How Traditional Companies Are Doomed

How Traditional Companies Are Doomed

Flexibility is critical for most modern businesses. As the world keeps moving at a rapid pace and consumers are increasingly more influential on every aspect a company does, no longer just focused on the end product, but also on how things are made and if it fits within their belief system. 

If a company wins the favour of the consumer, there are golden mountains to be had, and if a company irks the general public, it can be villainized as quickly as it can be praised. In a way, the consumer has gained influence on what a company does and how it does it.

This is why we see such a shift in the taxi, food and financial industry. In the taxi industry ride-hailing (and sharing) services are changing the field altogether. What people now expect from their taxi services has completely changed, from the way you call a taxi, to the way you ensure a good quality ride to the way you pay. 

Photo by Peter Kasprzyk on Unsplash

The same can be seen in the food industry where people are less willing to go to a restaurant and eat but will want to pay for high-quality take-out meals. Also, in terms of food delivery things have changed where consumers now expect to be able to track their delivery real-time. 

Even more, significant ripples can be seen in the financial industry where app-based start-ups are entirely changing the way we conduct are payments and savings, completely changing the perception of what a bank should be.

In most cases, you will see that traditional companies will try to follow these disruptors and emulating the very essence what makes them (seemingly) successful. Traditional taxi companies are creating their ride-hailing apps, restaurants are either joining the larger food delivery services or are creating their versions of. 

Even the large financial institutions, not necessarily companies you would consider having to change their ways any time soon, are launching their start-ups that explore the same innovative solutions as their fintech challengers.

Moreover, although the effort of traditional companies to emulate their start-ups’ rivals are valiant and to be admired and the traditional companies have deep pockets to fund these ventures themselves, they do have one big obstacle: themselves. 

A taxi service usually has sunk cost in their fleet, a restaurant is not a logistics company, and traditional banks have the weight (and cost) of their branches and large (physical) footprint. As much as you might want to change the very essence of a company, there are some things you can’t change. You only need to look at every single department that doesn’t directly create the end product to see where the problem is.

That doesn’t mean there is no way for incumbents to stay competitive and survive industry disruption. It does mean companies need to shed functions that are not part of their core product and embrace outsourcing, such as managed staffing solutions like www.netwize.com. They need to listen more closely to their customer’s issues and wants. 

Moreover, most importantly, they need to be willing to risk it all as a start-up would.

Money Is More Than A Song Title

Money Is More Than A Song Title

Randy Newman sang, “It’s money that matters.” He was not alone is creating lyrics around money. Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Cardi B, ABBA and more wrote about this mercurial medium that has humans all over the planet chasing it. Money is a way of sharing or conveying value and it is the things that we can do with the money that humans desire. Nevertheless, it is the money we pursue. We want more of it so we can do more things, have more things and generally feel safer and more secure because we can afford to handle crises, enjoy experiences or take care of day-to-day expenses. Money has become a ubiquitous solution to the needs and desires of humans around the planet. Because it has become so essential to our daily lives, here are some ways to acquire more money:

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More Than Fortune Telling: Finding Your Cash Flow

More Than Fortune Telling: Finding Your Cash Flow

By Sharon  Jones

No-one can predict with 100% accuracy what the future holds. However, when it comes to the business, you can get a lot more insight than you think you might be able to. Especially where finances are concerned. You won’t be able to predict the way you can utterly capture the market without any risk, but you can get a closer look at the data of your finances and figure out where it’s headed. You can even figure out the potential risks to make it as smooth as possible.

Photo by MiraDeShazer

Expenses to prep for

Rather than starting with your revenue, it’s essential to get an understanding of your expenses and your overhead. These are often the most concrete projections in your cash flow, with fixed costs often making a much larger proportion of them than variables. Staying ahead of your costs also means you have more time to cut them down. For instance, if you have worrying printing costs, you can start the switch to a paperless system. If the costs of labor for a certain process are too high, you can outsource them.

What’s coming in

The other half is figuring out what your anticipated revenue is. The best way to do this is to rely on the data available to you. For newer businesses, this means making both a conservative and aggressive estimate based on differing price points, marketing channel usage, sales staff and so on. For those who have been in businesses for years, compare past sales with investments you intend on making with estimates on their return. If you’re invoicing your clients and customers, then using tips from places like www.xero.com can help you make sure you’re getting everything you’re owed sooner and not throwing off your short-term projections.

The bumps on the road

A good projection is always going to have some wiggle room. Unless you get it dead wrong, however, it should be somewhere between your conservative and aggressive estimates. The times that revenue is below conservative estimates is often due to the big, unexpected costs that aren’t your fault. There is something you can do about them, however. Services like www.equifyllc.com allow you to better understand the risks to the business depending on your specific circumstances, to help you better craft an insurance plan. If you leave it to yourself to pay for every bump in the road out of your own pocket, it can get in the way of your cash flow and disrupt your current business plans, setting you back if not endangering the business in total.

A business owner has to be future-minded. Reacting to the realities of the market and your finances as they happen is going to leave you a step behind, disrupting you more often than not. Understand the cash you have coming to you and see it in your hands sooner. Know the expenses you can expect to accommodate and how to make sure you can handle them. Divine the serious financial risks and protect yourself against them. It won’t future-proof the business with total certainty, but it will make it a lot easier to better face the financial challenges ahead.

Want A Career In The Music Industry? Here’s What You’ve Gotta Do

Want A Career In The Music Industry? Here’s What You’ve Gotta Do

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Music is an amazing thing. It’s one of the most phenomenal aspects of life, in all honesty. We’ve discovered heaps of crazy things thus far, but the feeling you get when you hear a particular song is like no other. It changes you from angry to happy in a moment. It can make you tense up as you watch a movie or listen to a radio show. They’re just sounds, but they’re wonderful.

If you’re very passionate about music and that goes into the music world, then you might’ve considered a career in it. You’ve probably pictured yourself doing it for a living before because you’re only human and you’re allowed to dream! Is it possible, though? Of course it is. Whether you want to be a performer, a writer, a production manager or a security guard, it’s doable. 

How would it go, and how should you treat it, though? Well, it is a profession, after all, so you’d need to treat everything just like you would a more formal business. In this particular field, you’d focus the majority of your time on the music itself, but there’s so much more to it all. It seems like a super cool way to earn money and live your life, but things still need to be handled maturely and properly. If you’re keen on this type of thing, then let’s go through a bunch of stuff you should consider if you want to seriously head in this direction.     

Make Sure You’re Ready

You can’t just jump into a new lifestyle and expect it to work out for you. Sure, some people out there find success in the craziest of ways, but those just don’t happen all of the time. Do you have the skills, the confidence and the overall wherewithal to make this move? If not, then think about how you can get into that position mentally and literally. Perhaps you need to take a few courses on music production or music theory before you do anything drastic.  

Have The Money To Begin  

In order to head into this life, you need to have a net to fall back onto if it doesn’t work out. It’s not pessimistic; it’s realistic. Anyone with a brain in their head knows that they have to have contingencies when heading into something big like this. Obviously, if you’re still working in your job, you’ve got to save up and really make sure you have a solid income that can support something like this. Recently, a popular way of generating money has been to ask for it via crowdfunding websites.

Plan Everything Out 

If you want to become a professional musician, you need to take this stuff seriously. You may have seen the glitz and glam, but that only comes after all of the boring bits have been taken care of. Like everything you do in life, you need to have a roadmap to follow, otherwise things can get a little congested. As we said before, make it like a real and genuine business startup. Your writing, rehearsals and those kinds of things should be scheduled and stuck to. Booking shows should also be sorted out far in advance. 

Market Yourself Excellently  

If you want people to be interested in your work, you need to market yourself well. People aren’t going to be bothered with you if you’re just like any other performer or group. Social media can come in handy at this point. It’s an easy and cheap way of reaching a lot of potential attendees and fans. You could also throw posters and flyers around your local area, too. That’s an oldie but a goodie.  

Know All The Right People  

The music industry is a world that requires you to know influential people. You can be fairly average at your craft, but if you have contacts, then you might just hit the jackpot. We’re talking about agents, producers and others like this. If you want the perfect setup, then you need to get out there and network. Before you know it, you could be in a music video that’s styled by Akua Murray Adoboe and choreographed by award winners. That would be all down to you getting people on your side.   

Understand Copyright Laws

Legal stuff can be a little tedious, but knowing about every last bit is necessary. You don’t want to create something, perform it, record it for an album, and then find out you’ve been taken to court due to copying. There will be some expert knowledge needed at times, so contacting a professional would be smart. The basics are there for you to understand, however. 

5 Reasons Archery Should Be Your New Hobby!

5 Reasons Archery Should Be Your New Hobby!

Pexels 

 Perhaps you’re looking to take up a new hobby or sport, but you’re not sure which one to try? When you’re busy juggling your work and social life, you won’t want to overstretch yourself. It’s better to choose just one or two main hobbies, give them your all and become a master! If you’re not too keen on the overdone ideas of football or tennis, why not give something new a go and try your hand at archery? Here come five reasons that could soon have you reaching for the bow! 

 Improve your core 

 You will likely be surprised how much of a workout that archery can be! After a little while of pulling back on that bowstring, you’ll feel the effects in your abdomen, back, arms and shoulders. Any exercises that focus on your core will help you to increase your strength. You will gain transferable skills that you can take with you to other sports plus minimise your chances of doing any injury to your body. 

Get outside 

 Taking up archery means that you have the potential to play outside as well as indoors. Both exercise and the outdoors have always been praised for having positive contributions to our mental health. It stands to reason, if you combine being outside and exercise together, you’ll get double the endorphin boost

 Niche Fun

 Archery isn’t like one of those gym sessions that you are just doing because you feel you have too! It’s the ultimate niche activity that is so much fun you’ll forget you are even exercising! You will burn calories, feel great, and gain a wonderful sense of achievement because you have gained yourself some new skills. Naturally, when you’re a beginner, you’ll need to do some research into the equipment and learn how to pick your first compound bow, depending on your needs. 

Destress 

 Generally speaking, there is much evidence that sports can help us to relax and destress both our bodies and minds. Archery is particularly good to do so because you have to concentrate entirely on the present moment, which encourages mindfulness. The feeling of hitting the target often symbolically feels as though you are ridding yourself any tensions or negative feelings. 

Social aspects

 When you take up a new sport, you become part of a club and community which helps you to widen your friendship circles. As social creatures this far enhances our wellbeing. While some people like to have gym sessions alone, for others, there’s nothing better than meeting new like-minded people and sharing a sporting interest. You could find the opportunity to improve your own sporting skills or even compete in events. Sometimes, you’ll try a new hobby without any expectations and soon grow to really love it. 

 The best thing to do is to have a research about the archery scene in your local area and see what you can find. Sometimes if you can’t find what you need via Google, you may be able to find a group on a platform like Meetup or Facebook. 

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