More and more homeowners are going solar because of many reasons. For one, it helps them cut their energy costs without having to compromise their heating use. Another reason is to do their part in helping the environment by reducing their carbon footprint. At the same time, doing so increases their property value and improves their home efficiency.

No matter what your reason is for installing solar at home, the benefits to go solar will do you good in terms of environmental, economic, and financial. Below are more reasons why you should go for it.

• Eliminate or reduce electricity costs

One of the main driving factors for homeowners to call and book a solar installation by plumbers Gloucester offers is to reduce, if not completely eliminate, electricity bills. Even commercial businesses do it. Electricity costs make up a considerable chunk of monthly home and business expenses, and you want to do everything to save money and reduce costs. When you have a solar panel system installed, you can generate free electricity throughout your system’s lifecycle. This way, you can depend less and less on the power grid, which means reduced costs and increased savings.

• Get returns on your investment

While the initial installation of solar panels is expensive, you shouldn’t treat them as an expense as they are a great way to invest your money. One good reason is it will help you save on electricity costs. Should you decide to sell your house, you can expect the property value to go through the roof. Because of the money you can save on your electricity bills, you can pay off your solar panel system in less than ten years and get an ROI of at least 20%.

• Get protected from the rising power costs

There are many benefits to solar panel installations, and you shouldn’t forget the advantage of hedging utility prices should they increase anytime. We’ve seen an increase in electricity prices for the past decade, and it’s about time homeowners do something about it. While they can’t control the rising prices, they can at least protect themselves by generating their own power through solar panels.

• Increase your property value

There are numerous studies that prove homes with solar panels sell more quickly than properties that don’t have them. You can also expect a better selling price as appraisers value them better because more homeowners are seeking properties with ready-to-use solar energy systems.

• Reduce your carbon footprint

Investing in solar panels is one of the best ways of helping the environment. Burning coal is still bad for the environment and unfortunately, most grids still use this fossil fuel to produce electricity. If you do your part, you can help eliminate up to four tons worth of carbon emissions annually.

Going solar is an investment you should strongly consider. If you have extra money to spare, you might as well spend it on something that will upgrade your property’s efficiency and value.

 

As an employer, it is essential to always look after the welfare of your employees. Nowadays, almost all of the world’s workforce goes through several stressful situations at work. Many complain that they either lack support from management or they are given way too much work.

Stress in the workplace is a matter that should be taken seriously. Some employers think that personal issues may cause this. However, if you investigate further, you will find that some employees are no longer happy with their work. This kind of mindset can cause negativity and poor performance.

Some of the most common symptoms of lack of motivation are high absenteeism and turnover rates, poor performance and lack of employee engagement. If you think that your employees are exhibiting such factors, it is time to take action. Here are some tips for planning a successful team building event and to start motivating your employees to be more productive in the workplace.

What are the advantages of hosting team building activities?

• Help improve productivity and individual statistics.
• Promote better communication to all employees.
• It is an excellent strategy to increase employee motivation.
• Promote teamwork and camaraderie inside and outside the office

How to get started

If you are planning a team building exercise for your employees, here are some essential tips to get you started.

Set a goal

Before moving forward with the team building activity, you need to be clear about your purpose. Having a clear objective can lead you in the right direction, which will ensure that everyone who attends will enjoy it. Ask yourself how many people you will be hosting, what kind of activity you plan to have, and where and when you will be hosting the event.

Look for an ideal location

If you want your team building activity to be successful, then choose a good location. You can browse the internet for big houses for rent and other possible venues for your employees. Make sure that the place will allow you to accommodate all of your planned games and activities. If you are planning to stay for the weekend, then it must have sufficient amenities as well.

Plan transportation

If you have a significant number of people who will be joining the team building activity, it is more practical to arrange for transportation. You can opt to rent several vans or minibuses to take them to the venue. Another option is for employees to carpool to ensure that everyone will be able to make it to the team building event.

Choose a planning committee

In reality, planning, a team-building activity is not easy. It requires much effort to make it happen. That is why, instead of doing it alone, it is best to form a committee which will take charge of the event. They should take care of the food and beverages and plan the programme.

Lastly, make sure to plan your team building activity ahead of time, to avoid setbacks on the day of the event.

Image: https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/05/15/11/07/african-3402716_960_720.jpg

 

Why Personalized Email Marketing Campaigns Win Customers Over

If you already have a job slaying away for someone else, a regular paycheck is at the end of that tunnel. But there’s no light in personal security by helping your boss get rich.

Maybe you work from your residence as a stay-at-home mom or dad. Perhaps you’re a recent college graduate, trying to find a way into the perfect first career in an office that barely pays you enough to make tuna pasta for supper.

Whatever your life situation, there’s a personal dream for something more.

Success Breeds Success Online through Content Strategy

Most of us want to do better but haven’t figured out a way to get there. For many, setting up a source of ongoing passive income is the ticket to financial independence and freedom to live life the way you choose. Without having deep pockets of endless cash to fund your business idea, the-next-best-thing-since-sliced-bread no doubt, how could you possibly get started?

Just do what business enterprise does.

According to a recent survey by UK accounting firm Moore Stephens, American companies dedicated 23 percent of their advertising budgets to digital marketing last year. This is a major increase from the previous year, when just 16 percent of marketing budgets were going toward attracting new customers online.

But why are these facts important to your livelihood?

It’s a clue as to where you need to be in finding a source of secondary income, right where you are at this moment—the digital space. By following some of these principles in persuasion, you could be building new relationships and creating income funnels, simultaneously.

Email Marketing Campaigns Drive Today’s Business Cycles

With more money being spent on digital marketing, it’s also increasingly important that company decision makers are getting as much return on their investment as possible. Why should you be any different?

In the case of digital marketing, one of the easiest ways to make sales efforts more effective is to work on improving your email marketing.

The right email marketing campaign strategy can mean the difference between effective outreach and a project that stalls before it can get out of the gate. By making sure that email marketing campaigns are as personalized and customer targeted as possible, you can feel confident that your digital marketing investments are money well spent.

This post outlines everything that marketing leads, business decision makers, and sole proprietorships like you need to know about the beauty of personalized content and what it can do for email marketing strategy.

Making Things Personal: Why Personalized Email Content Works

Many of the benefits of email marketing are well-known and straightforward: communicating important information to clients or creating opportunities to contact them again are just a couple of email marketing tips.

If you haven’t done email marketing before, have confidence in knowing that you likely already have many of the business tools needed to make a go of it.

• You get emails
• You open emails
• You read emails
• You send emails

That new, secondary source of income is ripe with possibilities when you use the right email marketing strategies. Even if you currently don’t own a business, the very characteristics that corporations utilize to strengthen their digital content strategies live in the personal emails that you, as a consumer, receive and send.

Here’s why.

Master Unique Personal Content Strategy

Think about the last email you wrote and sent to someone you know: a friend, parent, coworker or sister. The content was about something or someone that held your interest and you thought it would do the same for the person you shared it with.

What about the last email you received and opened? Something in the subject line intrigued you enough to click and see the content inside.

These same simple ideologies apply to a business scope as well, but with some fine-tuning.

You might be wondering how one can take a personal email and convert it into a successful business email marketing strategy. Personalized email content based on truly knowing your customer base, their needs and wants, on subconscious and conscious levels, can offer so much more.

Tell them what they want and need. Then convince them of it by telling a story they can relate to. Then repeat.

Epic Fails Happen If You Forget to Follow Through

No matter how talented you may be in the art of persuasion, consumers rarely act on the first instance of exposure to a certain product, service, or event. Today, people are much more discriminating about the content they see and go to great lengths to search the competition, and verify the validity of any business.

Before the internet of things came to be, businesses relied solely on traditional means of marketing to get the word out about what they do, how they do it and the benefits to existing and potential customers. Back then, on average, 18 marketing impressions were needed for a consumer to act.

Today, there are more media channels to tout your marketing initiatives. But the same premise for content success holds true. Keep your messaging consistent and maintain your commitment to delivering a complete campaign.

Commitment and consistency are one of the 6 Principles of Influence founded by Dr. Robert Cialdini that support both marketing and sales in what it takes to get a consumer to say “Yes”. If you create content strategy that includes preset email drip campaigns sent to consumers on a regular basis, this is the follow through that keeps you and your business brand top-of-mind to the recipient. In addition, over time, the consumer will subconsciously expect to receive your messages in the email inbox.

Should your email happen to be delivered to them at the right time based on where they are emotionally, psychologically, and financially, the consistency you provided has already set their commitment in motion.

Target Multiple Customers

The right email content strategy allows you to efficiently generate content that appeals to clients of all ages, beliefs, and backgrounds. This allows your customers to feel like their needs are acknowledged without forcing companies to painstakingly create individually tailored marketing campaigns for each client.

Speak your customers’ language by matching their tone in speech and lifestyle. This can be done by the words you use and how you use them. Visual cues (images and colors) also help create the story you want them to absorb.

Why is this so important? A personalized email marketing strategy is highly focused on meeting clients where they live. When customers feel seen instead of sold to, they are far more willing to make a long-term connection with a brand, even if the company brand is you, the person.

Build Customer Relationships

Targeting customers based on their wants and interests isn’t just a matter of efficiency. It’s also the first step to building real relationships between you and your customers. People respond positively when they feel that their needs have been accounted for. The more personalization you incorporate into your email marketing strategy, the more likely your messaging will ring true with your customers at a deeper level.

Leverage Quality Content

You’ll need to spend time, energy, and resources developing relevant and interesting content. Whether it’s through a bunch of blog posts or a full playlist of videos to share, why not send users directly to the content most relevant to their needs? In your email marketing, include a link to your blog, or a screenshot of a video you’ve posted on your YouTube channel. They feel like you’ve done them a service, building trust, and you’ve driven engagement on your website. It’s hard not to see this as an absolute win.

Solidify Your Brand

By making your email marketing strategy more personal, you also create opportunities to demonstrate to your clients that communication and customer-first attitude are essential parts of your brand. In fact, it’s everything. Each interaction with potential customers builds an impression of your brand. A strategic email marketing plan can make sure those impressions are consistently positive.

Send a Message: What Personalized Email Content Looks Like

Don’t mistake emotional language with personalized content. Your goal is to build a connection with customers, yes, but there’s more to it than that. You are also tasked with making content as accessible and easy-to-consume as possible. The more you make life easier for your potential clients, the easier it is to communicate the features and benefits of your brand.

So what exactly should personalized email content look like? Much of the answer to this would depend on the preferences of your customers, but here are a few basic principles to follow when revising your approach:

• Be friendly, then get to the point – A relaxed greeting goes a long way. Try to avoid dry language and instead use the type of words you might in a casual conversation. Once you’ve said hello, start communicating the point of your message immediately. No one wants to read an email from a stranger for very long.
• Be casual, not over familiar – Be sure to keep it simple, approachable, not corporate, otherwise, that’s a quick way to lose a potential client’s interest. You also want to keep your sentences crisp and paragraphs short. It’s easy to scare off your intended audience with an overbearing wall of text.
• Be helpful, offer more value – Once you’ve introduced your brand and made a connection, you’ll want to seal the deal by directing them to continue reading your email, or visiting your website, or a social media channel. You can do this by including a link to your site or by directing visitors to other information assets, building even more added trust for customers.

What happens when email marketing gets too impersonal?

Remember that there’s always a fine line between making content more personal and getting unprofessional, risking a client relationship. This reminder goes double for industries that deal with sensitive topics, like funeral homes or addiction treatment centers. Getting too personal can turn ugly real fast. That’s why it’s best to avoid sensitive or emotionally charged topics when putting together your messaging for email marketing content.

What Is a Buyer Persona?

Another important component of designing effective email marketing strategies is to incorporate buyer personas into content development. Buyer personas, also known as “marketing personas,” are basically an archetype that represents one of your key customer groups.

When trying to establish who your buyer personas are, ask yourself “Who is my email audience?”

For a company that sells fitness accessories, for example, buyer personas could range from “Vanessa”, a college athlete looking to improve her performance, to “Cindy,” a stay-at-home mom trying to stay in shape.

In this scenario, a company would design content that appeals directly to “Vanessa” and then utilize that content anytime the brand engages with a college athlete. Likewise, stay-at-home moms would be personally targeted with content developed to appeal to “Cindy.” So what types of information should a company use to leverage into a personalized email marketing campaign?

Demographic Info

This type of information includes a potential customer’s age, location, status, gender, and employment. Marketers use this information to design advertising campaigns on a regular basis, and much of this information is available publicly through specialised online tools like Google Analytics. Not all customers that share demographics are identical; however, this is part of the puzzle.

Psychoanalytic Info

You’ll also want to get information about customers’ personal preferences, whether that be their ideology and values or simply their personal interests and hobbies. Collecting this type of information is a bit more difficult and it will likely fall upon you to track down customer data. Conducting surveys, via email, are a great way to build an understanding of who your clients are and what they like (or not).

Getting Started: Finding Support for Personalized Email Marketing

Collecting relevant demographic and personal data, organizing that information into segmented buyer personas, and presenting it all in an attractive way to your customers is a huge undertaking. That’s why it makes sense to learn as much about the process as possible and to develop a detailed, long-term digital marketing strategy. To this end, it might make sense to bring in some expert help, especially if you’re serious about building a successful passive income stream through an online business.

About the Author:

Jenny Stradling is the CEO and founder of Eminent SEO, an experienced, full-service digital marketing agency with a passion for making the Internet a better place. Jenny’s goal is to rid the digital landscape of poorly designed websites and unethical digital marketing practices. She works toward this goal personally, one client at a time. By leveraging decades of combined experience and a proven system for generating qualified leads, Eminent SEO ensures you’ll receive the best service possible.

 

Investing is an important part of building wealth. The sole purpose of investing is to increase your disposable income and earn way more. Below are 5 low-risk investments with high returns.

High Yield Savings Accounts

If you’re looking for a safe way to invest, consider a high-yield savings account. With these accounts, the return is the nominal interest rate of the funds you have deposited.
This strategy only requires opening an account and depositing your funds. You do not have to work hard for this investment. The best savings accounts offer great interest rates at no cost.

Before opening an account, you must find a reputable bank. Look for quality customer service, easy access and provision of online account management.

Drop-Shipping

It’s almost identical to affiliate marketing. However, users sell certain products directly to their clients. You can sell products without meeting your inventory requirements by managing the buying process. Despite the complexity of the implementation, the return on investment is much higher than that of the associated company. If it works, you can also do international e-commerce.

Laundry Service

Another great idea is laundry service. You can visit apartments and distribute flyers to with information about your service. There are few washing machines in the built area of the UK. You can take this opportunity to make good business with the laundry service. You can work with prepayment laundries to provide existing customers with a “delivery option.” It takes a small amount of capital to start, but it works well.

Start a Blog

If you really want to make money online, create a blog. Blogging is one of the simplest and most sustainable sources of income. As long as your blog is set up in the right way and it addresses the right audience, you can get as much passive income from your blog. This offer can complement your earnings.

Some may find it difficult to create a blog, but it’s pretty easy to understand the specific steps to follow. It all starts with the decision to choose a niche and choose the right domain name. From there, you need to market your content to give it a larger audience. Stay consistent and watch your blog grow.

Email Marketing

If you’re interested in online marketing, set up your email software and create magnets that you can use in your sales channels. Then, create the list. It is often said that every subscriber pays about a euro a month. If you have a list of 10,000 subscribers that means you can earn about £10,000 a month. You just have to provide value in every email and sell it, which is a very achievable goal in no time.

There are many ways to include people in your list. For example, you can create eBooks, lists, and cheat sheets. However, you can also upgrade content, such as PDF articles with other resources and a series of four-part training videos. Think about your audience and then provide them with better service.

Investment is by far the best option to go for when seeking financial security. We’d all want to achieve financial independence and become our own bosses. This, however, is a journey but with these investment ideas, you are better placed at beginning your own personal journey towards financial security.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

If you haven’t made an investment into digital marketing for your business as of yet, you’re selling yourself short. Businesses around the world have invested more time, money, and effort into their digital marketing methods, because quite frankly, that’s how to increase sales volumes and turn a profit.

Consumers spend a good chunk of their time on digital outlets, like Facebook, Google, Instagram, or their email accounts. If you aren’t taking advantage of these digital platforms to market your brand, you’ll become obsolete (if you haven’t already). Obviously you already understand the importance of catering to your targeted audience, and there’s a good chance that members of your targeted audience are online as we speak.

According to a recent poll among business owners, the highest percentage of investment for digital marketing is in social media, followed by website development, email marketing, and search engine optimization. It’s time to join them if you haven’t already, and here’s why.

Consumers spend tons of time on social media

Whether you see this as valuable time spent or not, you can’t change the fact that more and more people are spending a solid chunk of time on their social media accounts. Research is showing that the younger millennials spend an average of 8 hours per day browsing through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.

Even the older crowd is spending a few hours on Facebook each day. These social media users aren’t just connecting with old friends and new acquaintances; they’re also being exposed to an insane amount of consumer products and services. If your not utilizing these social media platforms, your missing out on a huge number of potential customers.

Consumers know a good website from a bad one

Marketing experts are talking more and more about the importance of the user experience. This basically means that you need to focus on the experience that the customer has when working with your business. More specifically, though, it refers to the experience of using your company website.

These days, you don’t have to be particularly tech savvy to differentiate a good website from a poorly built one. And having a good website is essential, since it is often the first thing that the consumer sees regarding your brand, and it is the thing that convinces the consumer to shop with you and make a purchase. If you’re not tech savvy yourself, don’t try to make the site on your on through a basic WordPress or Wix account. Hire a pro web developer for a pro site.

Consumers trust Google

If a potential customer types in a few words on Google in search of a plumbing company in Cincinnati, and your Cincinnati-based plumbing company doesn’t show up, you won’t receive that person’s business. Even if you are the best of the best when it comes to plumbing, it makes no difference if Google doesn’t rank you within the first page of results. In order to get to the first page, you need to invest some time and money into SEO digital marketing.

 

When undergoing the task of professional resume writing, there are certain rules you should follow. Obviously you should avoid spelling and grammar mistakes at all costs, but that’s not all you need to do. It turns out, there are actually quite a few rules to follow when writing the perfect resume. Here’s what they are.

No First Person Pronouns

Your resume should not include words like “I” or “me” or “my”. This is a common mistake, which is completely understandable since you’re resume is in fact all about you. But even so, do your best to avoid first person pronouns at all costs. Instead of saying, “I managed all major advertising accounts within the firm,” keep it short with “Managed all major advertising accounts”.

Always Send As a PDF

When you send your resume out with your application, you should always send it as a PDF file. Don’t send it as a Word document – or God forbid a Google Docs page. When you send it as a PDF, you’ll just be sending an image of the resume rather than a document that contains all the text. This ensures that the people reading view it in exactly the same format as it is intended to be seen.

Don’t Ignore the Labeling

When you send the PDF document, you might not realize that the person opening the file can see what that file is labeled as. Perhaps you’ve saved your resume as “My KickAss Resume” and didn’t realize that this named remained as the label until after the fact. Always label your resume as something professional, like First Name Last Name Resume.pdf.

Readability is Key (and So Is Consistency)

Delivering a resume that is easy to read is essential. Readability is determined by a few things, including word choice, sentence structure, and overall flow. There are certain tools you can use to rank your resume’s readability before you send out the final draft. One of these is called Readability Score, which will actually give you a score on how readable the content is and tell you how to improve it.

One of the main causes of low readability is inconsistency in verb tense. Do your best to stay consistent throughout the page by keeping the verb tense the same. Also, stay consistent with other factors as well, like font, bolded words, and structure.

Drop Names (and Titles) Like It’s Your Job

This is your ultimate chance to brag (that’s essentially all that a resume is). If you received a promotion at your last job where you got the chance to work directly with the CEO, don’t be afraid to mention that person’s name. This will resonate well with any potential employer and also show that you’re confident.

However, keep in mind that references aren’t necessary for applying to jobs. There is only so much available on that tiny 8 ½ x 11” page, so don’t waste the space with reference. You can always include them afterwards after your resume has been looked over.

Who knew there were so many rules to writing a resume?! As long as you stick to these, your resume will be within the top contenders for any job you apply for.

 

Effective communication can make or break a company. It’s often the difference between a positive and negative customer experience. With small business owners juggling ten roles at once and working long hours, it can be easy to lose focus on the importance of keeping communication lines open, which is one of the reasons it is vital to streamline processes as much as possible. Here are five essential strategies for small business:

Communicate via the Cloud

If you don’t have a technological background, you may not be aware of the advantages of moving to an Internet-based phone system. You may have heard terms like “Broadsoft hosted PBX” and “hosted private branch exchange” thrown around, but what does it all mean? In simple terms, an internet-based phone system or hosted PBX means your business phone system is hosted on the cloud, just like moving from Microsoft Office to Office 365. With a cloud-based system, you don’t have to pay for, install, and update hardware – this happens automatically over the internet. It also allows you to access your business phone system anywhere, anytime, with advanced security so that no one will be able to tell whether you are taking a call on the road, from your lounge at home, or the office.

Create an Open Forum for Employees

Keeping internal lines of communication open helps to make employees feel valued and recognized. It also creates a culture of team spirit, accountability, and improved efficiency. Many organizations have moved away from email as a primary communication tool and are using chat programs for a more immediate and less formal option. Responding promptly to questions and queries will help keep the business running smoothly and minimize roadblocks, delays, and frustrations. Try WhatsApp, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.

Encourage Feedback

Actively request and respond to feedback, both internally and externally. The best way to grow, learn, and improve as a company is to identify the pain points and strengths of your business and use this information when making decisions and creating plans going forward. To streamline business feedback, consider surveying your customers every quarter, assigning accountability for reviewing and responding to online reviews, and holding a monthly meeting with staff members to throw ideas around.

Listen and Be Present

We are always overwhelmed with distractions in our everyday lives – email notifications, texts, phone calls, suddenly remembering something we forgot to do, thinking ahead to what is next on our agenda. It can be challenging to switch all of the distractions off and focus entirely on the conversation and issue at hand. However, being present and listening and responding to the discussion at hand is an essential skill for excellent communication and often helps you get to the crux of the issue more quickly and effectively. Practicing mindfulness will help you to quiet your racing mind and focus on each task individually, which in term will help you to be more productive and minimize errors.

Finesse your Filing System

Gone are the days of employing a great receptionist with a stellar filing system, who could magically produce the right document at the drop of a hat from the paper archives. You need to implement a simple and intuitive filing system. Make sure that you have both a consistent file naming strategy and a folder structure that everyone understands and follows.

Setting up robust systems and processes is vital to streamlining communications for your business, so make it a priority.

 

Multitasking has always been a quality required of employees at work. But what if we told you that does not always have to be the case? Being an efficient employee is what matters most, and they do not multitask to the point of exhaustion. Efficiency should also apply to appliances in the office, as they take more energy when not utilised properly. Learn how to increase energy efficiency in the office in five straightforward ways.

Change utility provider

If it is not working out with your utility provider, then accept the fact that it is time to move on to a new and better one. If they are hard to reach, have non-negotiable contracts, or have unexplained charges on your energy bill, consider getting a utility bidder. They will search for the best deal in your area, and take note of the factors why you were unsatisfied with your previous service. Once you find the perfect fit, your company’s energy bill will not cost as much as before.

Seal all ductwork or cracks

Tiny crevices in the walls might be invisible to some, but they affect energy efficiency in the office. If you use air conditioners in every room, the air that comes out of them can escape through those miniscule cracks. It will then take more time for the room to cool, making the device use more energy. The same goes for the ductwork, so make sure that it is free from any holes.

Check the tap for any leaks

Believe it or not, the tap affects the energy bill as well. Always shut it off properly after every use and remind the next user to do so. If you notice a leak, call in professionals that can fix the problem. Not only does a leaky tap contribute to a higher energy bill, but it also wastes water. A simple act like this conserves two of the most important resources in the world.

Change light bulbs

Incandescent light bulbs are a thing of the past. Either switch to LED or CFL lights, which use a tenth of the energy compared to old ones. They are not as expensive as they were before, so snap them up when you find a good deal. These newer light bulbs are more illuminating as well, which makes it easier for employees to see everything they need for their jobs.

Replace old appliances that are not energy efficient

Most of us value devices that still work great after a decade. However, check first if they have an Energy Star rating. If they do not have it, they are most likely contributing to the office’s high energy bills. Change them before they break down completely, and get those with energy-saving settings or functions. Sometimes, old appliances have parts that are not available anymore. It will be costly to repair them when they get worn out. Today’s current technology takes note of energy consumption, so it should not be difficult to replace those old devices.

Energy is a finite resource, and it is up to us to use it wisely and efficiently.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

 

Much has been made by the American press about President Trump’s unwillingness to negotiate a settlement with China over the increasingly hostile tariff dispute. China has stated it will raise tariffs on American products by $60 billion in American dollars. The claim came just one day after the Trump administration plans to increase the duties on Chinese goods by more than $200 billion,

Although the agriculture sector has received the most publicity when it comes to the economic damage the reciprocal increase in tariffs will cause, another sector could be reeling as well.

We are talking about the manufacturers of natural stone countertops.

Chinese Tariffs and Natural Stone Prices

The demand for home improvement services has skyrocketed since the beginning of 2018. However, the cost of doing business for home improvement contractors has soared as well. Part of the blame for rising home improvement project costs is the high duties imposed on Chinese natural stone products.

America’s latest tariff salvo in the war of trade with the China included around $10 billion worth of Chinese home remodeling products exclusively designed and constructed in China. According to the Trump Administration, the latest round of duties starts at 10%, with the potential of the tariffs hitting 25% by the end 2019. Reaching duties of 25% on Chinese goods by the end of the year depends on if the two countries resolve their trade differences.

Home remodeling contractor Justin Sullivan oversees home improvement projects in the greater Washington, D.C. area. He said that home remodeling costs are rising so fast that he has resorted to implementing a strategy he never thought his company would ever have to use.

“Clients and contractors are having to set contracts with escalation clauses for projects that are being scheduled for six months from now, largely because we’re not sure how far prices are going to go north,” he said. “It makes them want to do the project more quickly, trying to get it done. Then it’s looking at ways to save money that will bring down the costs so the overall budget doesn’t increase,” he said. “It puts a little bit more pressure on everyone to try and be as diligent about the costs as possible.”

The Trade War Impact on Countertops

The latest round of tariffs will also negatively impact the price for natural stone countertops, especially for marble, granite, and quartz. According to the U. S. Commerce Department, the federal government is investigating the possibility that China has flooded the American natural stone market with quartz. The Commerce Department went on to claim “that exporters received subsidies ranging from 34.38 to 178.45 percent.” As the result of the alleged dumping, the American government plans to slap an import duty on specific quartz surface products that have been valued to be worth nearly $500 million. Quartz countertops represent one of the surface materials mentioned in the Commerce Department press release.

Price of Quartz Soars

Just anticipating the duties to be imposed on China’s quartz surface products has triggered a substantial increase in the price of the material.

“I know for fact that one of my distributors stopped ordering three quartz colors because prices are jumping high enough so it’s not worth it anymore,” sales manager at Rockville, Maryland-based Stone & Tile World, Goran Zucik, said. “China was producing them by hand and no one can copy the way they were making some colors. Some of my cabinet companies want to use these colors in their remodeled showroom, but I have to tell them that these will not be available.”

However, the addition of the duties paid to export Chinese quartz benefits American quartz manufacturer Cambria, which is the company that filed the first complaint against the Chinese. President and CEO of Cambria, Marty Davis, said, “This determination is the result of the agency’s thorough investigation and confirms what the petition alleged—that China has unfairly subsidized quartz surface products to highjack the U.S. market and as a result these unfairly traded imports have flooded the U.S. market,” “This is a critical first step toward restoring a level playing field within our industry, fulfilling the obvious axiom: there is no such thing as free trade without fair trade.”

Current Price of Granite Countertops

If you are a homeowner considering installing a granite countertop, the American-Chinese trade war should cause at least a slight increase in the price of granite. As of June 2019, you can purchase a slab of granite for between $40 and $60 per square foot. For less expensive granite tile, the trade war should not trigger an increase in price, which is now at between $5 and $15 for every square foot. The average amount of money American homeowners spend on the installation of a granite countertop ranges from $2,000 to $4,500, which might increase by the end of 2019.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

As a freelancer, you depend on your MacBook. Without it and a strong Wi-Fi connection, you wouldn’t be able to get through your day. If it stopped working properly, you would go into a full-blown panic spiral over late deadlines, missed hours and, of course, costs for repairs and replacements.

Your MacBook is your ultimate work tool. Here is how you can take care of it and make sure it stays in great shape:

Do Some Clean-Up

Sometimes you’re going to need to give your laptop a tune-up. One of the things you’re going to want to do for your MacBook maintenance is get rid of the junk that’s cluttering up your system — this could be drafts that never saw the light of day, old pictures or unwanted apps. Anything that you don’t want to use, delete. And when that’s done, empty the trash.

You can download an app like CleanMyMac X to save yourself the effort of combing through every nook and cranny of your computer. It will uninstall apps that you don’t use, delete caches, remove cookies and trash old files for you. It also runs a scan to detect malware, neutralizing any threats that it finds.

It’s essential that you don’t let the junk build back up all over again. Every few months, give yourself some time to do another clean-up. It will ensure that your MacBook stays organized, efficient and fast.

Give It Some Coverage

The appearance of your MacBook might not seem that important, but you don’t want to meet with a client with an awful-looking device. They don’t want to see all those scuff marks, fingerprints and smudges. Think of it like going to an interview in a pair of dirty gym clothes versus showing up in a freshly dry-cleaned suit.

A premium vinyl skin will keep your MacBook looking fresh and professional whether you’re sitting at your desk at home or meeting up with a brand-new client at a coffee shop. The high-quality material and the precision fit will guarantee that your device gives off a good impression whenever you’re working.

As an extra benefit, the accessory is designed to protect your MacBook from cosmetic damage. That means no more micro scratches, scuff marks or stains. Underneath the skin, the laptop will stay spotless.

Think About Your Battery

You want to make sure that your battery doesn’t drain too quickly after it’s charged up, especially if you’ve forgotten the adapter at home. You want it to last for a good chunk of your workday.

One of the best ways to take care of your MacBook battery is to keep the device at a regulated temperature — anything too hot or too cold could affect its short-term and long-term efficiency. Even though it’s tempting to work outdoors during the summer months, you don’t want it to soak up too much sunlight and overheat.

Another good idea is to check if you’ve missed out on the latest update. Running a software update can speed up your MacBook’s performance, patch up vulnerabilities and push features to use less energy. An up-to-date system will be much easier on the battery.

Every MacBook comes with a set battery cycle count that will significantly impact the battery quality once it’s reached. You can find your current cycle count by going into the Apple menu, clicking System Information, clicking Power and then Battery Information. Recent models will have a cycle count of 1000.

If your battery cycle has reached this point, you have three options:

• Live with the lower-quality battery life
• Visit Apple Support to see if you can replace the battery
• Replace your MacBook with a newer model

As a freelancer, you are relying on your MacBook to run through those intense deadlines and major projects. You don’t have an IT department to turn to if something goes wrong. One way to save yourself the frustration and sky-high Apple Support payments is to follow these tips for taking good care of it.

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.