When you combine the stress of work with the hassle of traveling, it can make business travel incredibly challenging, and it may induce anxiety.

According to research conducted by the CWT Travel Solutions Group, an employee can lose up to 6.9 hours when traveling for work due to the stress they feel. This means they’re neither working nor resting. The study also indicated that the most stressful parts of a business trip are getting to or from the airport or train station and flying in economy class on medium- or long-haul flights.

However, business trips needn’t be something you dread. If you’re traveling for work, planning ahead can help make the experience much more pleasurable. So, here are some top tips for de-stressing your next work trip:

Plan in Advance

If you haven’t packed everything you need for your travels to sleep, workout, or work, you’re going to find yourself getting stressed right from the start. Make sure you plan ahead by charging your iPad, dry cleaning your suit, and packing your white noise machine that helps you get to sleep. Then, before you depart, make sure you’ve allowed plenty of time to pack your bags. This will feel much better than slinging everything into your case 10 minutes before you’re due to walk out the door.

Take Advantage of Corporate Travel Resources

Your company will pay for a number of services for their business travelers, and there’s a reason they do this – they can save you a lot of time and money. So, let them handle all the finer details like hotel bookings, car rentals, and plane tickets while you take care of the most important thing – securing that lucrative business deal.

Get Work Done Beforehand

If you know you’ll struggle to concentrate in your hotel room or you’ll not be able to concentrate mid-flight, try to get as much work done as possible before you set off. Battling with Wi-Fi outages in your hotel while you’re rushing to meet a deadline is not going to relax you. By getting work done in advance you’ll make your trip far more stress-free.

Make Use of Airport and Hotel Amenities

To relax before you set off, be sure to make use of any of the amenities on offer at the airport or nearby hotel. A number of companies, like Marriott hotel, provide airport hotels that include a wide range of leisure facilities, including swimming pools, gyms, and saunas. So do whatever makes you feel relaxed before your flight so you’re feeling recharged when you arrive at your business meeting.

Meet Up with Friends

Are there any friends or non-business acquaintances you know at your destination city? Then why not meet up with them for a couple of hours? Seeing familiar faces can really help you get out of “work mode,” providing you with a great way to de-stress and get to know the area.

Even though it’s inevitable something will go wrong during your trip, avoid adding to your stress levels by removing as many hurdles as possible. Plan ahead, take time to relax and put together a steady schedule that’ll let you focus on your own well-being as well as your work.

I am aware that there are some people out there who strongly believe that SEO marketing is dead. There are firm believers that the golden era of serp is over and that it is time to move on. I have to admit that I rather disagree with this view as I have reasons to believe that search marketing is going strong and this trend will continue to be valid for years to come.

If you know me in person, you know that once I get into something I am willing to focus myself totally on it. So when I started doing some research on the topic I came across various resources including this eBook here. This one was a real eye opener and it is a valuable read to all those who are into the topic as well as #SEOUncovered.

I also came across some fun facts about search engines. Here they are:
1. There is no denying that Google is the biggest player in the game. It is estimated that over 85% of search engine traffic comes through Google, which is more than all the other engines combined together. let’s admit it, Google is just too big to be ignored.
2. google actually distinguishes between the plural forms of words. This is why you will get different results when you write the term “apple” and different ones when you type “apples”.
3. The more backlinks coming to a website the more authoritative it is. This is why it is so essential to get some good backlinks to your website from other websites that have high authority. This might be sometimes easier said than done, but there are some effective ways to achieve that.
4. Many people using google are not that good at specifying keywords while looking for specific information, so often it might take them a few tries to come up with the result they are after. For example, writing simply “apple” will get you a lot of results about Apple Inc., but most Google users are looking for apple recipees and not particularly any information about the giant company.

As you can see from the points about, the knowledge about search engine optimisation can be very useful to a business owner, and the more you understand the rules behind Google, the more likely you will be to achieve the results you are after.

For dedicated business owners and entrepreneurs, the thought of handing over the keys to something into which you’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears can be a terrifying thought. However, until we find the fountain of youth, coming to terms with selling your business will just have to remain a fact of life. Here are a few signs that might indicate it’s time for you to sell your business.

You’ve Had Enough Risk

Risk is an inherent element to owning a business. There are no companies that face a zero-risk environment—be it from competition, changing business climates or disruptive technologies. Managing and mitigating these risks for years—or decades—can become a tiresome affair.

Risk is one of the great ironies of business. As your company grows and realizes success, it’s also accumulating risk. The repercussions of a PR disaster, or mismanagement, has much more negative potential for a company like Apple than a startup with three employees. There’s simply much more to lose when you’ve already gained a lot. When you reach a place where you want to start limiting your risk exposure, it might be time to sell your business.

Someone Wants to Buy Your Business

If you’ve led your company to a position in which suitors want to buy it, you should think long and hard about their offers. Of course, just because someone’s interested doesn’t mean you must sell. There are a few aspects that you should consider before pulling the trigger, such as:

• Is It the Right Buyer? While some people might not consider this aspect important if the price is right, selling your business to someone who doesn’t really understand or appreciate it is something you potentially might regret later in life. Longtime family-run businesses especially need to consider the viability of potential buyers.
• Are They Offering a Good Price? If a potential buyer is making you an offer at or above what you value the company, you should consider the offer no matter how much you like being the boss. That money could easily catapult you into starting another business.
• Are Your Books in Order? Before any reasonable buyer pays you anything, they’re going to want to see your business’s financial records. They’re going to want to see a list of your assets, the types of business insurance you use, accounting statements and a litany of other information. Make sure your numbers all check out, or risk scaring away buyers.

You’re Anticipating Market Changes

There are several ways markets can determine if it’s the right time for you to sell your business. The nature of your business dictates its reactiveness to changes in broader equity markets. However, almost all businesses suffer during down periods and recessions. If you anticipate a downturn in the markets, it might be a good time to sell your business, especially if you were already considering it.

Changing sector climates can also determine if you should consider selling. Disruptive technologies and companies are responsible for turning entire industries upside down seemingly overnight. If you see your business as susceptible to disruption, it might be prudent to get out too early rather than too late.

Ultimately, it’s your decision whether you’re ready to sell your business. If you’re still passionate about coming into work every day, maybe it’s not worth selling even if that’s objectively the best decision.

There’s something you know you need to do, but you can’t get yourself to actually do it. Despite how important the task is, you just don’t feel compelled to take action. We’ve all been there. Here are three things that I often procrastinate:

• Writing or finishing other tedious work tasks
• Paying bills or completing paperwork
• Having difficult conversations with friends, family or colleagues

I discovered an interesting approach for beating procrastination while listening to “Beat Your Genes,” a podcast about psychology and finding happiness. In episode 39, the co-host, Dr. Doug Lisle, an evolutionary psychologist, shares how to stop procrastinating by being aware of the living conditions of our ancestors, how our brains have adapted to account for those conditions, and how to update your decision making “algorithm” to account for the living conditions in modern society.

Sometimes procrastination is a good strategy

Dr. Lisle posits that procrastinating is not necessarily indicative of a character flaw or moral shortcoming. Rather, it’s an adaptive strategy that was quite effective for our ancestors, and can even be effective today.

Dr. Lisle discusses why procrastinating on paying back debt may have been an effective strategy for our ancestors. In pre-civilized times, there was more significant risk that your lender would die before he was able to collect on the debt that you owe him. Therefore, it wouldn’t make sense to pay back your debt before you needed to. Rather, procrastinating was a better strategy because there was a chance that you may never need to pay back your debt, which would save you time, energy and money.

However, in modern times, there is significantly less risk that your lender will spontaneously die or disappear. In other words, you’re gonna have to do that thing that you don’t want to do! Yet, we haven’t updated our algorithms to account for the new conditions.

We need to update this algorithm in part because waiting to do the work until closer to the due dates means that your time will be monopolized and you won’t be able to pursue more promising opportunities. For example, if writing your term paper will take twenty hours, and you wait until two days before it’s due, you will have to spend most of those to days on your paper. So if a new opportunity comes up, such as an invitation to an important event, you won’t have the time to seize it.

You can prevent yourself from procrastinating on an important task by understanding the algorithm your brain uses to make decisions about whether or not to procrastinate on a task, and updating the variables within it to account for modern times.

Update your algorithm

Your brain runs a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether it should procrastinate on a given task or complete it.

If there’s a high probability that you won’t need to complete the task, it makes sense to procrastinate. For example, if your friend often flakes on you at the last minute, it makes sense not to buy him an expensive concert ticket until the last minute. However, if you overestimate the probability that you won’t need to complete the task, you won’t be motivated to complete it until the last minute.

Thus, the key to overcoming procrastination is to properly determine the probability that you will need to complete the task.

In making this calculation, be aware that your algorithm will lead you astray when it’s driven by your adaptive brain — the brain that accounts for pre-civilized times rather than modern times. It’s critical that you calculate your probabilities based on modern times.

Once you’ve updated your algorithm, determine the best course of action.

If there’s a low probability that you’ll need to complete a given task, or if there’s a chance the probability will change based on upcoming events, procrastinating may be your best strategy.

If there’s a high probability that you’re going need to complete the task, complete that task sooner rather than later. Completing the task sooner will enable you to take advantage of new opportunities that may arise between now and the due date, reduce your stress levels, and potentially improve the quality of your work.

Beat your procrastinating genes

Don’t beat yourself up too much about your tendency to procrastinate. It’s natural. Procrastination was often an effective strategy for our ancestors.

To overcome procrastination, be aware of how our brains have evolved and how that can lead us astray, and update your algorithm to account for modern times.

This article was originally published on Medium.

Mike Fishbein studies psychology and philosophy and writes about how you can apply what he learns to your personal and professional development. He’s been featured on The Observer, Lifehacker, and Tiny Buddha. You can connect with him at mfishbein.com.

Working at home can afford you the unique opportunity to save money from your monthly budget. Here are some quick tips that will save you thousands each year and make working from home even more worth it.

Plan a Weekly Menu

Getting your grocery bill under control is one way to curb excess expenses and also makes trips to the store easier. Make a menu for each day of the week you will be eating at home and create a shopping list to make it easier while you’re at the store. It helps to know exactly what you need so you don’t end up buying things you won’t use.

Use Coupon Apps

No need to clip coupons anymore, there are smartphone apps that you can use to get deals all over town and everything is handled by the app. You can even look for deals on prescriptions to save money on those each month.

Rearrange Your Car Situation

Now that you’re working from home you may need to switch some things around with the cars. You won’t be my driving as much, a cost savings all by itself, so make sure you are left at home with the car that makes the most sense, in most cases the one that gets the worse gas mileage.

It could even be the case that you can get by with one less car now that you are not commuting back and forth to work. This can make a huge difference not only in the amount of car payments made per month, but also the amount of car insurance you pay over the year.

Assess Your Cable Needs

One way to cut back on monthly expenses is to determine exactly how much you are using your cable TV and decide if it’s time to cut the cord. With streaming services like Netflix and Hulu as well as on demand DIY videos on YouTube you could find that you don’t even need cable anymore.

Of course, as a work-at-home mom you’ll won’t be able to get rid of the high speed internet, but paying an extra $50 to $80 per month for a basic cable package, and even more for a premium package adds up to a sizable annual cost.

Get Into Gardening

Growing your own vegetables is a healthy way to go, and also is a way to save money on produce. It doesn’t have to be anything expansive, even a small herb garden will come in handy when you are making dinner and will take the place of dried spices. You can start off with just a few different plants and expand things as you get better at it.

Try DIY Household Cleaners

You can get most anything clean these days with natural household cleaners you make by yourself. Vinegar and baking soda can clean up just about anything when mixed properly, and vinegar itself has many uses around the home and is very cheap.

One side benefit of cleaning things naturally is that you won’t be using any harsh chemicals that can cause allergic reactions. Switching to an all-natural laundry detergent is often much cheaper per load, and can leave your clothes looking and smelling better than before.

Incorporate Home Automation Features

You can have it set up so that certain lights in your house go on and off at certain times, and everything can be controlled from your smartphone. That way you won’t leave lights on in the house all day. Now rather than walking all through your house discovering lights that have been left on, you can command everything from your home office and save money in the long run.

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We already know that big companies such as Amazon use a lot of their resources in big data in order to increase their efficiency. If this is the case, you might be wondering how small businesses can benefit from big data services such as www.ibds.com. Here are five reasons for small and medium-sized companies to get involved in big data too:

1. Being data-oriented is a smart move in this digital age. You might not have the budget of Amazon in order to analyse the data the way they do, but the least you can do is to use tools such as Google analytics to get you the goals you want to achieve. In fact, this is almost the only way to make your operations better.

2. Getting engaged in big data will allow you to understand the target market. In other words, you need to find out about the preferences of your customers even before you release any product. This way can you be certain that what you deliver is exactly what they need.

3.Big data can help you fight with competition. It is especially useful if in your industry your competitors do not take advantage of big data yet. This way you can outsmart them on every corner.

4. Big data helps small businesses understand trends. Very often, people can be very predictable. they shop following certain trends, their economic status, or even the general way the world is changing. You have to admit that the world today is a lot different from even 20 years ago and it’s best to embrace those changes by making sure that you fully utilise them to your advantage.

5.Finally, get the best staff members using the power of big data. Yes, big data can be used to get the best of the best using various big data channels. Lots of information is available for you to interpret such as productivity of a person, absenteeism, etc., which makes things a lot easier when it comes to your staffing choices.

Below you find an infographic that tells you a lot of interesting things about big data. Feel free to familiarise yourself with it so that you can tell your friends or family members all those facts you have learned from it:

A lot of stay-at-home moms love the idea of starting their own business but it can be difficult to know where to start.

Offering a wonderful work-life balance, being your own boss is an attractive prospect. But what business idea will provide you with the success you need to start generating some cash?

Well, thankfully, all it takes is some hard work, commitment, a good attitude, and the drive to succeed. With all of these key features, most people will be able to turn any idea into a business.

Here are some great ideas to get you started:

Be a Consultant in Your Area of Expertise

Before you had kids, what job did you do? This area of expertise might be something you can help other businesses and/or people with. You’ve already got all of this knowledge (not to mention that great list of contacts), so why not put it to good use?

Take a look at your experience and knowledge. How can this be useful to others? How can you add value? Could you save someone money or make someone’s life/business much better or easier?

Answering these questions will allow you to pinpoint an area of expertise you could turn into a consultancy business.

Sell Your Products Online

Thanks to the Internet, it’s now possible to sell almost anything online – even the kitchen sink! So, why not turn your hobby or idea into a money-spinning business?

This doesn’t have to involve creating the next Amazon or being a savvy digital entrepreneur. Instead, it’s all about putting your skills to good use before selling them on all of the available channels there are online.

For example, have you always enjoyed making your own cards or are you a budding artist? Then get your pen to paper and start creating some key pieces you can sell online (through Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and so on). The best bit? You can buy everything you need to get started online (click here for great stationery ranges), so you don’t even need to leave the house to get your business idea off the ground!

Write Your Own Blog

If you enjoy writing or you feel as though you have a lot of advice/stories to share with people, you might like to create your own blog.

Granted, you will want to earn some money from this blog, which means you will have to write frequently and consistently, but this will mean you’re getting paid for something you love.

You don’t have to look far to find some mommy blogger success stories, providing you with plenty of inspiration for your own blog. Furthermore, as you start to drive traffic to your blog and you start to get noticed, you may even find yourself being snapped up by other companies, magazines, or publishers to write more.

To make it a success you just need to find a topic that’ll work for you and is something people are searching for. Thankfully, there’s plenty of information online about how you can get a blog started, so a quick Google search will provide you with a plethora of handy how-to guides.

Setting up your own business doesn’t have to involve a lot of time or money. Instead, it’s all about finding your own niche that you’ll enjoy working within. Then, making money becomes a welcome bonus for doing something you love!

So you’ve been doing a good job of saving up money and not blowing your entire paycheck on frivolous buys. Great job! But before you decide to treat yourself, make sure you know how to splurge in a way that doesn’t completely demolish all the hard work you’ve put into your financial house. Just like with car insurance, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about spending your hard-earned cash. Make sure you know where a particular path leads before you head down it.

Know Where Your Every Penny Goes

Before you buy something nice for yourself, know how and where you’re spending every penny of your income. By conducting a money audit, you might find you’re spending a bit too much on eating out or ordering delivery. There might also be services such as music and video streaming you can either do without or reduce to a less expensive plan. The money left over can go into savings or be used to pay off other bills.

Lower Your Other Expenses as Much as You Can

Something else to do to feel better about the money you splurge is to reduce necessary expenses as much as possible. For instance, you actually might be better off not making extra principal payments on your mortgage or car payment every month. You should also take excellent care of your car and drive it for as many years and miles as possible to avoid the costs associated with a car payment. There might also be areas in your life where you can save money, such as buying used products rather than new. See if your favorite grocery store has a discount card, if you can bundle your insurance policies to save on the overall cost and cook more at home rather than eating out all the time.

Automate the Savings Process

Rather than manually put money back into a savings account every time you get paid, something you might forget to do, you can automate the process instead. There are special programs and apps that automatically put a specified amount of money into your savings accounts whenever you wish. If you find you aren’t strapped for cash when your savings is automated, it’s a good indication you’re doing a good job of handling your finances, which often makes it easier to splurge whenever you wish.

Set Up a Reward System

If you truly want to earn the money you splurge, set up a reward system. For instance, if you give your house a thorough scrub-down, you can put back $15 into your mad money account. Manage to eat healthier this week or this month? Kick back another $15. When you reward yourself for being more responsible, it’ll feel that much better to be a bit irresponsible with your splurge. Just make sure you don’t cheat when it comes to this reward system. Otherwise, you likely won’t feel as good about going on a little shopping spree.

Top Off Your Emergency Fund

To better ensure you don’t feel guilty about past surges when financial hardships hit, do everything you can to build up your emergency fund before you do something nice for yourself. Once you put money into your emergency fund, it’s best you do everything in your power to not touch a penny of that money if it’s not for an actual emergency. Such emergencies should be ones that threaten to put you and your family out on the street, empty all your other accounts or endanger either your health or future income. Because it can be hard to gauge just how much such emergencies can cost, you’ll want to save more than you actually think you’ll need.

To get the most out of splurging, you’ve got to take steps to eliminate some of the guilt that can come with splurging. Put these tips to good use, and take care of your financial needs before tending to your financial wants.

Lots of businesses run cold calling schemes and various other outbound sales techniques to build their customer base. This form of marketing is very reliant on the relationship you are able between yourself and the prospect. The more you work on the relationship, the more you should be able to earn from that prospect. There are many different ways that you can work on the relationship and in this article we are going to discuss various different ways that you can build the relationship up to earn the most money you can!

Regular calls that are pleasant and not too frequent

As stated, cold calling is a very popular method of building sales as it is the employees actively calling up prospects to hopefully drive sales. This can be very effective and can really boost business however it needs to be done carefully as to not get annoying. Calling too often would begin to annoy them which will reduce their chance of working with you. Call them once a month, unless they say otherwise just to check in, see how they are doing and ask how they are on stock and if they want more.

Getting special offers that they couldn’t get anywhere else

If you want their business, you could incentivise them to come with you buy offering them special deals and services that aren’t available on your site, in your shop or anywhere else. This will lead them to believe that they are being treated specially and cared for which will make them want to deal with you more due to the special service. Not only that but it can act as an incentive for people to purchase with you when they may be a little sceptical beforehand.

Free promotional gifts

Giving promotional items away is a very popular marketing technique with inbound and outbound sales alike. This involves printing useful items with your company’s logo and artwork and then giving them to your prospects and clients. This is a great way to build your relationship as if they receive a genuinely useful item like a printed tote bags they will instantly look at your brand in a more positive light. The second benefit is that they will now see your logo whenever they use the item, subtly reminding them of your brand and keeping that connection strong in their brain. Find out more about printed tote bags

Not all business

The last thing you want your prospect to do is dread answering the phone to you. This happens when your ring them and only talk about business. It makes them not want to talk with you and thus leaves them with a negative impression of your brand. Don’t be afraid to talk with them about other things like weather, TV, films, their hobbies or what it is like in the office as this will relax them and opens them up to be more talkative with you when you do go on to discuss work. This doesn’t only relate to cold calling. Arrange to meet up with the client out of work for lunch to discuss work but not only work. If they enjoy talking with you they will be more open with you about the work aspects and happier to spend money with you.

Bend to their needs within reason

Another way to make the client feel special is that when they make special requests, go out of your way to ensure that they get what they want. It shows that you are attentive and want to work with them which makes them feel special again and happy to work with you. It is also important that you bend a little to what they want as they may not want to work with you otherwise. They may feel like they can be picky due to the fact that you are contacting them. They may not purchase with you otherwise so it is important to bend if only a little.

Although realty firms have been around for hundreds of years, the notion of taking the actual business of house sales and making it into a more automated process is something that has really only come into its own over the past 15 years.

As most brokers know, the addition of the MLS on the Internet at the end of the 90’s coupled with private online listings helped increase home prices and the number of sales over time.

In the here and now, the emphasis over the past few years has been to find a way to replicate the success of firms like Uber. The idea is that with one simple application and one simple process, it will allow the customer to focus on the aspects of the sale that they really enjoy, like planning ahead for the things that they want to do to their new home.

A couple of years ago, a new insurance firm managed to automate the process of insuring customers online. They also have shown themselves able to process claims without involving staff. Because this type of optimization can save millions of dollars in costs each year, it can be looked upon as somewhat of a ‘grail’ for the real estate industry. If a real estate franchising partner can create a system that allows you to sell without incurring as much overhead, it will make your business a stronger part of the community.

Currently, the company that comes the closest to fulfilling this type of automation dream is actually homesmart.com. The fact that their franchisees consistently see rapid agent growth is testament to the faith that they have in the system.

Here are some other technology areas that quality franchisors should be offering their prospective customers:

Mobility:

Real estate is all about organizing your resources so that you can communicate and sell effectively in many locations. You can accomplish this type of effectiveness without computers, although you will certainly be more efficient when you do leverage technology.

As a potential franchisee, finding a firm that has a stellar CRM or customer relationship management application can actually make a difference in your agents’ performance. One key feature of a good CRM is allowing you to work across form factors and locations with easy-to-use processes. Being able to communicate to your prospects in a way that mirrors the way that you work when you are not online is another feature that is worth trying to get for your employees.

Presentation:

One trick that contractors have in new neighborhoods that have homes that are selling for more than an entry-level price is to add features that are not apartment-grade and then allow realtors to show those features off. When it comes to presentation, a good franchisor will create the same type of capability. To market a high end home, for example, you typically use better designers and software that has more features. If your regular agents have access to the same tools and use them with most their houses, they will automatically be doing more than the rest of the market is with regards to presentation- something that can help them close more sales.

Overall, buying a franchise often comes down to its potential for the market that you serve. When you find one that has learned to leverage technology so that you can increase revenue, it may provide you with a long and fruitful career.