design your email marketing campaigns determines your success. You need to be consistent with your campaigns and keep engaging your audiences as you seek frequent feedback to see the impact of your campaigns.

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Tips to Stay in Shape During the Lockdown

Staying at home for a couple of days is never going to be an issue, but if that confinement is for weeks or even months, this can be stressful at the best of times. It can affect you mentally and physically, indeed, the suicide statistics are on the rise, which would have something to do with the current Covid-19 pandemic. Being at home is conducive with inactivity; it is oh so easy to become a couch potato, especially if you live alone, and with that in mind, here are some tips to help you stay in good shape while confined to your home.

• Exercise Morning and Afternoon – We all need adequate physical exercise on a daily basis; 30 minutes in the morning and another half an hour in the late afternoon is ideal. You could invest in an exercise treadmill, which will ensure that your body gets the exercise it needs, or you could buy a set of weights and a couple of dumbbells, whichever you prefer. It could be jogging or cycling; something that makes you sweat and that works all the major muscle groups, and if you would rather work out with others, why not enrol in a virtual fitness class? Either that or sign up for yoga lessons, which can be delivered remotely via a Zoom call.
• The Importance of a Balanced Diet – We all need the right amount of vitamins, minerals and nutrients in order to be healthy and your diet should include fresh fruit and vegetables, which can be ordered online from a local organic farm. Once a week is ideal, as the fresh produce will keep in the fridge, ensuring that you have organic produce in your daily diet. Many adults take a vitamin supplement daily, which is a good idea for those who do not have a balanced diet or feel that they are lacking in something.
• Exercising Around the Home – You can stand at the bottom of the stairs, taking two steps up and two down; place your right foot on the second stair and rise up, then return to the bottom. This can be repeated as many times as you like, alternating between the right and left leg to do the lifting and this can become a part of your daily routine. Another routine involves facing the kitchen worktop, placing your palms on the work surface, then gently lowering yourself to the floor and after a second of two, stand back up. Repeat this 15-20 times and this will work your legs and back and you should feel muscles starting to burn, which is a good sign. If you have a rolling pin, you can use this for some stomach muscle exercises; kneel on the floor with the rolling pin in both hands on the ground in front of you, then slowly push outwards in a down motion until your chest almost touches the ground, then raise yourself back up, which might present some difficulty. You should feel your abdominal muscles tighten and the rear thigh muscles as they are worked, and you could include this in your daily routine. Here are a few tips for a home exercise routine.
• Make the Most of the Great Outdoors – When you are allowed out for daily exercise, you should take advantage of the opportunity, with maybe a bike ride around your local area, while you can also exercise in the back garden if the weather is suitable. We all need fresh air in our lungs and a brisk early morning walk will help to build an appetite, while the same in the evening will help you get a good night’s sleep.
• A Healthy Mind is a Healthy Body – It is very important to have a positive outlook on life in general; avoid watching the news too much, as most of it is bad and this can really affect a person. If you are stressed out, which might be due to losing your job or personal issues, there are mental health counsellors who can be found online and they are always happy to share a video call with you to lift your spirits.

While not really related to physical exercise, it is important to maintain social contact with family and friends, which can be done using a video call. It might not be the same as being in the same room, but it is better than no contact at all, so do call people you know and ask about their welfare.

If you have a hobby, you should allocate daily time for this, as we all need some ‘me time’, which might be spent watching an epic movie, reading a good book or restoring old furniture, something you have a passion for. Vary your daily routine to avoid boredom and when you feel down, remember that it won’t be long before everything gets back to normal.

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How Have Smartphones Changed the Way Sales Forces Work?

Smartphones are undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary discoveries of this century. Smartphones have simplified the way we work, use social media and entertain ourselves by bringing everything into the palm of our hands.

Salesforce management has also been vastly improved due to the introduction and utility of mobile phones.

The way a sales force works has changed due to the advent of smartphones. Sales processes, systems, and methods have greatly benefited from the introduction of mobile operating systems like Android and iOS.

Upcoming technologies like the much-coveted 5G and 6G technology will only add to the evolution of how sales forces work in the age of smartphones.

Now there is an app for every single business process. Field sales monitoring apps like SalesQ can help harness the benefits of remote sales force management.

Ways in Which Smartphones Have Changed the Way Sales Forces Work

Sales forces work methods have changed in the following ways thanks to the introduction of smartphones:

Access to Mobile CRMs

Traditional methods of data entry into CRMs required field forces to return to the office and enter data from their PCs. This step has now been mostly eliminated and sales reps can now enter data from the field by accessing CRMs through mobile apps for better convenience and mobility.

Remote Workspace

The concept of the workspace as we know it has been changed due to mobile connectivity. Sales meetings can be arranged and attended through phones, and important documents and approvals can be exchanged.

Customer orders and feedback can also be recorded using a field sales monitoring app like SalesQ.

Better Prospect Data Collection

Sales teams out on visits can meet prospective customers, exchange numbers, and add prospects on social media and mailing lists right from their phones.

This eliminates the hassle of going back to the office and connecting with prospects, as any delay in establishing a connection with prospects takes you out of their minds.

Faster Customer Response

Social media and mobile communication have enabled sales reps to respond to customers instantaneously. Hence, this has enabled better customer service.

Customer queries can be answered 24/7 due to no requirement of sitting at a desktop to do so and the availability of instant messaging apps. This has enabled faster lead conversion through providing superior customer service.

Real-Time Orders

A central system that can be accessed via phones gives visibility to orders as they are being placed, which can then be satisfied by inventory mobilization and on-time delivery.

Dynamic order delivery helps sales teams perform faster and increase business goodwill by dispatching orders quickly to gain customer trust.

Salesforce Management

Managers can utilize apps to track their sales reps, monitor the targets assigned, access order completion details, and take customer feedback into account; a field sales monitoring app like SalesQ by CloudApper can be used for this purpose.

There are also advanced features that help identify trends such as demand per period and other metrics that help adjust production and sales.

Instant Inventory Replenishment

Inventory being pulled from warehouses by sales reps can be dynamically updated by apps that notify sales managers of the load out. This way, an order is placed to suppliers as is necessary and sales reps can keep delivering without interruption to satisfy market demand.

Leveraging a user base that is always on their smartphones and facilitating the sales management process through smartphones are very convenient business models.

Mobile technology has transformed the way we do business by enabling a tremendous rate of business growth possibilities.

Today, businesses that leverage this mobile functionality to manage different aspects of their sales operations will certainly be ahead of the curve compared to those that don’t.

SalesQ by CloudApper is a field force monitoring app that can help manage the sales force through mobile phones. Sign up for a 14-day free trial now and get access to a plethora of free apps offered by CloudApper.

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Ways To Beat Out the New Hemp Farm Competition

Now might be a great time to get into hemp farming, because it’s an up-and-coming industry which is only set to grow in value and size over the coming years – not only because of the possibility of extracting the CBD compound but also because of increased demand for hemp based fabric used to create sustainable fashion and shopping bags.

However, as with any new industry, the competition is as fierce as the possibilities. There are more hemp farms springing up than you can shake a stick at, and although there’s nothing except start-up costs preventing you from setting up your own farm you may have a hard time carving yourself out as a front runner in the industry or getting a real foothold in promoting your products compared to everyone else’s.

So what are some ways you can get ahead of the game in beating out the new hemp farm competition?

Focus on a glowing content strategy 

This isn’t specific to hemp businesses, but it holds true for any business looking to grow their brand and attract loyal customers. You probably know the basics of having a consistent social media presence and keeping on top of your spelling and grammar, but that’s not all there is to it. As well as consistent amounts of content and regular contributions to your online presence you need to focus heavily on the quality of your content. When you’re looking at writing a weekly or monthly blog, you want to make sure each piece is well written and adds value to the visitor’s experience. This not only creates a good impression of your brand as knowledgeable about the field, but it also means that this potential customer has enjoyed interacting with you as a band – and will remember you when they want to learn more about the area or buy a product.

You should pay similar attention to your social media strategy. Clearly, content intended for twitter, instagram or facebook won’t be in the same depth as a blog post, but you should still make sure everything is relevant, engaging and appropriate for your target audience. Especially with instagram, it’s also an opportunity to target a specific audience; use the many types of software out there that are available to help you streamline your hashtag strategy and get your brand in front of the right eyes.

Setting up a comprehensive, quality content plan is a bit of a time investment, but it pays dividends. If you do this, it does half the work of building a customer base for you as people are interacting with and enjoying your brand without you hardly having to do a thing.

Hire a Hemp Focused CPA

Another thing you can do which will help you stay on the right track with your business growth plans and budgeting is hiring an accountant who not only knows their stuff but knows their stuff in your niche. Whenever a new business begins to emerge, so do experts in that niche in every relevant sector – from market analysts to customer service, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone will have made it their business to know everything about hemp farming. 

So find yourself a Green Growth CPA hemp business expert, and you’ll be on your way to blowing everyone else out of the water because you’ll gain so much insight and direction on where you money is going and where your investments are performing well.

Have a flagship product

This one might be easier said than done, as a flagship product has to be at least somewhat unique – it needs to be something that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Whether it’s an amazing CBD lip balm you want your customers to know they can’t live without or a really spectacularly stylish pair of hemp trousers, having a product that is directly identifiable with your brand makes you stick in the memory of the buyer. It’s like Levi’s and jeans, Doc Martens black boots, or Converse’s All Stars – you need to have a product that makes you you. It makes you identifiable, unique and one apart from the crowd.

The main part of running a successful hemp farming business is simply going to be running a tight ship and keeping on top of the financial side of things – that will mean you can more than keep your head above water in terms of running the business. However, when it comes to beating out the competition in the hemp farming business, you need to set your business apart from the rest. First, you have to focus on creating a really high quality, targeted content strategy. Second, you need to hire a CPA that knows exactly how to work in the hemp industry. Finally, you should pick and promote a flagship product that sets you apart from the crowd. If you can do all those things, then you’ll be well on your way to being a front runner.

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Tips To Help You Interact With People Who Have Disabilities

There is no doubt about it, that there are still people out there who still feel extremely uncomfortable around other people who have disabilities. This is difficult to accept when you consider that for every five people, there is at least one person who has some kind of limiting disability. For people who find themselves experiencing a disability later on in life, it can take quite some time to be able to deal with this dramatic change in their circumstances and unfortunately, it takes even longer for other people around them to accept it as well. Some people are immediately stressed out when a person with a disability comes into a room or when they ask for help at the local supermarket or petrol station. Thankfully, it’s never too late to change the way that you think and the way that you react to people with disabilities.

There are service providers like Multicap Tasmania, a leading NDIS Provider, which is trying to change the way that people look at people with disabilities and it is their job to provide some much needed assistance when it is required. Not only do they help people who are experiencing some kind of disability whether physical or mental, but they are also there to educate other people by their actions. If you have found yourself in an uncomfortable situation with a disabled person before or if you have recently found out that a close member of your family is now disabled, then maybe the following tips can help you to better interact with people with disabilities.

* Don’t talk louder – There is something about people with disabilities that makes other people talk in a much louder voice than they normally would. It’s hard to understand why exactly they do this, because it is very likely that the person with the disability does not have any issues with their hearing. It is important that you remember that just because someone is using some kind of mobility aid, it doesn’t mean that they can’t hear you.

* Ask before providing help – Just because someone has a disability, it doesn’t mean that they will always need help for every task that they do. If the person with the disability does need some much needed assistance, they will ask you. If you are a business owner, then there are many ways that you can make your business more disability friendly.

* Try to stay calm – People with disabilities are not any different from you just because they have difficulty moving around. If you want to interact with someone with a disability they just talk to them like you would to any other normal person. Just because there are in a wheelchair, doesn’t mean that they are any different to you or me. To learn more about disability standards and disability rights, please take the time to have a look here.

* Talk to the person, not their helper – Many people frequently do this and it is especially prevalent in places like restaurants and bars. The waiter or waitress will address the person who’s with the person with disabilities and they ask them all of the questions with regard to what they would like to eat and what they would like to drink. Just because a person has a physical disability doesn’t mean that they have a mental disability as well. The best advice to give here is to assume that the person with the disability is just a smart as you are, and so talk to them in a proper manner.

* Just try to be yourself – It can be very difficult for people to just be themselves when around people with mental and physical disabilities. We automatically start to feel uncomfortable when there is really no need to be and if the person with disabilities doesn’t feel uncomfortable around you, why do you feel uncomfortable around them. If they want to talk to you they will and if not, then just move on and get on with your life. It is not difficult and it’s a rule that you should live by.

These are just some of the simple tips that need to be followed when interacting with someone who has some kind of disability. It’s quite simple really when you consider that you should treat people as you would want them to treat you. If you follow the simple rule, then you should be able to handle yourself correctly around people with disabilities. Many people make interacting with people who have disabilities much harder than it really should be. There is no need to change how you interact with people with disabilities and if you try to make a real effort not to do so, then you will be one of the few who really tries to move away from how people react and how people think.

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