Monat: August 2020

Oh boy.

It’s time for me to eat some crow.

And that’s REALLY difficult for me to do because I have a fear of certain birds.

Anyway…

There are articles all over the Web about why discounting your products is bad.

I ignored them and thought that was odd advice.

Some of you warned me about Udemy.

I ignored that too.

My goal was to make my courses affordable for people to learn, and many of you praised me for that.

But I didn’t really understand the long-term limitations of a pricing structure like Udemy’s.

If you have not launched your product yet and/or are considering Udemy to sell your online courses, please pay attention.

There’s also a podcast for this post. If you’d like to listen, scroll to the bottom.

Constant Discounting Creates a Price Ceiling

The ongoing discount strategy is NOT good for the long run, and it often creates a proverbial ceiling when it comes to what some people will pay.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Offering too-frequent discounts trains people to buy only when there’s a sale.” quote=”Offering too-frequent discounts trains people to buy only when there’s a sale.”]

When a large discount is the #1 motivating factor for purchasing, you attract a lot of people who…

• Put off starting/completing the course
• Don’t take action
• Are less motivated (because they haven’t invested much money)
• Are more likely to expect a coupon before buying again (This one is HUUUUUGE!)

As a result, you have to sell a lot of cheap products to make worthwhile money, and you often end up with a less engaged student due to the low risk/investment.

Of course this is not ALWAYS the case, but I have a good sample size of Udemy stats to study and the results are clear…

When I opted out of the Udemy promotions last Summer, it was amazing to see the increase in course engagement/completion and how the average ratings improved.

The bottom line is…

[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t price low. Pack your product with value, and charge what it’s worth.” quote=”Don’t price low. Pack your product with value, and charge what it’s worth.”]

Should You Avoid Udemy?

If you care more about the volume of students, and are not concerned with the amount you earn per sale, then Udemy is fine.

Just understand that your income will largely depend on how much Udemy promotes your course (if you cannot drive sales yourself). And many of your students will never pay more than a certain price.

Notice I didn’t say “ALL” but “MANY.”

There are instructors on Udemy who are doing very well and are happy with their model. So I would never say it’s bad for everyone.

It’s just not for ME anymore, and I won’t be uploading there again.

Even though I’ve opted out of the discounts, there is still an unspoken expectation for what my courses SHOULD sell for because they are on a notoriously discounted platform.

I know this to be true because I’ve gotten messages in my inbox from people begging for coupons.

One guy was so relentless, I had to block him after the 10th message in a 3 day period.

Another guy criticized me because my courses weren’t part of the promotions.

Oh the NERVE of me for not selling a 3 hour course for 15 bucks!

I had two emails this morning from someone asking for a coupon.

And when people on Udemy ask for a coupon, they don’t want $5 or $10 off.

They want 75 to 90% off.

I’m Done.

This is exactly why Udemy is a bad choice for people who want to sell courses over a certain amount. That discount expectation is a killer.

They tried to fix this last year with a limited discount structure, but it flopped badly.

Just like JCPenneys discovered when trying something similar, they realized people need to FEEL they’re getting a discount.

Udemy knew they had to change it back so they could keep profits up. It may not benefit all the instructors, but it benefits THEIR bottom line.

So it really doesn’t matter what you price your course if you’re opted in to the discounts.

In most people’s eyes the value is always under $25.

That expectation is always there, and if you don’t offer that, you may look sleazy or like you’re trying to rip someone off.

It doesn’t matter how detailed your course is or that it’s 3 hours long. It “should” be cheap because it’s on Udemy.

Students wait for the next promotion, and it’s typically just a few weeks away.

And who could blame them? Why wouldn’t they wait for a discount? That’s the precedent Udemy set.

I’m just glad we can opt out.

I do get full-price marketplace sales (referred by Udemy) quite often for my affiliate course, but I bet they are from new students who haven’t figured out the “Udemy system” yet.

I also hate how their pricing looks scammy. “Oh, let me price my 30 minute course at $200 when I know it will sell for $20.”

Nope.

When you opt out, YOU control your prices.

Think Long Term When Setting Prices

The decision to start cheap will always hurt my course sales in some way because I set a low price expectation.

So if you want to control how much your course will sell for, you should consider other options like Teachable (where my future courses will be uploaded).

My 2create courses will stay on Udemy (minus the Udemy promos, of course) for now, and existing students will always have access to them even if I stop selling there. It’s part of their terms.

The truth is, only a small percentage of Udemy instructors earn a substantial amount of money selling courses cheap.

If you happen to have a top course in an in-demand niche, you could make five figures per month selling courses at $10 or $15 due to Udemy promoting your course for you.

Just remember that if you rely on Udemy for your sales, a competitor could come along with a better course and Udemy may promote their course over yours.

Many instructors feel trapped and obligated to participate in the Promotions because without them, they would hardly make anything due to the fact the students look for the discounts and they don’t have an audience.

Well I don’t feel obligated at all — even if that means I earn less.

I have no regrets about opting out of the Promotions last year.

I would much rather have 5 students who pay $100 than 100 students who pay $10.

When people invest more into a course, they are far more likely to complete it, act on the content and buy ANOTHER course for the same price or more.

If you attract more students that really NEED your course and not just motivated by a discount, you’ll make more in the long run.

So you have to sell fewer courses to reach your income goals, and you’re getting paid for your work.

“I Can’t Afford That Price!”

So how do you deal with people who complain about price?

If people are used to discounts, no doubt those comments will come. I get this all the time now that I opted out of the Promotions.

You simply explain that you invested a lot of time into creating your product, and your price is set to reflect that.

Why should you disregard the work you put into creating something just because someone doesn’t want to pay?

A higher price will help communicate the value of those who are ready to commit time and money, and drive those away who aren’t.

It’s that simple.

I’m no longer afraid of driving people away like I was before.

It’s about learning to create a product that people NEED and WANT instead of trying to target anyone and everyone by dangling a cheap price in their face.

Private Groups Are Beneficial

Creating a private Facebook group for my Spreadshirt (and future POD T-shirt design students) has been a learning tool for me as a course creator.

It’s helped me learn where I need to improve with structuring my courses.

I am listening to the problems that people have and noticed a common theme with the challenges many of you face that I wouldn’t have picked up on without the group.

I’ve had several A-HA moments!

This gives me direction with my upcoming 101 print on demand course.

So it’s not just about jacking up your prices. You also have to improve, deliver and give people what they need and want.

It’s a two-way street.

So having a group where you can interact with your potential students is great because you can learn about what they want and where they struggle most.

I will certainly use this info for my future courses.

I’m working hard to ensure the courses are setup for optimal learning and easy implementation.

I have to do my part too.

Quantity Doesn’t Matter

This may be hard to believe, but I don’t care about high enrollment numbers right now.

If I did, I’d still be opted in to the Udemy promotions.

For me, it’s about removing that cheap course expectation and finding the right price point that…

• reflects value and doesn’t look cheap
• pays me back for the time invested
• is affordable

And you know what?

I STILL don’t have the perfect formula for pricing a product. I’m going to be testing and welcome you to share what you’ve learned.

But I can tell you this…

Giving products away for cheap is NOT the answer for me.

If you’ve benefited from my discounts then you might not like this. It might look greedy or that I’ve changed.

Well you’re right.

I have changed.

I’ve learned that it makes no business sense to price below the value for the long run.

As you can see, I’m such a work in progress when it comes to all this selling stuff, but I wanted to share what I’ve learned.

Listen To The Podcast

This topic was so important that I decided to also do a podcast. You can listen below or right-click this link and download the mp3 file here.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone has been feeling a little bit anxious. Property managers definitely have their hands full with dealing with collecting rent from many who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.  This paints landlords as “bad guys,” but there are some things you can do during this pandemic to help you be the best property manager you can be.

Get Creative

Taylor Equities recommends being in really good communication with your investors and property owners. Having a good relationship with them can help you to think outside of the box together on ways that you can mitigate losses during these hard times. Working out payment plans, or delaying rent for 1-3 months for people can end up losing you much less money than having a vacant property for a year. Obviously, you need to understand the situation of your renters also and be in good communication with them to find out how their job search is going etc.

Seeing if there are any local programs to help landlords cover missed income is also important to do in case there are any programs that can help.

Organize Carefully

With so much going on, Taylor Equities Apartments suggest making sure you have a good daily gameplan of all of the things you need to accomplish as a property manager. When things fall through the crack, you can quickly find yourself in a lot of trouble. It’s hard to hold renters accountable if they can’t hold you accountable when it comes to repairs or coming through on something you said you were going to do. Happiness goes both ways, and getting your renters to trust you, and you being able to trust your renters is essential to maximize success.

These tips can help any property manager better navigate the current economic conditions and increase their chances of success with with their investors and renters.

With the integration of new technology in businesses, data breaches and privacy vulnerabilities have become quite common. One study attributed 27% of data breaches to “human error.” The same study reported that 25% of data breaches are due to “system glitches.” These data breaches do not come without a cost. An estimated 7.91 million dollars is directly lost by businesses due to data breach, according to a 2018 study. These are tough times but all is not lost, though. You can still take concrete measures to protect your startup from a data breach. We have compiled a few steps you can take to keep your small business safe from data breaches.

Limit access to confidential information

Too many breaches are caused by staff involved in leaking company information. Most do so by accidentally passing data to hackers. Other times, the data is taken by malicious ex-employees. So, what do you do to ensure that your data is in safe hands? The simplest way to avoid data breaches in business is to limit access to sensitive data. Give access to only needed data to the relevant employees.

For example, your business finance information should only be accessed by the staff in the right department. It shouldn’t be readily available to everyone else in your organization. Similarly, your employees’ details are best left to the human resource department to be the custodian. This ensures that information is in the safe hands of only those responsible for handling it, reducing the chances of a data breach.

It is also smart to ensure you cut off access to your company systems the moment an employee leaves. You can do so by changing the access credentials and wiping out related data. This way, there will be more accountability regarding the handling of data by your employees. This will significantly reduce the risk of costly data breaches

Educate your employees on cybersecurity

Suffice it to say; your employees are the strongest defense against cyber attacks or the weakest link. That is why you need to take a proactive and progressive approach to educate your entire workforce about cybersecurity threats. You need to create awareness of the counter-measures they can take before someone compromises your system and data. You can enlighten your employees by doing the following:

• Elucidate on the potential impact of a cybersecurity threat. Explain the risks involved in case your employee leaves their laptop unattended in public spaces or when they use public WiFi to access corporate information. By making your staff understand the potential impact of their behaviors, they will be aware of things they can do and what they should not do to protect your data.
• Train your staff to recognize and respond appropriately to cyber threats: Most cyber threats appear authentic from a distance. Teach your employees how to identify such threats as phishing emails, which may turn out to be malicious. Let them know that they should open emails from trusted sources only. In case of a data breach, equip them with the skills of dealing with the event to save your company money and reputation.

Reduce BYOD security risks

The “Bring Your Own Device” trend is gaining traction around. Well, letting your employees use their own devices for official work purposes has substantial benefits. It increases their efficiency and productivity. They can access your company data from anywhere they have an internet connection. Also, research has shown that workers are more comfortable using their own devices for work.

But, BYOD comes with a potential data breach. Hence, you need to create a BYOD strategy that will allow your employees to accomplish more work. At the same time, you need to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. Here is how you can achieve that:

• Implement MDM plan: A mobile device management for small businesses gives you greater control over the devices your staff is using. With MDM, your staff can access your company data in a central, secure location separate from their applications. Your workers can use their devices for business functions without compromising the security of your company data.
• Create and enforce strict policies: Have a clear policy on the type of devices and apps your staff is allowed to use. This enables your employees to understand the secure way to use their devices to enhance their performance.

Increase password security

Strong passwords go a long way in preventing a data breach. They are vital to preventing hackers from accessing sensitive information. As such, you should ensure that your team creates strong passwords to log into your business portal.

Tip: a strong password should contain at least eight characters. It should contain upper- and lower-case letters as well as symbols. Ensure that the passwords are changed as often as possible to heighten security.

Wrap up

Technology has increased efficiency in business, and it is bound to get even better. There is a dark side, though. There is a rise in cybersecurity issues that you need to keep an eye on. Remember, no business is too small for a cyberattack. So, work to keep your startup safe from some of these costly attacks.

Starting a new business is exciting. The prospect of crafting a service, building it from the ground up and letting it out into the world is exhilarating, but at the same time, starting a new business can be daunting, scary and difficult. Any average Joe or Jane can start their own company; in fact, starting is easy, but making that business a success and getting it to take off is where the challenge comes in. 

Far too many business die before they get the chance to live, and not because the service they provide is rubbish, or that the staff isn’t good enough. It’s usually because the business owners didn’t do everything they could to maximize the chances of success. The reason for this is because they didn’t know what to do. Here are some of the most essential things to do to give your small business a boost. 

Determine Your Target Market Quick

It would be nice if the product you sold or service you provided catered to every demographic on the planet, but the truth is not everyone is going to be interested in what you do. Trying to advertise and sell your business to everyone by giving your business a broad scope, can make your most prime customers feel neglected. 

Although it may feel like you’re limiting yourself, it’s best to focus on one particular group of people that you believe would be most interested in what you do. Once you figure out who that is, tailor your brand, your colour scheme and your content to appeal to those people to bring them in. Researching competitors is a great way to figure out who you should go for and what you should look like. By focusing on your target market, you’ll stand out a lot more and quickly infiltrate your business’s niche and eventually become a big player in that. 

Don’t Ignore IT

Using IT gives your business a plethora of tools to play with and utilize to make you more productive and effective. It can provide a platform for instant communication between staff and clients, can give you access to useful specialist software to make certain tasks easier, and help you be more mobile and flexible due to cloud computing. IT is essential for any business to keep up and be competitive; however, a lot of new businesses are put off from implementing it due to the perceived costs of integrating it with your business. 

Having a dedicated IT department is costly and also impractical for new businesses. That’s why using an external company to outsourceIT is a far better option for new businesses as these companies manage, install and monitor all your IT solutions for a monthly fee, meaning you can stay competitive and enjoy all the resources that IT brings.

Market Yourself Better

People aren’t going to use your service or buy your goods if they don’t know that you exist, and that’s why marketing is so important for a new business. It’s important to get your identity clear from the get go, which includes colour schemes and layouts, fonts and logos, as well as tone of voice and the type of content you create. 

In the modern age, social media marketing and digital marketing plays a key role, so it’s critical to get your website and social media pages set up quickly and use them regularly to try and drive engagement to your social channels and hopefully convert these followers to your website and services. 

Digital marketing can be daunting for those that haven’t tried it before, that’s why a lot of businesses of varying size are employing marketing agencies to aid them in this process. Don’t neglect other forms of marketing as well: leaflets, flyers, newspaper adverts as well as podcast appearances and radio interviews are all good ways to get your brand out there and into the open. 

If you’re on a tight budget and struggling to save money then you’re not alone. A whole 23 percent of Americans have no savings while a further 22 percent only have three months’ worth of money saved.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Sure, it’s difficult to put money aside when you’re living month to month, but by keeping track of expenses, re-evaluating your needs, and shopping around, it’s possible to start saving small amounts.

Want to know how to save up money fast? Keep reading to find out!

Track Your Spending and Make a Budget

Learning how to budget and save money fast can be tough, but it’s even tougher if you’re not sure where your money is going.

Get a hold on your expenses by working out how much you spend on essentials like rent and utilities. Then, go over online statements and categorize every payment under headings such as ‘food’ and ‘entertainment’.

Once you’ve got a better idea of essential expenses such as rent, planning how to pay off debt fast and save money means making a strict budget for everything else.

Out With the Old

Wondering how to save a lot of money fast? In truth, the best method is to make more money to save.

One of the easiest ways to make money is by selling things you don’t need anymore. There are plenty of apps and websites devoted to selling old items, making it super simple to get cash for junk cars or turn piles of unwanted clothes into a wad of cash.

Save Before You Spend

Make a real commitment to saving by transferring a part of your salary into a free savings account as soon as you get paid.

Even if you can only set aside $50 a month, don’t worry – it’s still a step in the right direction. You never know, once you have a better idea of your expenses and get a taste for saving money, you may be able to increase these monthly payments.

Cash Only

A simple yet effective way to learn how to save money fast is by paying for everything in cash.

Swiping your card doesn’t produce the same emotional response that handing over your hard-earned cash does. As a result, it’s easier to spend more on plastic and harder to keep track of purchases.

What’s more, since you can’t spend what you don’t have, paying for everything in cash means you’re much less likely to go over budget.

Shop Around

Figuring out how to save money fast on a low-income budget means shopping around. We don’t just mean at the store either. Every one of your expenses should be subject to change if a better deal comes along.

You’ll have to be proactive though. This means contacting your internet provider, insurance companies, and utility companies to see if they can cut your bills. If not, go elsewhere.

As for saving on groceries, use coupons, stockpile non-perishable foods and cleaning products whenever they’re on special offer and cherry-pick the best deals from different stores.

How to Save up Money Fast

As these tips show, it’s a lot easier to learn how to save up money fast if you have a clear plan in place.

All it takes are small changes to the way you spend and save money, and you’ll see your savings grow in no time.

For more money-saving tips, be sure to check out our other blog posts!

Investing is one of the best ways to build wealth.

When it comes to the stock market, it can seem tempting to throw all of your money into a brokerage account and start buying stocks. However, you’ll have to be careful because you can lose all of your money just as quickly as you deposited it.

By following several tips on investments, you can go into investing without feeling lost. Fortunately, the most important tips for investing don’t require much work as they’re easy to do.

Keep on reading to learn more about 5 beginner tips for investing!

1. Save Money Before Investing

One of the first things you’ll want to do when it comes to investing as a beginner is to save money. Many beginners make the mistake of investing without much money in their accounts. This can cause them to quickly lose money because they may not know what they’re doing.

When you build up a savings account, you’ll have many more options available to you because you’ll have more money to invest. This will let you invest in larger companies that typically raise in value, such as Tesla, Apple, Google, etc.

If you’re interested in day trading, you’ll need to save up at least $25,000. This is because the PDT rule (pattern day trader) prevents traders from making more than four or more day trades within a week. While you can make a few day trades, doing less than 4 in a week isn’t worthwhile because you won’t make much money.

When you have $25,000 in your brokerage account, you can make unlimited day trades providing that your balance stays above that amount. So if you fall to $24,000, you will no longer be able to day trade as often.

2. Open a Roth IRA Account

A Roth IRA account is something that many people are unaware of because most people don’t learn about it until they dive into investing. These accounts are highly beneficial to new traders, especially those that are younger.

With a Roth IRA, you can deposit up to $6,500 into it each year as of 2020. These accounts guarantee an annual return of anywhere between 7-10%, and the best part about them is that the deposited money is tax-free.

This is essentially a savings account because you’re not supposed to withdraw the money until you’re at least 59 ½ years old. If you choose to do so beforehand, you may have to pay a fee and taxes on the withdrawn money.

3. Look Into Mutual and Index Funds

As a beginner, it can be daunting to invest because you’re most likely unaware of which companies are worth investing in. Mutual funds and index funds are perfect for beginners because they contain groups of stocks that you’ll invest in.

For example, the S&P 500 is a common index fund that people invest in as it contains the largest 500 companies. When you invest in the S&P 500, you gain shares from each company within the fund. These funds are carefully put together as they generally see an increase in overall value.

On the other hand, mutual funds are operated by companies that manually invest for you. Investing in a mutual fund is beneficial to anyone that doesn’t want to pay any attention to stocks. However, you’ll get less control over where your money is going because the mutual fund will try to make the best investments for you.

In most cases, it’d be best to start with an index fund so that way you’re somewhat involved in where you’re money is going. If you come to find that you don’t like them, you should then start looking into mutual funds.

4. Do Your Due Diligence

Due diligence is necessary if you’d like to be successful in the stock market as it revolves around researching companies and staying updated with what’s going on. For example, if you invest in a company like Tesla, you need to be following Elon on Twitter as a single tweet of his can drastically change the value of the stocks.

Doing your due diligence isn’t as hard as many people make it out to be. With sites like Reddit, you can follow subreddits of the companies you’re interested in. From them, you can find news related to those companies and converse with other shareholders.

You should also do your due diligence with things outside of trading, such as the best final expense leads. Studying up on things before you invest in them will make you a better trader and you’ll have better control over your finances.

5. Don’t Start Day Trading Right Away

Do NOT start day trading as soon as you put money into your brokerage account. Although investing is gambling in itself, it’s a lot easier to lose money day trading because you’re relying on trades that last seconds.

If you put money into a company and expect to make a quick buck in a few seconds, you may end up with a lot less money if the company has a red day. Because of this, you’ll want to gain experience with trading in general so that you can prepare yourself mentally for day trading.

Now You Know How to Invest as a Beginner

With these investing tips, you can start investing and grow your portfolio as quickly as possible. When you start, keep in mind that you may have days where you lose money. This is normal as you can’t be 100% certain about the stock market.

We recommend you start by investing in a Roth IRA before putting any of your money into a brokerage account. From there, look into index funds and figure out which kinds of companies you’d be interested in investing in.

Browse our articles to learn more about investing and other topics.

Today, car rental is not a luxury but a real necessity. This way of traveling is finding more and more fans, both in Europe and in the USA. Why is it happening?

If you love traveling comfortably using modern serviceable cars, you will definitely enjoy the car rental service NYC. Affordable tariffs, premium cars, door-to-door delivery, lack of paper routine – try our cars, and you will use only them!

You can rent a Jaguar F type for a day or another model, be it a Range Rover or Porsche Macan.

Car Rental Is a Practical and Comfortable Solution!

What are the advantages of renting a car if you travel with your family, for example?

• You and your family members travel in comfort. All luggage is quietly placed in the trunk of the car, and the dimensions of the vehicle allow you to feel comfortable during the trip.
• There is no need to drive long distances using your own car. You save money on repairs and fuel.
• More economical than a taxi or public transport. If your family has at least 3 people, the price you pay for the metro ticket, for example, can be quite high. A rented car provides you with freedom of movement. There is no need to specify the route of buses or wait for the taxi. You decide when and where you want to go.
• If you are an experienced driver, it makes no sense to use the service of another one. You will enjoy driving an expensive premium car, and, at the same time, you can test it.
• Car rental may be relevant in case of force majeure. Let’s say your car breaks down unexpectedly or your wife picks it up for another long trip. In such a situation, a rented car is the best solution!
• Presentability. Driving a car from RealCar, you can impress your business partners!

A car rental service from RealCar is the best solution for you and your trips!