This post is brought to you and written by an outside writer.

Run a business? Then you probably know that modernizing business practices can enhance ROI dramatically, allowing your company to gain access to new revenue streams and business models.

This guide outlines some approaches to modernize your business practices and drive your bottom line.

Deploy self-service portals

Setting up self-service digital technologies for business partners, employees, or both can double your chances of growing your returns. A company can establish trust in digital initiatives gradually, transforming traditional functions within its framework one by one. It doesn’t all have to happen overnight.

Use high-quality time clocks

Picking a time clock can seem like an afterthought when companies go through the process of selecting an attendance solution. They tend to go for the most affordable option, mistakenly believing low-end clocks work just as well as high-quality ones. High-end time clocks can increase your returns and reduce stress and headaches. They do this by automating attendance and time tracking, maximizing savings potential in the process.

Use VoIP to cut down on call time

You take a lot of calls as a business owner, so Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is worth exploring if you’re still using a traditional phone. This protocol is also known as an internet phone because it lets you make phone calls online. It’s very easy to use – simply download the software and make calls from anywhere with an internet connection. It makes a wired telephone connection unnecessary.

Market digitally based on real-time data  

Even small local businesses can benefit from digital marketing. All kinds of services and tools are available, from SEO to social media marketing. Digital marketing enables centralized data storage, collecting reliable data in real-time, and building tools to analyze data and gain insight to make the most informed business decisions.

Digital marketing tools can help your business capture and analyze data and transform it into revenue-generating insight. Building an online presence for your company is also a good idea. If your business doesn’t have a social media page, you need to build one now.

Automate customer service and support

Lack of customer support will drive even potential clients away, but hiring staff isn’t cheap. One possible solution involves setting up automated customer support bots. Once you have those, you need just one employee to answer emails and questions, as a fallback for those things the AI can’t handle.

Assess the returns on business modernization

Embarking on the journey to digitalization comes with the need to prove the effectiveness of your measures. How do you measure the results? First of all, you need to involve every team and department in the company. Consider your short-, medium-, and long-term vision. Transforming business practices means investing in the future. The benefits can be huge, but they could take some time to manifest.

To assess the returns on your digital transformation accurately, you must identify the immediate, mid-term, and long-term impacts. Your projections need to be as consistent as they can.

Today’s post — brought to you and contributed by an outside writer — comes to you with big Chareth Cutestory energy.

When it comes to maritime accidents, there are all sorts of compensation that maritime injury victims are entitled to based on the circumstances of their accidents. Click here to read more about them. Though victims might face specific challenges in their personal injury claims, a maritime accident lawyer can help them navigate the whole process regardless of where the accident occurred and who is responsible based on admiralty law.

Whether you are a passenger or a crew member that suffered injuries due to a lack of training, the process for receiving compensation might differ. Let’s examine the challenges and possible solutions for maritime accident compensation claims.

Challenges in Maritime Accidents

Establishing the at-fault and negligent parties is the first challenge in any maritime accident claim. In some situations, there might be more than one party responsible for your injuries, and, in some instances, you can file more than one type of claim against them.

If you are a seafarer working on any sort of ship, there are various laws to protect you or your family in case of injury, sickness, or death. In many instances, ship owners are the prime liable party regardless of where the accident occurred. In these instances, ship workers who suffer injuries can file their equivalent of a workers’ compensation claim by pursuing damages under the Jones Act.

Harbor workers, longshoremen, or shipyard workers can use the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act to pursue damages. If the maritime accident victim isn’t a crew member — or if other parties were responsible for your injury — you can pursue damages by filing a personal injury claim.

The challenging part in both cases is gathering evidence and seeking medical aid as soon as possible. Even though medical staff might be readily available on the ship, they might not have your best interest at heart or lack the medical expertise to assess and treat your injuries properly. Seeking a second opinion once you arrive on land is vital.

Another challenge regarding compensation for seafarers suffering injuries is that they might need help with where the claim is pursued, as workers’ compensation might differ in some countries. Victims might be susceptible to compensation schemes, and insurers that work on behalf of the ship might try to prevent them from filing a claim.

These insurers often attempt to resolve the issue with a premature settlement, offering the victim low financial compensation for their damages. In other instances, ship owners might not operate with insurance or other forms of financial security for their workers, making receiving proper compensation even trickier.

Solutions in Maritime Accidents

Speaking to a maritime lawyer is the best solution, no matter what type of maritime accident you suffered and how complicated your case might be. They can handle your case, pinpoint the at-fault parties, and work according to international maritime laws and port or at-sea accidents attempting to ensure that you are rightfully compensated for your troubles in the form of economic and non-economic damages. They can also negotiate with insurance firms on your behalf and help you initiate a lawsuit if the at-fault party doesn’t settle the matter outside of court.

The following is an anonymous submission from a Femme Frugality reader.

 

DEPRESSION: Okay, everyone’s asleep. You finally have an hour to yourself. Boot up the laptop.

ANXIETY: Yes, boot up the laptop. Your one thing to get done today was the budget and you haven’t done that yet.

DEPRESSION: But they did a million other things. They need some time to take care of themselves. I don’t want to see Excel spreadsheets or any other harbingers of stress.

You better pull up Netflix when that thing finally turns on.

ANXIETY: Budgeting is taking care of yourself. And they haven’t even set one this month. You just keep making them binge watch TV shows, wasting away what precious little time we have.

DEPRESSION: Their therapist says you process trauma through art, and that TV is an acceptable form of art.

ANXIETY: You’re doing that thing where you use the therapist out of context to justify procrastination as self-care.

DEPRESSION: And you’re doing that thing where you nullify what the therapist says so you can take over and ruin our lives.

(sigh)

Listen. They haven’t seen a human being outside their family in over two months. There was that brief window this Spring, and even then you made us play things super tight. Before that it had been seven months.

Since HUMAN BEINGS. We’re indulging in the escapism.

(clicks on Netflix icon)

————————————FIVE DAYS LATER—————————————

ANXIETY: Alright. We’ve done your thing for long enough. It’s time to do mine.

DEPRESSION: But they’re kind of feeling a tiny bit better. You stress them out so much.

ANXIETY: I stress them out because there is stuff to stress about. You’re just ignoring it. They feel better, but everything is about to fall apart because they’re not paying attention.

They don’t even know what day of the week it is anymore. They’re not going to be feeling better for long.

DEPRESSION: The entire world is falling apart. What do you expect them to do about it? Are you gonna make that stop, too?

ANXIETY: No, I’m not. Everything’s terrible and is going to continue to be terrible.

But what they still need to write a budget. Now.

(opens Excel)

————————————THREE HOURS LATER—————————————

ANXIETY: Oh, no. You can’t stop now. You’re only halfway through!

DEPRESSION.: But they’ve been at this for so long.

ANXIETY: They’ll continue until it’s done. Sit down.

MOTIVATION: Maybe it’s okay to be proud of getting half of it done. That’s how they got out of debt that first time: One single penny at a time.

ANXIETY: Where have you been?

DEPRESSION.: What are you doing here?

MOTIVATION: You are both so extreme it’s obnoxious. They just need a routine and to log their progress.

ANXIETY: But there is no routine! Everyday something new and awful happens that needs to be addressed right away.

And they’ve got 50 mental tabs up in the background that are all important, too. They just keep getting pushed back by each latest disaster.

MOTIVATION: So we’ll make a routine. You’re ridiculous for thinking they’re going to get all caught up in a week.

And you’re ridiculous for making them feel like they have no power at all.

ANXIETY: So we’ll just get all caught up now. Then they can relax.

MOTIVATION: We all know that’s a lie. You just told us about those 50 mental tabs, and there’s no way you’re going to chill until they’re all closed.

ANXIETY: None of you should be chilling. There is a lot of serious stuff happening right now.

MOTIVATION: We’re opening Netflix. They did great. Got half of it done. That’s half more than we had this morning. We’ll get the other half done tomorrow.

ANXIETY: We should be doing that now! Aren’t you going to say anything? You’ve gone suddenly quiet.

DEPRESSION: No, actually, I’m fine with this. I mean, I’ll be back in the morning full force. But as long as we’re bingeing something, I’m good.

MOTIVATION: You and I will have a lot to discuss in the morning.

DEPRESSION: You’re assuming I’ll even let you back in the room.

(clicks on Netflix icon)

This piece is brought to you and contributed by an outside writer.

Home Décor and Cyber Connected Technologies

With the proliferation of IoT devices and their involvement with more facets of our lives than ever, and those Internet of Things devices also becoming decorative, it might be easy to overlook other aspects of these fancy technologies.

In reality be it a smart holiday ornament, a smart picture frame or digital art on the the wall, all of those devices are likely to be cyber connected and operated remotely.

Even a fancy coffee machine, refrigerator can fall into this category and can be easily overlooked in terms of its cyber connected nature and its related potential ramifications.

Cyber connected devices as fancy and innovative as they may be come with an additional aspect which is the inherent security and privacy risks which are synonymous with the internet and Cyberspace.

Apple Products

Apple product enthusiasts may look for a free VPN Mac or free VPN for iPhone solutions. Perhaps because Apple products are well-known for their superior security and scrutinizing application approval processes for their iOS devices, an Apple user may not think that it is worth while to purchasing the best VPN for Mac solution.

Here are some reasons Apple product users should consider purchasing a reputable high-quality VPN solution for their devices:

• MacOS does not have the ability to stop your ISP or Internet Service Provider to track your online activities.
• iOS does not have the ability to stop your ISP or Internet Service Provider to track your online activities.
• MacOS or iOS do not encrypt all your traffic including on non-secure sites, a VPN solution will fill that gap.
• VPN will enable you to mask you real IP address on the internet, providing increased security and privacy. MacOS and iOS devices do not have the capability.
• Bypass geo-content restrictions by obtaining an IP address for another country. For example if you are in Canada and there is a show or movie on Netflix that is not available for Canadian Netflix users, simply get an U.S address and enjoy that show and movie. Once again, MacOS and iOS does not offer these capabilities.
• MacOs or iOS will not protect you from open and unsecure public Wifi networks such as the ones in cafes, restaurants, hotels, airports, public transport and more. A VPN will ensure all your data is scrambled ensuring your privacy is not compromised in those public locations.

New Devices, Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity

PC monitors, and monitors used to extend laptop display are not typically viewed as a device that would require a security and privacy related solution such as a VPN. The recently launched device by major technology players such as Samsung’s Smart Monitor which is classified by some as part of their home décor changes that picture. This device has the same capabilities as a Smart TV and also connects directly to popular content services such as Netflix Disney+, HBO Max, AppleTV, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube. A VPN solution is relevant for such a device as not only it connects to your home WiFi network and may be used outside your home, removing geo-content restrictions is likely to be needed as some point.

Device Scrutiny

We all should scrutinize every device, appliance and home décor item as it may be cyber connected will need a security-solution such as VPN.

This post is brought to you and contributed by an outside writer.

Being a business owner is not easy.

Being a female business owner is even harder. Society has unfair, unrealistic expectations of women. Women are consistently pushed harder, exposed to fewer opportunities, and paid far less than their male counterparts. This, in part, is why many women become entrepreneurs; they’ve been discriminated out of the traditional W-2 workforce.

Women are expected to do it all and to do it all well. Grant yourself some grace if you don’t always measure up to this unrealistic goal.

Instead, focus on cultivating these soft-skill habits that will help you cope with the unique challenges of being a female business owner.

Confidence

Confidence is one of the single most important personality traits to develop as a female business owner. You may not be able to control every situation, but by trusting yourself and projecting that confidence, more people will believe in you and want to follow you, too.

When you trust yourself, you’ll also be able to judge whether you’re being overly passive in a situation, as we’re often encouraged to act as women. In situations where you’ve been wronged, confidence can help you be more assertive about seeking representation should you ever find yourself needing legal help.

Be Kind to Yourself

If you stand a chance at being successful, you need to get out of your head. Be kind to yourself in the face of failure and humble in the face of victory. The entrepreneurial life can be difficult, so you have to choose to view every ‘failure’ as an opportunity to learn rather than an event you’ll never recover from.

Exercise

Angry that the gender pay gap is not likely to resolve within our working lifetimes?

We are, too.

Working for less is stressful, but it’s a reality we’re all being forced to live in at varying degrees. One of the best ways to beat stress is through exercise, as exercise releases happy hormones and can help maintain your overall health.

The stress is warranted, but it’s going to be there for most if not all of your working career. Dealing with it healthily makes everything a little easier to bear.

Set Priorities and Allow Them to Change

One of the hardest aspects to master when you are a female business owner is the ever-illusive, nearly-impossible-to-truly-obtain-in-real-life balance.

In reality, you’re probably going to need to perpetually assess and readjust your priorities. Work might take center stage one week, while child rearing is front and center the next.

Keep your communication lines open with your employees always and don’t be afraid to delegate.

Goals, goals, goals.

All business owners need their own set of goals. These can be personal or business goals — or even both!

Make sure your goals are smaller and more manageable in the beginning, just until you’ve gained momentum, after that, you can move on to setting (and smashing) any goal you like.

Plan and prepare for how you intend on achieving your goals, that way you will soon find out just how reasonable, and attainable, your goals are.