60 Degree

60 Degree

Business

For Steven Scott Google Statistics Are Vital

by Leave a Comment

 

Within every industry, there is a language and jargon to deal with. Additionally, every industry has its own statistics. In order to excel, you must learn that jargon and you must also learn to gather and analyze those statistics. According to Steven Scott Google statistics of some of the most important.

 

Steven Scott Google’s Statistics

 

The statistics and terminology used in the world of internet, and therefore Google, are vast. They include:

 

  • Hits. People who want you to believe they have an excellent operating website will tell you they receive x amount of hits every month. In reality however, this number is actually quite meaningless. A ‘hit’ is actually a file that a web browser received from the server. Hence, if a web page has lots of images and a big HTML file, then it is likely to receive lots of hits. That does not mean they also received lots of visitors.
  • Page views. This is a far more accurate measurement because it doesn’t matter how many hits a page received. Rather, it measures the number of times the page was loaded. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell whether there were 20 visitors looking at a single page, or whether there was one visitor looking at 20 pages.
  • Unique visitors. This is where things get interesting and this is what you should be looking at. This really tells you just how popular a website is. It is vastly more accurate than hits and even pageviews. This number tells you the amount of individuals who came to your website.
  • PPC. This is the money that you pay and get back for clicks made on advertisements, usually Google AdWords. It is impossible to determine what a good rate for PPC is as that depends entirely on what the website owner or hopes to gain from it.

 

So what does all of this tell you? Essentially, it means that simply throwing some numbers about tells you absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know this and they are blinded by language. The example of the number of hits is an excellent example of this. It is all too easy to assume a website is functioning very well just because somebody received thousands of hits, when in reality it could mean they actually only have one visitor. It is for good reason that services such as Google Analytics exist. This allows you to look at the statistics and data that you are yourself interested in another actually meaning for to what you hope to achieve.

 

It is important to understand that statistics are limited. What they do is provide not an accurate picture but rather an average picture. A good example is that one in eight women will have breast cancer at some point in her life, but if you randomly pick eight women out of a crowd, it is likely that none of them will ever have breast cancer or even that all of them have already had it. When you understand this limitation of statistics, you will be far more likely to use it them your advantage as well.

Matias Campiani Looks at the Differences between Private Equity and Venture Capital

by Leave a Comment

Two terms often used interchangeably or venture capital and private equity. However, there are actually some key differences between them. The textbook answer is that the difference is that private equities at the top, and venture capital is an asset class within that. While this is true, the reality is that the differences are slightly more nuanced. This is something Matias Campiani aims to explain.

 

Matias Campiani Breaks Down Private Equity and Venture Capital

 

In the past, venture capitalists were those who provided large amount of capital to start up organizations, thereby taking significant risks with their money. What this means is that venture capitalists are more exposed to risks and regularly expect for their Investments to fail. Private equity firms, by contrast, look at things from a slightly different way.

 

At the same time come over the past two years or so, the Capital markets have changed so much that the lines between venture capitalists and private equity investors have blurred even more. This is because there is no significant competition between investors, which means that the private equity firms in particular and now taking far greater risks just to be able to remain relevant.

 

Because of this strengthening competition, private equity firms and venture capitalists have both have to expand their horizon. There has been a significant increase in private equity businesses that are happy to invest in early stage or even start up companies. Meanwhile, venture capitalists have significantly lowered their yield requirements so that they are able to access the later stage investment opportunities as well.

 

So what does all this mean for the entrepreneur? If you are currently looking for someone to invest in your business, then you are basically in luck. In the past, if you were a start-up entrepreneur you could only go to venture capitalists and private equity firms would only see you if you had an established business behind you. Today, you can access both regardless of where your particular business or enterprise is.

 

At the same time, it is very important that you don’t apply for investment and credit without truly considering your own risk as well. Yes, the timing to apply for funds is good right now and the various ground rules have been changed, making it easier to not just apply for a but also be accepted for capital. However, you need to make sure that you truly understand your capital structure and that you compare opportunities offered by angel investors, hedge funds, private equity firms, and venture capital investors alike period at the end of the day, what matters is that you get the most capital for the lowest repayment possible without losing any control of your organization.

 

It is recommended to speak to an independent financial advisor to review the different options that are out there. Almost everything can be done online and all information is available online. However, just because the information is there does not necessarily mean that you understand it and know how it applies to you. Hence, bringing a professional is always the best option.

Randy Benderson, Real Estate Success: How It All Started

by Leave a Comment

When you begin to pore over the resume of real estate leader Randy Benderson, you may be inclined to drop your jaw. And that’s okay. But then, when you hear how his company, Benderson Development, came into being through the hands of his father, your jaw-drop may slowly turn into a smile. And that’s okay, too.

Benderson Development prides itself on developing, owning, and managing real estate covering more than 40 million square feet. These real estate holdings include more than 350 shopping centers and retail stores in 38 states, including Alaska, Florida, and states in between. They also include 40 hotels in Ontario, Canada, as well as Florida and other states under the Marriott, Holiday Inn, Hilton, Choice, and Carlson brands.

Benderson Development additionally owns more than 33 industrial and office properties in the southeastern and northeastern parts of the United States. On top of this, it owns a residential community for those ages 55 and over in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Without a doubt, the Benderson name is synonymous with real estate and financial success. But things weren’t always that way. Nathan Benderson, the father of Randy Benderson, began making business deals as a young child and eventually bought his own beverage factory, but he couldn’t keep it afloat. He then decided to buy a brewery, and that catapulted him into real estate development. However, as he dabbled in development, he ended up making some pretty sour deals. Nonetheless, he was persistent and became known for his detailed approach to deals, his many insightful questions, and his strong work ethic.

Nathan Benderson eventually made it big in the real estate world, and he no doubts passed down his character traits to his son. Real estate is clearly in Randy Benderson’s blood, and his successes will surely continue to speak for themselves in the days, months, years, and perhaps even decades that lie before us.

3 Things To Know In Regards To SOC 2 Compliance

by Leave a Comment

Do you run a company or business that uses the cloud to store sensitive information about your customers?

If so, then you will need to be SOC 2 compliant. Up until 2014, you would have only needed to be SOC 1 compliant, but no things have changed when it comes to storing sensitive customer data.

SOC 2 is simply a technical audit and it requires your company to comply with strict policies and procedures regarding the security, integrity, confidentiality, and availability of customer data stored in the cloud. Today, it is a necessity for several different types of organizations.

Here are three things that you will want to know in regards to SOC 2 Compliance:

Have Alerts In Place

 Whenever there is a security threat, you need to have a proper alarm system in place so your are alerted to it. This way, if there is any attempted unauthorized access to your customer data, you can respond and take appropriate action.

Examples of security threats that SOC 2 requires you to have alerts set up for include anything dealing with failed login accesses, exposure of data and configurations, or file transfer activities.

Use Audit Trials

Equally as important as being alerted to a security attack is knowing how to respond to it as well. But how can you respond properly without knowing the true root cause between the attack.

This is where SOC 2 audit trials come in. They can tell you multiple details about the attack include who it was, where they came from, and how they managed to breach your security protocols. This way, you can make a more informed decision on how you will respond.

An audit trial specifically will give you insight into the source, the full scope of the attack, any unauthorized modifications that were made into your data, and which system component were modified as well.

Monitor For Unknown Activity

Just as you want to carefully monitor for any known malicious threats, you’ll also want to monitor for threats that are unknown as well.

The best way to accomplish this will be to baseline normal activity in your cloud environment. This way, recognizing any abnormal activity will be made much easier.

SOC 2 compliance means you need to monitor for any unusual system activity and unauthorized changes made to your system’s configuration. It’s for this reason that monitoring for any kind of malicious threats, known or unknown is absolutely vital and should not be ignored.

Staying SOC 2 Compliant

In conclusion, SOC 2 compliance is all about your business or organization having certain procedures in place to ensure that your cloud infrastructure remains secure over the long term.

Not only will staying compliant with SOC 2 ensure that your customer information is kept safe, it will also help you to build a relationship based on trust with each of your customers as well.

 

 

 

 

 

………..

 

 

Boris Blanche on Motivating Employees During Business Restructure

by Leave a Comment

One of the most common ways for a business to restructure is through merger and acquisition. While this is an opportunity for companies to achieve tremendous growth, it is also a period of significant uncertainty, particularly for employees.  People such as Boris Blanche have developed a number of key methods to help companies keep their employees motivated and secure during such a business restructure.

 

Boris Blanche on Motivation in Restructure

 

The most important thing is to have open and clear communication. Communication is always key to the success of any business but during mergers and acquisitions, it becomes even more important. It is very important to speak to employees about any merger or acquisition considerations. In fact, if an organization has over 50 employees, it is legally obliged to speak to it staff about this.

 

Secondly, it is important to create a fully cohesive team. Management must show real leadership and build a strong team that is capable of Performing properly. The greatest difficulty in this is bringing together the people from the two different companies, not in the least because both sides are likely to have lost friends and coworkers during the merger or acquisition. This means that there is often some bad blood and tension that has to be addressed properly.

 

It flows from this that the organization must focus on the psychological well being of the employee. Everybody must feel positive about the new direction of the business. Hence, positivity should be fostered at every opportunity and new work environment should be as fresh as possible.

 

At the same time, there should be full clarity about the goals and milestones of the new organization. Management should be able to set key milestones for the business as a whole, while teams should work together to set the individual goals and milestones. In so doing, there is full clarity for everybody in terms of where the business is going and what everybody should be working towards.

 

Last but not least, people such as Boris Blanche always emphasize the importance of being realistic. Any business that believes a merger or acquisition can go by without any glitches or hiccups will be sorely disappointed. Being open and honest about the fact that things are likely to go wrong and that this is ok because contingency plans are in place is hugely important. Without that, staff will continuously feel on edge and will rather than be productive, be preoccupied with their own future. That is not conducive to a properly running organization.

 

An important lesson to be learnt during mergers and acquisitions is just how vital it is to have property engaged employees. When staff is giving a voice, made to feel that their opinions matter, and that what they say is listened to, they will feel far more secure and more like part of the business. This, in turn, will make them more productive as well. It is vital to leave the lines of communication open and to take every idea and suggestion seriously.

Improving Accounts Receivables Collection According To Receivables Performance Management Reviews

by Leave a Comment

Improving accounts receivables collection is a necessity for most businesses these days. As the business grows, having to deal with client payment problems is a reality that should always be taken into account. Fortunately, there are always ways in which this can be done.

If you want to improve accounts receivables collection, the advice presented below should be taken into account. It comes straight from the offices of a highly respected national leader in accounts receivable management, as can be attested through Receivables Performance Management reviews.

Determine Problem Sources

The first thing that most businesses do is try to contact clients that have to make payments in order to start debt collection. This is not what should be done. According to Receivables Performance Management, the first important step is to analyze all past-due accounts in order to categorize them based on non-payment reason. This includes labels like customer billing disputes or poor credit. Only after you determine the source of the debt problem you can actually create a good plan to deal with it.

Minimizing Customer Credit Risks

Various things can be done to reduce risks of having to deal with debt collection problems. Some options recommended by Receivables Performance Management are:

Stop selling to customers that do not pay – Every business needs to have a written credit approval process that is monitored and that addresses problems like how creditworthiness is assessed and who will receive credit in the first place. If the possibility that an invoice will not be paid is high, the business can refuse to make the sale in the first place.

Assigning responsibility – One of the biggest problems in modern businesses is that there is absolutely nobody that actually has responsibility for debt collection. You need to have someone on staff that is well-trained and that regularly monitors statuses with the goal of meeting specific targets. If you wait for a long period of time to receive payments, there is a much higher risk of not actually getting paid.

Draft strategies to deal with non-payers – Collection procedures need to be spelled out. All steps that are going to be taken should be decided and respected. At one point in time, the service offered or the product the client buys should no longer be available for the client that does not pay.

Receive expert help – Most business owners will get some recommendations from attorneys about how the company can be protected. Besides this, you do want to get some extra help from experts in debt management and collection. This gives information about the best practices in collections and credit. Alternatively, you can always outsource debt collection.

Avoid Disputes With Billing

Disputes can only lead to delays in actually getting paid. Because of this, a much better approach is to simply avoid the disputes in the first place. You do this by being really clear with all customer expectations and requirements. Sale terms have to be put down in writing and all potential problems should be identified and fixed as soon as possible.

Challenges Of Being An Attorney, Identified By Daniel DeKoter

by Leave a Comment

The media portrays the life of attorneys as being fabulous but in reality, there are many things that can and do go wrong. Daniel DeKoter, highly experienced attorney servicing the residents of Iowa and Osceola County, discuss the common challenges that should be understood by anyone aspiring to become a legal professional. They are listed below.

Conflicting Priorities – Home Versus Work

All practice areas require some sort of sacrifice when you are an attorney. The real estate lawyers rarely get the possibility of having a vacation during summer while family lawyers tend to lose months as they get ready for hearings. A business lawyer can always work 24-hour shifts in order to close deals that have tight deadlines and if you run a law firm, you never know when you have to work.

For many lawyers juggling work and family life is really difficult. This is why most of the lawyers are not married. Climbing the ladders at a law firm is stressful and time for personal life is often not available.

Running The Law Practice And The Business

Sole firm partners and practitioners will juggle the practice and the business side of running the agency. You basically need to be sure that the firm is running well. That includes budgeting, networking, marketing and even human resources. Obviously, you can always delegate but the simple fact that you run a business can easily lead to huge problems in actually running the law practice.

When you juggle both clients and the business at the same time, problems can appear, simply because of a lack of time. You are forced into going to events that you would rather miss and have to deal with many other tasks that have nothing to do with representing your clients. You basically have problems in being a lawyer and a businessman at the same time.

Addiction

A firm culture can enable the addictive personality to be engaged in behaviors that are damaging. For instance, your clients may want to celebrate their wins in an extravagant way, all while expecting the lawyers to be a part of celebrations. Then, there are networking lunches you have to drink at. Various drinking opportunities exist when you work as an attorney so that can quickly turn into a problem for some people. If stress is high and you go through damaging behaviors, it is easy to become addicted to drugs, gambling, alcohol or others.

Errors Take A Toll On You

The last important thing mentioned by Daniel DeKoter is that in the profession, professionalism is a really common trait. This can easily lead to a fear that mistakes can cost money, clients can lose child custody and go to jail. At first view, this is just a part of the job but in time this can easily have a strong toll on the attorney. Clients need to have strong attorneys and for an attorney it is not as simple as it seems to remain objective and not affected by feelings at all times. Combine this with high stress and lack of vacation days and it is really easy to understand why so many lawyers end up depressed.

Receivables Performance Management Reviews its Procedures Often to Ensure that it Is Serving Its Clients Effectively

by Leave a Comment

When a business hires a Professional Services Company, it does so with the understanding that the company is effective and efficient at delivering its services. These companies are often expensive and claim that the expenses related to the type of job that they do. Law firms and accounting firms are some of the most expensive personal services companies that can be hired.

But although most of them are very high-priced, some of them do not do great jobs. So equating price with quality does not always work out the best for your business. Instead a business needs to have foolproof ways to determine if the quality of the professional services company is up to the standards that they require.

Here are some ways to determine whether a professional services company that you are considering hiring, is in fact efficient and effective at delivering their services.

Do they Constantly Review and Update their Procedures?

Professional service companies need to ensure that their operating procedures are the most up-to-date and effective. Receivables Performance Management reviews constantly how it operates to make sure that clients are receiving the best service is available. The company provides receivables management to a wide range of Industries including bankcard, financial, telecommunications, utilities, retail, healthcare, commercial, state & local government, small balance accounts and national legal services.

Each of their clients require effective and efficient management of their receivables in order to have the needed cash flow to fund their operations. Clients were closely with Receivables Performance Management so that the company understands their specific needs and desires. The company crafts a specific strategy and delivers effective services which may include:

  • Telemarketing Services
  • Customized Dunning Notice Services
  • Outsourcing and Pre-Collection Services
  • Early Age Reactivation Services
  • Late Stage / Post Statute Services
  • Small Balance Portfolio Services
  • Inbound and Outbound Services

This comprehensive approach provides a complete set of receivables management tools and strategies that help clients gain access to more capital quickly.

Does the Company Have Positive Reviews by Clients?

Today because of the Internet it is easy to find out if a company is servicing clients well. Social media and other websites provide clients to discuss their love or disdain for a company in real time. As a company in search for the best providers, you must do your research about anyone you are interested in selecting in order to determine if in fact that company is a top performer in its industry.

Taking the time to do this type of research can save your company money or make your company profits. The key is to do enough research so that you can make an informed decisions. So get a good list of questions together about your professional services company candidates and check their reviews.

Selecting a professional services company can be difficult because there are costs involved and often the company needing their services is in a situation where they must make a great choice. Selecting top companies in the industry you are searching is not difficult if you follow the steps that are mentioned here.

Brandon Wetzel Yardley Discusses Becoming A Real Estate Agent

by Leave a Comment

When you decide to become a real estate agent you make a first step towards a very lucrative career but one that is often misunderstood. The good news, according to specialist Brandon Wetzel Yardley, is that people can easily enter the real estate field from numerous careers and occupations, no matter at what stage in their lives they are. There are different background reasons why people start looking at real estate as a career option but regardless of them, everything needs to start with following some steps. Becoming a real estate agent is not as easy as some may think. Also, specifics tend to vary from state to state. However, the main steps are the following:

Comply With Real Estate Licensing Requirements

States have different licensing requirements. Because of this, you need to visit the website of the state’s real estate commission. Official pre-licensing requirements are listed there. See if you meet all the requirements before you start on your way to becoming a real estate agent since there might be some things you cannot meet, like age restrictions.

Real Estate Pre-Licensing Courses

Real estate pre-licensing education is necessary. Fortunately, you can do this in various ways. The most common option is the live classrooms offered by real estate schools, universities, technical schools and realty firms. There is even online education that is currently available. Make sure you choose the best option for you since you do want to enroll in a school that has a high reputation, is focused on the outcome of the student and offers quality instructors and content. Remember that real estate licensing education is going to be comprehensive and difficult.

Real Estate Salesperson Exams

Every single state has a specific application process so it is important that you follow procedure. Try to take the exam as quickly as possible after the licensing classes are finished. A fee will be needed and you have to check the regulatory authority of the state for all needed details. For instance, in some states you will need to go through a complete background check and fingerprints need to be submitted. Something like this can easily take weeks.

The problem with the real estate salesperson exam is that you need much more than just educational requirements. You do need to prepare. Many end up failing the first exam they take because in order to pass you will need to have more study time. A great idea is to enroll in exam preparation classes. Practice exams have to be taken so you can measure weaknesses and strengths.

Real Estate Brokers

The fact that you pass the real estate licensing exam will not mean you have the license you want. The real estate agent will be licensed through a real estate broker. You need to find the broker as early as possible during licensing process. After pre-licensing education requirements are completed and the exam is passed, the last step is completing the paperwork to make everything legal and to actually become a real estate agent.

Business Benefits Of Internal Audits

by Leave a Comment

The term “audit” is one that can pretty quickly strike fear in the heart of everyone in an organization, even though ultimately it can bring some significant business benefits. During an internal audit, there are opportunities for businesses to achieve a range of strategic objectives. Rather than trying to avoid internal audits, businesses are better off seeing the strategic objectives.

Internal Auditors are fully acquainted with the business of HCO and therefore are best suited to contribute towards improvements, especially when they are trained in the art & science of internal auditing. Internal Audits help in employees taking ownership of their processes. Internal Audit fosters teamwork. Internal audits provides excellent training ground for inculcating leadership qualities. Finally the Internal audits provide excellent framework for continuous improvement in providing effective (patient safety) and efficient (affordability) services to patients. AHPI Certification Centre.

First and foremost, when it comes to the logistics of an internal audit, having the right tools, technology and software in place can simplify things quite a bit. For example, having the best expense management software is going to make an internal audit a more efficient, value-creating process.

The following are some of the benefits of an internal audit.

Legal Compliance

Businesses that are subjected to various regulatory and compliance requirements have to regularly conduct internal audits. To be noncompliant can cause problems for a business in terms of the law, financial implications, and it can be damaging for branding.

Noncompliance can be something that starts out small and maybe is just the result of an oversight. However, when that noncompliance isn’t spotted, it can grow and become something much more damaging to the entire organization.

With internal audits, small problems can be identified sooner and dealt with proactively.

Process and Procedure Alignment

It’s good business sense to be able to show a clear link and sense of alignment between processes and procedures in an organization. When internal audits are done, and there are quality checks in place, this is easier to adhere to.

It’s also possible to align processes and procedures with what’s really being put into practice. In some of these cases, a business might gain the insight to know that their current processes and procedures aren’t the best option and there are better ways to do things.

Identifying Opportunity

Rather than looking at an internal audit as a way only to spot problems, it can be better to reframe the purpose of an internal audit. It can be something used to identify opportunities.

For example, going back to the example of expense management software—by conducting an internal audit, a business could see there are opportunities to cut costs or improve efficiency. Internal audits are a good way to get a detailed view of what’s happening in any particular area of a business, and a lot of times that visibility can create opportunities and positive change.

There can be ways to optimize the business, reduce waste, and improve overall efficiency discovered in internal audits as well.

Spotting Fraud

Finally, fraud can be a huge expense for many businesses, especially large ones. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t even realize fraud is happening until it’s too late. Fraud can affect a company not only financially, but also regarding culture. A culture where fraud is pervasive can be toxic and lacking in transparency.

An internal audit is a good way to see potential fraud, and deal with it head on while also implementing practices to avoid similar situations in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

…………………