Best Christmas Present Ideas For Smokers

November 30, 2020

With the holiday season fast approaching, people have begun to seriously think about what they can get their loved ones who smoke for Christmas. If you are one of those who are completely void of ideas then you are in the right place as below we have put together a list of the best presents that even the biggest Grinch out there will love.

Cuban Cigars

Cigars are considered to be luxurious gifts for any occasion. So any smoker will appreciate receiving a quality cigar or a box of it. Types of cigars are various and can match anyone’s smoking experience and tastes. If your celebrant is a real cigar aficionado, he will be delighted to have Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas in their collection. They are perfect for long smoke sessions, provide chocolate, honey, or cherry flavors, and have some strong spicy notes. As for beginners, you can consider choosing VegaFina Coronas Tubo which is ideal for its milder yet flavorful, balanced smoke.

Christmas PJs

If your loved one has the same old pyjamas that are tatty around the edges and smell of smoke, then getting them a pair of Christmas inspired pyjamas will not only make them nice to be around at bed time, but will also succeed in getting them in the xmas spirit. There are a number of companies out there that specialize in making pyjamas, although our favorite place to find them is on the handmade market place Etsy.

Vape Pen

Bringing smoking into the 21st century, a vape pen is an electronic device that heats up to turn a flavored oil into a gas for you to then inhale. As well as adding different flavors, you can also add different chemicals to the vape pen, such as CBD, so that you can reap all of the many benefits that the substance has to offer. With the substance becoming increasingly popular it is now even being used to make CBD treats for dogs.

Chewing Tobacco

Some smokers may already use chewing tobacco in those environments where smoking is not permitted. It is also a great product for those smokers who are either trying to or intend to give up smoking in the near future. For those who want to give up using tobacco products all together then a tobacco free dip will be a welcome gift to receive. After all, what better gift is there to give you someone than the gift of good health and a long life.

Fragrances

Other than those people who smoke, no one likes the smell that cigarettes produce. This is especially true when that smell works its way into their clothes, skin, and hair. With a fragrance being something that you either get right or incredibly wrong. That is why it is good to take your time with choosing one and base your decision on the smell rather than what the bottle looks like or which celebrity is endorsing it.

Alcohol

Nothing quite compliments a cigarette like a nice glass of southern malt whiskey or cool beer on a summer’s evening. A bottle or bottles of alcohol is always a great go to present for any smoker at Christmas time – especially with all of the parties happening at that time of the year.

So there you have it, hopefully after reading this you now have lots of ideas as to what presents you can get for your grumpy uncle, annoying brother, or loving spouse that smokes. Try not to get too worried about getting the perfect gift, as we all know that what matters most at Christmas are not the material things but the immaterial things, such as love, kindness, and spending time with your family and loved ones.

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Registration of collective investment schemes on a global scale

November 29, 2020

By Josef El Semari

Do you want to distribute your funds in the European Union (EU), Asia or Latin America? ACOLIN can take care of the cross-border fund registration process of Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) in the EU as well as in selected international markets.

What service does the Global Fund Registration at ACOLIN Europe AG provide?

With the ACOLIN Group as your one-stop shop service provider, we enable smooth and fast market entry, allowing asset managers to focus more on their core competency – the managing of assets.

While the European investment fund market remains strongly nationally fragmented from a regulatory point of view, ACOLIN Europe AG as your provider of global fund registration services takes care of the entire cross-border fund registration process and on-going fund governance of UCITS and AIFs in the EU as well as in international markets abroad.

How do asset managers deal with challenges of complex regulatory frameworks?

As an asset or fund manager you might be interested in distributing funds to multiple countries. However, entering new markets can be time and resource intensive due to complex and varying regulations within different countries.

Although the respective country laws within the EU are based on the UCITS Directive and AIFMD, they are significantly lacking harmonization. This leads to a complex regulatory framework that differs from country to country within the EU so that each individual notification process varies according to the regulatory requirements of the relevant host country.

There is for example the legal requirement in the UK to appoint a so-called “Facilities Agent”, in Germany the “Information Agent”, in France the “Centralizing Correspondent Agent”, in Luxembourg the “Paying Agent” and in Spain the “Spanish Representative” in order to distribute UCITS funds in these countries.

This creates a need for foreign local agencies, with varying functions and of course different prices, which has been a big obstacle for the cross-border distribution in the past. At least 17 Member States currently require that local facilities are present on their territory in case of cross-border distribution of UCITS funds, while other Member States do not require a physical presence.

For this reason and due to other hurdles as country supplements or further specific additions to the fund documents and a large discrepancy in the registration and maintenance fees of the respective supervisory authorities, most of the funds in Europe are only distributed within the home country of the manufacturer.

As a result, according to the data provided by the European Commission, in 2017 70% of the assets under management in the EU were owned by investment funds that only operated in their home countries. Only 37% of Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and 3% of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) were registered in more than three EU jurisdictions.[1]

By what means does Global Fund Registration at ACOLIN facilitate cross-border registration for its clients?

ACOLIN takes care of the entire cross-border fund registration process of UCITS and AIFs within the EU as well as in selected international markets.

As elaborated before, for several states it is also necessary to appoint local representatives which need to be listed in the legal documents. Therefore, ACOLIN ensures that the fund is compliant with the respective legal requirements, it submits the necessary documentation in the correct form to the relevant authorities and will support you in selecting and appointing local representatives, agents or paying agents.

In this context, for Germany ACOLIN Europe AG acts as the legally mandatory Information Agent and for UK, our subsidiary based in London can act as the legally mandatory Facilities Agent.

Even more special cross-border registrations, such as AIFs to retail investors is feasible, as has been demonstrated by our previous pioneering work.

Once the funds are registered, mandatory regulatory filings will be automatically executed via our state-of-the-art internal database and related overviews can be provided on a regular basis. The latest regulatory amendments are closely monitored and all communication with the national supervisory authorities is managed.

With ACOLIN’s officially recognised electronic publication platform fundpublications.com we can even help you to fulfil your fund publication requirements.

You mention the UK: How will Brexit effect you and how are you prepared for a NO-Deal scenario?

Even though some possible future scenarios are at this stage not foreseeable, we are well prepared.

Since the UK has left the EU it entered an implementation period, which will operate until the end of December 2020. During this time, EU law will continue to apply in the UK and a so-called Temporary Permission Regime (TPR) will take effect at the end of the implementation period. It will allow the continuation of operating in the UK for a limited period while seeking full UK authorization if necessary.

Therefore, on one hand we have already notified our German MiFID entity for the Temporary Permission Regime (TPR) and on the other hand, we have notified the UCITS and EU-AIFs we manage for the TPR as well.

Since we also support funds whose Management Company/ Investment Fund Manager (IFM) has made the TPR notification by themselves, we have exchanged and are exchanging information with them accordingly.

Some questions cannot be answered yet as we do not know which law will be implemented in UK post Brexit, but we surely closely monitor the latest developments and are in close contact with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

To summarize, ACOLIN is well prepared for all the possible scenarios.

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About the Author

Josef El Semari is Vice President and Head of the Global Fund Registration Department of ACOLIN Europe AG, based in Konstanz, Germany. In this function he is responsible for the Global Fund Registration Department of ACOLIN Europe AG which is taking care of the cross-border registration and ongoing fund governance of mutual funds in the EU and in selected international markets. Josef joined ACOLIN more than three years ago and supports company’s clients with his expertise in cross-border registration. He holds a Bachelor of Business Law.

How Brexit Will Affect the UK Immigration

November 29, 2020

Top Ways on How Brexit Will Affect the UK Immigration

What is Brexit? Brexit stems from two words, Britain and Exit. On 31 January 2020, the UK left the European Union under a withdrawal agreement, but this is not all. This agreement covers aspects such as a transition period and how to prevent checks at the Irish border and the UK’s financial settlement with the European Union. The transition period was agreed to be 11 months, and the changes are expected to take effect from 1 January 2021. The new relationship between the UK and EU will affect many life disciplines from trading to immigration. Brexit majorly affects the immigrants as it has clear terms and conditions that they need to follow. Here are a few ways that Brexit affects UK immigration.

Visa Reapplication

According to Brexit, any immigrant working in the UK may face some new regulations and rules. An immigrant will be required to reapply for their visas after a specific period. If you are an immigrant and desire to work in the UK, you must show a valid work permit to be allowed in. This will prove to be a little complicated, especially if you intend to work in the UK permanently. The visa policies application process is a little lenient as it does not require one to have secured a job in the UK as in the past. However, it is worth noting that the visa’s validity period has been reduced to one year. Once the period elapses, an immigrant should exit and reapply for the visa. Analysts have termed this as time-consuming and inconveniencing mostly for people who already have a permanent job position. In addition to this, the visa reapplication process is set to 12 months, and this creates uncertainty for the immigrants.

Regulations on Workers Moving into the Country

The exit aims to reduce the number of labourers coming into the country. This is following the new White Paper developed by the UK government. Reading through it, you understand that all the rules are to reduce the number of workers in the country. These rules apply to both workers and investors. Investors are required to acquire an investor visa to operate in the country legally. This visa states that no investments should be run to a minimum of GBP 1 million. Experts have said that this is a hard tackle for most business owners, especially with the expected inflation rates compared to the previous regulations.

The Status of the UK Residents

UK residents should also brace up as they will also be affected by Brexit. The new regulations state that any residents who have lived in the UK for more than six years have to reapply for UK citizenship. Anyone residing for five years or more must get legal documents to show that they have permanent residency. If they have been in the country for less than five years, they are required to apply for the Registration Certificate to prove that they are nationals of the European Union and have a legal right to be in the United Kingdom. This makes living in the UK hard as immigrants must begin the registration process newly even after having settled in the UK for a considerably long time.

Border Control and Restrictions on the Freedom of Movement

Brexit restricts movement at the borders whereby one must show a return or onward ticket, show that they have enough money to stay in the country as well as demonstrate the ability to use separate queuing lanes from the EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens. If the deal or no deal impact is passed, there will be a restriction on the free movement. This means that free movement will cease, and there will be more massive movement regulations on tourists, business owners, and students in the European Union.

Conclusion

Reading through all the above-discussed information gives you a deeper understanding of Brexit’s effect on UK immigration. The set policies will affect not only the immigrants but also the entire country. However, according to numerous studies and assessments, some of these policies have been discovered to do more harm than good. As such, any person who wants to move into the UK needs to carefully read through these changes and know what is required from their end.

Gabriel Ted writes for immigrationnews.co.uk. This is a media platform that helps to raise awareness about migrant injustices and news around the world.

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How Should You Choose a Betting Company?

November 27, 2020

Sports betting is enjoyed by millions of people around the world, and there are many bookmakers out there who will take sports bets off players. But how do you choose where you want to place your bets?

This can be hard and what makes this even tougher is that the decision you make will be one of the first you have to do when you are a complete newbie and don’t know too much about the industry.

Luckily for new gamblers, you can read sites such as Smart Betting Guide to get help with your betting and the choices you make, which include who you bet with.

It is important to get off on the right foot, this will give you every chance of making a success of your betting, rather than struggling to get to grips with things and losing value by making bad decisions.

Why Gaining Value is Important

When you bet, you must gain value every time you do so. This is with the betting odds you take and also the offers that you can take advantage of. Specifically, when it comes to offers, you want to be looking for something big, but also something that you can use properly.

For example, some bookmakers will have betting offers based on football, perfect for those betting on big competitions such as the Champions League. If you bet on tennis, cricket or golf, a football offer is no good to you, regardless of how big it is.

Then you need to look at the odds on offer. You won’t get the best odds every time, even though that would be great. Instead, look around for a good deal every time rather than the best one sometimes. This should give you a balanced, positive deal and good returns on your bet when place one that wins.

If you can get the value right, you give yourself the best possible chance of winning while betting. Get this wrong and you will find yourself leaving profit on the table and missing out on big offers that other people are taking advantage of when they place their wagers.

Look at Features of Each Site

Every bookmaker offers a variety of different features as part of their service, look out for these and make sure any that are important to you are covered. One main one is the ability to bet on a mobile device. Almost all bookmakers offer this, but only some offer a mobile app which is the most convenient way to bet.

If you are placing all or some of your bets on a mobile, finding a bookmaker with an app is best for you. It also shows that the bookmaker is at the forefront of mobile betting, so any further advancements in the future will be on their radar.

Other features to note include the ability to live stream events, betting in play, payment methods accepted and the opening times of their customer service team.

Live streaming and betting in play are both important, many people are turning to these and some see in-play betting as the future of the industry. If you don’t use them yet, you may do in the future when you understand their potential so look out for them.

Customer services is often an area overlooked by those looking for a bookmaker. However, if for example, you bet overnight, having 24-hour customer service on hand is important.

This all depends on your circumstances, so there is no right or wrong answer here, you just need to judge what you need and look for it. Another area to look at is payment methods. This is especially useful if you want to use a particular method, make sure the bookmakers that you are choosing from all allow this, and if they don’t you can rule them out.

With these checks, even though there are many bookmakers out there, you should be able to narrow the list down. Every time you do a check, you are making a service more personal to you and your needs, if you get that then you know you are going to find yourself a good bookmaker.

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What Chance Do You Have of Winning Money Inside an Online Casino?

November 27, 2020

Online casino gaming is a pastime that many people enjoy. From playing slot games that are based on popular themes to games like roulette and blackjack that involve card and a table. There is certainly a lot of choice out there, you can pretty much get any type of gaming you want.

But what are the chances of winning money inside an online casino? Is it as easy as it looks, are the odds stacked against you and what game offers you the best chance of winning? Should you seek help from people such as the Smartcasinoguide expert team, or can you go it alone and get lucky?

Here we take a look at all aspects of this, in a bid to try and point new casino players in the right direction.

Are Online Casino Games Fair?

First of all, let’s clear one concern up that some players have. Yes, online casino games are fair, and they have to undergo tests to prove they are fair before they hit the market. This is done between the developers of the game and regulatory bodies such as the UK Gambling Commission, so it doesn’t even involve the casinos themselves.

The games you see on offer if you play inside a regulated casino will have all faced scrutiny and passed the test needed to be made available to players. You can play these with confidence and without worry that there is something underhand going off.

What Games Offer the Best Chance of Winning?

There are two ways to look at this, the first is your chances of winning back what you spend and the second is your chances of winning a big prize.

First up, your chances of winning back what you spend is determined by the RTP% on offer. For example with slots, a game that has an RTP% of 96% means that the machine pays out 96% of what it takes in. A higher RTP means you are more likely to see smaller, regular payouts from the game.

A game with an RTP% that is lower, such as 92% for example, means that it is likely to be more volatile, but with bigger wins on offer.

This depends on how you want to play, do you want to try and land regular, small wins or are you prepared to risk losses in the hope of landing a big prize?

The same principle as that can be used for table and card games too, they all have an RTP% attached to them for the same reason. However, how you bet also affect this. For example, bets on red or black in roulette are going to pay you small and regular wins. If you bet on individual numbers the chances of winning are lower but the prize on offer is much greater.

Is There a Strategy to Follow?

In terms of a strategy, yes this will help you but much of your success will depend on the game at the time and if you drop on it when it wants to payout. This isn’t as strong for games like roulette, where people will use things such as lucky numbers to try and win.

When it comes to slots, rather than trying to fathom a strategy, it is better to just work out a gaming style you want a match the games you play to that. Want regular wins? Go for high RTP% games that are out there. Want a big win? Look at lower RTP% games and even progressive jackpots if you want something huge.

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Elon Musk ― An Inspirational Icon for Generation X Globally

November 27, 2020

By Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D

This article outlines leadership lessons from Elon Musk. It differentiates between hard and soft leadership. It illustrates with examples of inspiring leaders globally. It substantiates that Steve Jobs was a hard leader while Elon Musk is a soft leader. It concludes that Elon Musk is a visionary and transformational leader who dreams big to achieve big. He is an inspirational icon for all generational cohorts.

“In order for us to have a future that’s exciting and inspiring, it has to be one where we’re a space-bearing civilization.” ― Elon Musk

The eminent people including Elon Musk, Rand Paul, David Cameron, Charlie Sheen, Ben Stiller, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gordon Ramsay, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio fall in the category of Generation X. In this regard, we will discuss Elon Musk who is an inspiration for Generation X for his vision, mission, execution, and innovation.

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria in South Africa. He is an inspiring entrepreneur, inventor, and investor. He is the founder of X.Com which later became PayPal, one of the largest internet payment companies. He is also the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX. He is an extraordinary achiever who acquired eminence through his innovation and entrepreneurship. Here are some leadership lessons you must learn from him.

Dream Big: Elon Musk dreamed big and achieved big in his life. To achieve big, you must believe in your dreams. His dream of self-driving electric cars and passenger flights is a matter of time to succeed.

Follow Your Heart: He followed his heart. He forced himself to live off $1 per day to pursue his entrepreneurial passion when he was 17 years old. He discontinued his higher education to explore his entrepreneurial ideas and succeeded. Hence, don’t chase money. Follow your passion then money will chase you. He rightly remarked, “People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.”

Be a Visionary: He is a visionary leader. His vision is to colonize Mars soon. He has an ambitious vision to execute and is in the process of achieving them. The moment he achieves, he will be remembered in the history of mankind for setting the trend for other entrepreneurs to follow.

Be Ambitious but Realistic: He is an ambitious entrepreneur who knows how to push the envelope. Ambition drives people forward to accomplish the impossible. He follows the road less traveled. He remarked, “I always have optimism, but I’m realistic. It was not with the expectation of great success that I started Tesla or SpaceX… It’s just that I thought they were important enough to do anyway.”

Work Hard: He is a workaholic and passionate about his work. He works hard to accomplish his goals. He had only taken two weeks off in the last 12 years. He once remarked, “Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100-hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40-hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100-hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.”

Be a Voracious Reader: He read lots of books since childhood. Books served as seeds to his entrepreneurial ideas and success.

Be a Risk-Taker: Higher the risk and higher the return! Elon Musk took risks in every company that he founded and reaped rewards.

Take Feedback: He takes feedback to improve his products and services. He quoted, “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

Learn Lessons from Failures: He encountered several failures initially during the rocket launch and learned lessons. Although he encountered many obstacles in design and testing, he keeps moving forward. He remarked, “A failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”

Be Persistent: He doesn’t give up his goals and objectives. He revises his strategies by taking feedback from all sources to improve his products and services. He rightly remarked, “Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.”

Suffer now to Succeed Later: Success comes at a cost. Success comes with a lot of struggles and sacrifices. Elon Musk underwent lots of trials and tribulations initially due to a lack of funds. There was volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in his entrepreneurial career initially. At one time, he was on the verge of bankruptcy when Tesla Motors was in a financial mess. However, he survived by taking corrective measures quickly. When you want to grow in your life you have to suffer now to succeed later.

Hard versus Soft Leadership

There are several differences between soft and hard leadership. Soft leadership emphasizes on persuasion while hard leadership on pressure; soft leadership on transformation while hard leadership on task; soft leadership on soft power while hard leadership on hard power; and soft leadership on soft tactics while hard leadership on hard tactics. Mahatma Gandhi rightly differentiated, “Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment.” Soft leaders adopt transformational, democratic, servant, and authentic leadership style while hard leaders adopt the transactional and autocratic style of leadership. Soft leaders are others-centered leaders while hard leaders are often self-centered leaders. Soft leaders emphasize on what is right while hard leaders emphasize on who is right. Succinctly, soft leadership believes in how much you care for others while hard leadership believes in how much you produce.

Hard leaders work within the organizational culture while soft leaders change the organizational culture. Hard leaders think within the box while soft leaders think outside the box. Hard leaders are competitive, data-driven and short-term focused while soft leaders are creative, collaborative, organic and long-term focused. Hard leaders take people where they want to go, while soft leaders take people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but where they ought to be. Soft leaders don’t force people to follow―they invite people on a journey. Soft leaders focus on strategies while hard leaders on processes.

John C. Maxwell writes in his book, Be All You Can Be, “We can either work with people or war against them. We can be plows or bulldozers: The plow turns over the earth, stirring it up, cultivating it, making it a good place for seed to grow; the bulldozer scrapes the earth, pushing obstacles aside. Both plows and bulldozers are useful instruments, but one wrecks while the other cultivates. The plow type of leader sees in people riches waiting to be uncovered and cultivated; the bulldozer type of leader sees in people obstacles to be destroyed. Be a cultivator!” Hence, soft leaders are like plows while hard leaders are like bulldozers.

Hard leadership suits when the problems are simple and clearly-defined while the soft leadership suits when the problems are complex and needs a lot of patience and perseverance to resolve. Soft leadership is centered on the core values of “authenticity” and “empathy”. It focuses on the principles of caring, appreciation, persuasion, negotiation, and empowerment. Soft leaders work for a higher collective purpose, mission, and vision. They inspire their employees to work harder, smarter, and wiser emphasizing common vision and organizational culture. It helps them connect with other employees emotionally to contribute their best. In contrast, the hard leaders focus on specific goals and agreed-upon rewards which are purely transactional in nature. Soft leaders are considered to be flexible, offering guidance to employees, yet allowing them to be initiative and creative. In contrast, hard leaders are considered to be more goal-focused, less caring for their subordinates’ individual needs, or absent from the process of decision-making. Precisely, hard leaders encourage competition while soft leaders encourage collaboration. Since soft leaders focus on people-orientation, they will be able to provide satisfaction to employees and enhance organizational productivity and performance. Additionally, they lead by example, walk their talk, and empower others with all the tools necessary to succeed and make a difference.

Hard versus Soft Leaders with Examples

Soft leaders believe in setting a personal example, empathy, persuasion, negotiation, recognition, appreciation, and assertiveness. In contrast, hard leaders believe in fear, threats, negative motivation, and adopt ‘carrot and stick policy’. Soft leaders believe in motivation and empowerment by appealing to higher ideals, values, morals, and ethical values while hard leaders believe in rewards and punishment. Political leaders like George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Mikhail Gorbachev, Angela Merkel, and Aung San Sui Kyi fall in the category of soft leadership while Harry Truman, Joseph McCarthy, Charles de Gaulle, and Lee Kwan Yew fall in the category of hard leadership. Corporate leaders like Jeff Immelt of General Electric and Timothy Cook of Apple Computers fall in the bracket of soft leadership while Jack Welch and Steve Jobs fall in the category of hard leadership.

Steve Jobs was a Hard Leader while Elon Musk is a Soft Leader

Elon Musk is an unconventional entrepreneur who is the jack of all trades and master of innovation and entrepreneurship. He is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, Chairman of SolarCity, founder of SpaceX, and co-founder of Zip2, PayPal, and Tesla Motors. Usually, inspiring entrepreneurs including Steve Jobs entered into one area only whereas Elon Musk entered into multiple areas. Although technology is the connecting thread for both Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, the former explored in many areas including engineering, artificial intelligence, automobile, energy, solar power, banking, and rocket science while the latter explored in one area only. Elon Musk is a workaholic while Steve Jobs worked at his own pace. Elon Musk wants to bring down the cost of space travel while Steve Jobs brought down the cost of phones. Both are visionary leaders with intentions to leave their footprints in history. Their destination is one but journeys are different.

Elon Musk falls in the category of transformational leadership for his vision and leadership style. After the death of Steve Jobs, there was a vacuum that was filled by Elon Musk since both belong to the category of entrepreneurship and innovation. However, Steve Jobs was noted for his ruthlessness and autocratic leadership while Elon Musk is noted for carefulness and transformational leadership. Hence, Elon Musk enjoys higher popularity than Steve Jobs. However, Elon Musk must innovate constantly to rise to the expectations of the world. To summarize, Elon Musk is a transformational leader while Steve Jobs was a charismatic leader. Elon Musk is a democratic leader while Steve Jobs was an autocratic leader. Elon Musk is a multi-faceted personality while Steve Jobs was passionate about technology only. Elon Musk is an assertive leader while Steve Jobs was an aggressive leader. In a nutshell, Elon Musk believes in soft leadership while Steve Jobs believed in hard leadership.

Leadership is contextual and situational. Leaders act as per the prevailing business environment and opportunities. Additionally, Elon Musk is a Gen X leader while Steve Jobs was a Baby Boomer. To summarize, leaders are different with different leadership ideas and insights.

Conclusion

“If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” ―Elon Musk

Elon Musk is an ideal entrepreneur who raised the bar of innovation globally. He raised the expectations of the people by exploring beyond the planet. He will be remembered for his entrepreneurial adventures and innovation. The ambitious entrepreneurs must learn lessons from his innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership. To conclude, Elon Musk is a visionary and transformational leader who dreams big to achieve big. He is an inspirational icon for all generational cohorts.

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About the Author

Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D. is the Father of “Soft Leadership” and Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India. He is an International Leadership Guru with 38 years of experience and the author of over 45 books including the award-winning ‘21 Success Sutras for CEOs’ URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Ceos-Rao/dp/162865290X. He is a prolific author and a dynamic, energetic and inspirational leadership speaker. He can be reached at [email protected].

How Employees Can Affect Company Profits

November 27, 2020

Building the right team for your company can be a long and arduous task. It takes a lot of patience and business savvy to get the right people for the job. When you find the right employee, it adds tremendous value to your workforce and your company. Unfortunately, when you hire the wrong candidate, it can drain your productivity, time, and budget. Here are some examples of how employees can affect company profits.

Define the Job

If you wish to hire a team for your business, you must first define the different job positions, establish the position’s duties, and construct a candidate profile. The candidate profile should describe what type of person would be suited to the role – what skills, experience, and personality traits would be most advantageous.

Decide Who to Interview

Before the interview process, you can look at the curriculum vitae of applicants and ask to interview those who have the required skills. During the interview, you can get a feel for the person and ask them more personality-related questions.

A useful tool to gain more insight into interviewees’ personalities is to ask them to complete a personality assessment such as the Career Personality Test. Such a test can give you an insight into people’s strengths and weaknesses and how they might react in certain situations. Having this information will help you match a person to your vacancy. For example, if you are looking to recruit a medical nurse to your team, you might favor an ISFJ Personality Type. According to the Myers-Briggs test, an ISFJ personality type is Introverted, Observant, Feeling, and Judging. Such a person tends to be warm and unassuming in their own steady way. They’re efficient and responsible, giving careful attention to practical details in their daily lives.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong?

Sometimes you might hire the wrong person for the job. You may have read them wrong; they may have been deceitful at the interview or on their CV. Whatever the reason, if you hire a person who isn’t suitable for the position, the consequences can have a knock-on effect.

It can cost a company a lot of time and money to hire staff. When you bring a new employee into your company, you spend considerable time and money to get them up to speed. The whole recruitment process of interviewing, screening, and making offers to candidates uses resources that are never replaced. Once the person takes up the position, more expenses are involved. These expenses include training hours that could have been devoted elsewhere and salaries paid to the trainers.

Effect on the Team

An inefficient employee can have a disastrous effect on a strong team and productivity. The rest of the team has to compensate for the employee’s shortcomings if their work is substandard and needs to take on additional responsibilities, which leads to a loss of efficiency and heightens employee dissatisfaction.

If the employee has a personality trait that causes conflict within the team and cannot be a decent team member, the team will suffer, and so will productivity. Time is wasted trying to resolve disputes; staff members will begin to hate work, so absences increase, and so do resignations.

The emotional responses of staff across each department can have a knock-on effect across the business. Staff members’ moods can affect morale and lead to a more toxic – or more productive – work environment.

Effect on Customers

A person who is not suitable for a job position may have a detrimental effect on customers. They may mistreat the customers by being rude or unhelpful. Customers will be offended and may escalate the case or bad mouth your company, which will result in your business gaining a bad reputation, leading to a decrease in sales.

An employee might not be rude, but if they are incompetent at their job, they could make lots of mistakes, produce inferior products or provide a low quality of service.

An employee who fits the job well will be happy, contented, and confident in their abilities. Satisfied employees mean improved productivity and increased profits. Whether working for entrepreneurial start-ups or large, established enterprises, the same holds true: People are more productive and creative when they have more positive emotions. A harmonious team will work together like a well-oiled machine.

Solutions

If you want to avoid losing money on hiring the wrong employee, ensure you spend time constructing a clear job description and candidate profile. Properly vet prospective employees and consider implementing a trial period. Doing so will mean that the employment contract can be terminated after a set time without consequence if either party is not happy. This will avoid high severance pay-outs.

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5 Proven eCommerce Marketing Strategies that Work

November 27, 2020

Starting an ecommerce platform is definitely a complex and tough task. However, depending on your financial terms and availability of time there are many different ways in which you can develop your own multi-vendor marketplace platform. Post starting your own online platform, directing the traffic to your website is the most challenging part. This is what will make your website a hit. I.e. the success of your website depends on the amount of traffic your online marketplace platform attracts. Once you gain good ranking on the SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page) you will automatically gain attention as your name will appear on the very first page of the search engine.

This is obviously the dream goal of all the online marketers. To make this possible, one has to know the nuances of how to market the website and what are all the viable eCommerce marketing strategies that can be used. To build a steady building a strong foundation is a must. Likewise, one needs to be aware of the basics for the end result to be the best there could be.

Deviating traffic to your website is not as easy as it might seem. There are different types of web traffic as well. And you will be able to make proper informed decisions only if you are aware of them. Let’s take a crash course on the different types of website traffic there is. This will gear you for all the marketing related strategic planning.

Organic Traffic: considered to be your highest traffic source, this is the type where the traffic who visits your website through a keyword based search on the search engine.
Direct Traffic: This is the kind of traffic that is directed to your website when the user directly visits your site, without conducting any type of keyword search. Usually through directly typing your web address or they would have bookmarked you.
Referral Traffic: The kind of traffic that you earn when you are referred by another web site. It can be intentional or not. Eg: through backlinks
PPC Traffic: Pay-per-click is a type of traffic that you pay for. It can be Google ads or any other PPC ads on search engines or other websites.
Social Media Traffic: The most well-known type of website traffic. It is the traffic that you get from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter etc

Now that you are aware of what kinds of traffic you can attract, you can plan your marketing strategies accordingly. Depending on your budget and time, you can go about it all by yourself or you could hire a marketing team to do it for you.

However, here are a few proven eCommerce marketing strategies that will definitely get you the required attention.

1. Media Advertisements

Is one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to direct traffic to your website? Google shopping spend grew by 41% from last year over just text ads in the first quarter. Just like television advertising, online ads also play an important role in the growth of your online platform.

There are many types of online advertising as well.

Paid Search Ads: The PPC traffic is earned through this strategy. These text only ads will appear at the top of your search engine results. They produce a high conversion rate and hence a must include in your marketing plan strategy. You can find suitable PPC management software for your business at adplorer.com.
Display Ads: Also known by the name banner ads, these are the advertisements that you can see on your mobile games, other websites, and applications. They are popular for advertisers and publishers alike as they provide high ROI due to CPM pricing. What Is CPM? Cost Per Mile or cost per 1000 impressions, meaning you pay a certain amount per 1000 views. The CPM formula is, CPM = 1000 * cost / impressions. This helps in building brand awareness and tends to follow your browsing history. Hence it is also referred to as retargeting. And according to word stream’s latest study, an average conversion rate across all industries is about 77% through display ads, compared to 3.75% for search ads.
Product Listing Ads: This kind of advertising is on the raise since 2018 since it created about 60% of the clicks in its first quarter. The multiple products with their prices that appear on the top of your SERP is nothing but product listing ads. Be mindful of the competitive prices.

2. Influencer Marketing

This is the current trending advertising method. This helps in gaining the attention of all the users who actively follow that influencer. This method helps gain trust and recognition in an otherwise narrow eyed market. Apparently 49% of consumers rely on influencer recommendations for a purchase decision. A user’s content has more weightage than the brand’s content. These are usually seen in social media, YouTube, and some famous blogs. Than the international celebrity influencers, customers are relying more on micro influencers’ content.

3. Content Marketing

This includes all the newsletters, emails, blog posts etc. The term used for such a plan is in-bound marketing as the customers come to you for purchases. This is not only educational but also helps in gaining organic traffic through the keyword search. Long blog posts consisting of informational guides boosts organic traffic by as much as 2 to 3 folds over the course of a year. You can also use multiple tools such as MozBar that will help you identify the websites with good domain authority. You can also initiate sign-ups through personalized emails. You should also look into email marketing software, like these mailchimp alternatives that deliver better analytics for your use.

There are two ways to about it-

Product recommendation and targeted promotion during customer’s digital shopping process
Personalized follow-up emails: This is what will remind your customers to visit your website again and check out the products that may have been left in the cart.

4. SEO Optimization

One of the oldest and main digital marketing strategies that has been made use of over two decades. This is a fundamental part of digital marketing that helps drive organic traffic to your site. It is basically the method used to optimize your webpage and its content so that your website will be easily discoverable on the search engine. There are many resources available online that will help you build a strong SEO content which in turn will help you gain a good SERP ranking resulting in great visibility and traffic.

5. Social Media Marketing

A well-known marketing method; don’t think there is much to be explained in this aspect. The whole world is connected through one or the other social media platform like twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. These platforms have to be considered to be a boon in this field of marketing. As per consumer market insight for Germany, the most used social media platform in Germany is Facebook, followed by Instagram. The only demographic where this isn’t the case is 14-19 years olds where Instagram is the most used. The ever evolving platforms have made it easier for customers to reach out to the brands they are interested in. All the popular social media platforms are continually rolling out new features and tools to help brands effectively reach their customer base. It plays an important role in building your brand awareness, by just maintaining a strong SEO. Social media marketing can also take the form of video ads, produced by experts such as https://tinglymedia.com/.

The key to successful marketing lies in understanding that there is no particular or fixed way to market your online platform. You can devise your own formula and come up with a new concoction of a successful marketing strategy. Always be meticulous in approach. As long as you know your product and are detail oriented, there are fewer chances of you going off the rails.

Don’t worry we are always here to help you out in any way possible.

Leave us a message and we will get in touch with you.

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What’s The Secret to a Successful Coffee Shop?

November 27, 2020

It seems like new coffee shops emerge every single day all around the city.

But not many of them stay for long.

That’s the thing: not everyone knows how to keep their coffee house afloat and successful.

So, that is why we have spoken to Yurii Brown, a certified barista and the founder of Coffeegeeklab.com. He has shared some tips that can help you make your coffee shop successful. So, let’s dive right in!

Tip #1: Choose the location wisely

Here’s the deal:

Poor location is among the top reasons why coffee shop owners fail within the first couple of years.

The winning location should be easily accessible (even during the rush hour commutes), with enough parking space, including the bike racks. It’s better to find a spot in a busy area of the city so that more people would pass by (and perhaps decide to come in to get a cup of joe).

Tip #2: Don’t neglect your online presence

Setting up social media pages for your coffee house can do a couple of things. Firstly, it can help you reach more potential customers. It’s also a great way to promote your business, share attractive offers, and implement more marketing strategies.

Additionally, you can establish your reputation with online reviews. If most of them are good, you can build trust and attract more people. If there are bad ones, they can help you understand what you might be doing wrong, fix your mistakes, and improve your business, thus leading your coffee house to success.

Tip #3: Quality and consistency should become your credo

Nothing can ruin a coffee shop’s reputation like bad coffee. If your product is low-quality, people simply will not buy it. And they certainly won’t wish to return to the coffee house if the beverages there taste awful.

That’s why you need to monitor the quality of your products closely. Pay attention to the beans, their roast type, and grind size. These aspects can determine how each cup of joe would taste. You have to find a proper configuration for a great cup of coffee and be consistent with it. Meaning, you have to maintain the quality of the beverages your coffee shop serves.

To tell the truth, it isn’t such a hard task. You just need to find a reliable supplier and always check your coffee beans. Make sure that your employees use the proper roast type and grind size for different brewing methods and follow the brewing process steps properly. And then, every cup of coffee you serve will be great (which means people will want to come back for more).

Tip #4: Use a loyalty system (smartly)

Employing a customer reward system is an excellent method that can help you make your customers “stick” with you and show them that you appreciate their loyalty. Rewards can go a long way, but you should be smart about them.

Firstly, you need to make sure that your business can afford to try this method out. Whether we’re talking about discounts or bonuses, you should offer those only when you are sure they won’t hurt your business.

Additionally, you should implement a reward system based on what your customers need if you want it to bring great results. Research your target market to see which loyalty program would work the best. Even a simple survey on your coffee shop’s social media would help you get an idea of what your customers want the most.

And here’s the best thing: there are plenty of reward systems you can try. Discounts for every second purchase, free snacks to go with specific drinks, loyalty cards, “buy 5, and get the 6^th one free”, 10% off if the customer takes coffee to go in their own travel mug, etc., the list is endless.

Tip #5: Create a pleasant atmosphere

Think about your favorite coffee house you’ve visited in the past. What made you like it so much? Was it the cheerful, smiling barista whose eyes would spark when talking about beans, flavors, roasting, and all other coffee-related stuff? Or was it the cozy atmosphere, the warm interior, and the captivating scents?

To make customers want to come again, you need to create a pleasant atmosphere in your coffee shop. Make sure that your staff is polite and welcoming. Add some cozy details or great music (depending on what your target age group is), and maybe bake a batch of cookies to add that warm, homelike smell. You can also add accent lights to make the ambience more intimate.

It’s also a great idea to serve coffee yourself, when you are not busy with “business owner” tasks. You can talk to your customers and get their feedback, plus the presence of the boss usually makes the staff livelier.

Tip #6: Don’t overwhelm your customers with the assortment

Many coffee shop owners think that the more they offer, the more their customers will buy.

In reality, this strategy can go in a different direction. When there are too many beverages, numerous size variations, endless flavor options, and countless desserts available, customers can become confused (or even worse, frustrated). After all, most people visiting coffee shops simply feel thirsty or hungry and don’t want to waste their time trying to navigate through the endless assortment of drinks and foods.

So, try to cover the basics without overwhelming your customers. Three beverage sizes are enough, just like three dessert options, for example. You don’t have to overdo it to impress your coffee shop visitors. Just make sure that everything tastes great, and you’ll be fine.

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Tips to Improve Your Time Management Skills

November 27, 2020

Productivity remains one of the biggest topics that people regardless of the industry or culture they belong to, enjoy talking about. Just a quick stroll along the self-help section of your library (or nearest bookstore) will tell you how much people are obsessed with it.

A lot of sources say that the main factor that determines one’s productivity is motivation. This could then be divided into two smaller factors: level of energy and strength of will. What they don’t realize, though, is how detrimental that can be to someone who wants to learn how to increase productivity since this would mean that one is simply a procrastinator, and thus, unproductive.

The Real Secret Behind Productivity: Time Management

This is the reason why we stand by another factor instead, and that would be time management. Allow us to paint you an example. Let’s say that you’re in need of researching about payday loans. You take note of it. You promise to do it. Then, after a while, you slowly realize that you have missed the opportunity entirely.

While yes, it can be because you are simply feeling lazy about something that you can always do tomorrow. But we also want you to remember that this feeling of lethargy can be brought about by a lack of energy because you didn’t manage your time wisely in the first place. If you have accounted for your energy levels and rest times, you wouldn’t be feeling this lazy.

Time Management Tips

The challenge now is how to manage your time to account for all these things, add motivation, and even prevent procrastination. Hence, here are some tips to help you out:

Record how you spend your usual day. Are you someone who mainly sticks to a routine? Do you have a regular work schedule that you are required to follow daily?Then the first step towards better time management is to just go about your day and record how much time it takes to perform your tasks. Be detailed and feel free to note your energy levels as well.

Form a realistic schedule. You can use the results of the previous tip to formulate a realistic schedule. Don’t forget to make some wiggle time in between tasks. It can be quite easy to overestimate how much time it takes to do things when we’re not really doing them.
Control your environment. Recording your normal routine per day can also point out any unnecessary habits and activities that eat up your time, like social media and video streaming. You can then use this info to control your environment to minimize distractions and encourage you to adhere to your schedule.For instance, you might want to consider deleting your social media apps on your home, or at the very least, hiding them in a folder that won’t be the first thing to show up upon opening your phone.

Set aside time for rest, play, and distractions. Being too caught up in productivity, and of course, strict time management routines can potentially burn you out and then lead to procrastination and sluggishness.Hence, don’t forget to incorporate the things that you enjoy doing into your schedule. In this way, they won’t be distractions and you’ll be able to do them guilt-free.

Control “official” distractions. Since we’re already talking about distractions, what about those tasks that can still ruin our momentum but require actual work and attention, like emails and phone calls?Again, whatever they are, incorporate them into your schedule. For instance, you might want to limit email checking to thrice or twice a day. On the other hand, you can also consider setting a schedule for all phone calls, including those from family and friends. Just tell them when is the best time to call you and keep that free.This can even improve your social life since people would feel freer to contact you without the burden of “accidentally disturbing” you weighing them down.

Learn to say no. Speaking of social engagements, we recognize that it can be difficult to say no at times, especially if it’s even remotely work-related.Remember, though, that while you’re saying yes to something, you’re also saying no to something else. It’s useful to think about before deciding on any opportunity that might ruin your schedule and set you back from your tasks.This is also a good time to think about your priorities.

Leverage technology. Finally, you don’t have to do time management on your own. There are numerous time management apps that are free to use to keep you right on track with your schedules. You can also consider getting a virtual assistant or a time management consultant to help you out if you really find it impossible to keep up with the schedules that you come up fo yourself. Good luck!

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