Business

Plumbing Services – How to Get the Best Service Provider

Plumbing Services

Are you planning to find a plumbing services provider in Toronto? If yes, then you need to know some of the best tips that would help you choose the right plumber in Toronto. You should also make it a point to read various customer reviews that have been written about the service providers by people who have previously dealt with them. Once you get to know about the various plumbing services suppliers in Toronto, you should start browsing through the websites of the companies one by one. This would give you an in-depth idea about the working style, rates and other important information related to the services provided by the plumbing service providers.

Plumbing service Toronto

Once you are done with this step, you should start gathering information about the various plumbing companies that offer good plumbing services in Toronto. One of the first things that you need to keep in mind is the distance of the plumbing service providers from your home. It is highly recommended that you avoid hiring a plumbing company from a region near your home as they may not have the requisite expertise to resolve all your plumbing issues. The plumbing experts working for different companies may be competent enough to fix issues related to the sewer, the drainage system and the main plumbing but not so efficient to fix the issues related to the water pipes.

You should keep in mind to look at the past record of these plumbing service providers. This would help you to assess whether the company is capable enough to provide you with the best quality plumbing service or not. It is highly recommended that you carry out a preliminary research on the internet about various companies that provide plumbing services in Toronto. You should compare the prices of the packages offered by various companies and then choose the one that offers the best plumbing solution at the lowest price. You should also make it a point to read various customer reviews about the companies that you are planning to hire for plumbing services.

Plumbing Services – How to Get the Best Service Provider

You can read through the customer reviews by different people about the plumbing companies that you intend to hire. The reviews written by the customers can be quite helpful for you to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the service provider. The reviews can also tell you which companies offer affordable services. If you are fortunate to find such reviews, then you can go ahead and contact the service provider immediately and hire their services.

Plumbing companies in Toronto can be divided into three categories based on their pricing structure. You should always try to opt for the services that are within the budget that you have set for yourself. Even if you are lucky enough to locate some cheap services, you should not completely disregard them as they might not be able to offer you with the best quality services. Most of the plumbing services in Toronto offer free estimates for the initial visit that they make to your home. The estimates offered by the companies are based on the basic needs of the customer and based on the estimate that you provide them with, they can quote you a price for the plumbing services.

When choosing a plumbing service provider, it is essential to choose the company that has vast experience in providing service at affordable rates. The company should also have good repute in the market. Most of the good plumbing companies in Toronto maintain a website where all the clients can easily get the information about the company. The Toronto Plumbers’ website will also give all the information related to the pricing structure of the company. Some of the sites offer an online calculator that will help you estimate the cost of the plumbing services. You can get numerous other plumbing service provider companies that are located nearby in the area to choose from.

Business

What are mutual funds?

Mutual funds are those professionally managed investment groups that, in some way, show the performance of various assorted securities such as stocks, bonds, and stocks. They are usually organized by an advisory firm in order to offer the fund’s shareholders a specific investment objective.

With this, investors can buy shares of a mutual fund, for example, the shares of a company. Anyone who purchases shares in the fund becomes a co-owner and wants to participate often because of those investment objectives. To manage the company, shareholders elect a board of directors to oversee the operations of the business and the portfolio.

Most of the time, the value of these mutual funds is calculated once a day and is based on the current net asset value of the fund. A real estate mutual fund is one that invests in real estate securities from around the world.

Real estate mutual funds often focus their investment strategy on real estate investment trusts and real estate companies. These real estate investment trusts are mostly companies that buy and manage real estate with the help of funds that were raised from investors.

An NAV of a mutual fund is a special type of company that pools the money of many investors and invests it on behalf of the group according to a set of set goals.

Mutual funds raise money by selling shares of the fund to the public, just like any other company can sell its shares to the public. The funds then take the money they receive from the sale of their shares (along with the money made from previous investments) and use it to buy various investment vehicles, such as stocks, bonds, and money market instruments.

Most investors choose mutual funds based on recent fund performance, a friend’s suggestion, and / or praise from a financial magazine or fund rating agency. While using these methods can lead you to select a quality fund, they can also lead you in the wrong direction and wonder what happened to that “great choice.”

Past history is a good indicator, although not a guarantee, that a fund will perform well. If you are investing for the long term, the story will be more important than in a short term situation as they say lightning rarely hit the same spot twice. When choosing mutual funds, you need to trust the fund manager, so doing your research is a good idea, too. The fund is only as good as the one in charge of it.

You probably know that there really are a variety of investment opportunities available to you. The lower the risk of an investment, the return will not be as spectacular, but sometimes a small profit is enough.

If you want to build a quality portfolio, you need to focus on these three things:

1. The expected return on your investment.

2. The volatility of the market in that area.

3. How the performance of the mutual fund is directly related to other aspects of the market.

Income funds

These funds attempt to balance higher returns with the risk of losing money. Therefore, most of these funds divide money among a variety of investments and draw funds in a mix of stocks and fixed income securities.

Therefore, they have higher risk than fixed income funds, but lower risk than pure equity funds. Depending on the objective, an aggressive fund mix would make up more stocks and fewer bonds, while a conservative fund mix would have fewer stocks than bonds.

Bond funds

Although long-term bond funds have done very well in the recent past, largely due to lower interest rates, this will not always be the case. Long-term bonds can be very volatile, with minor changes in interest rates having an amplified effect on the fund.

Balanced Funds Owning stocks and bonds based on the popular belief that unfavorable conditions for common stocks are often favorable for bonds, and quite the opposite. They maintain a balance between the two funds.

Money market funds

One of the reasons many investors choose money market securities is that the investment can be made over a relatively short period of time. Furthermore, the level of risk is considered to be lower than in capital markets. Therefore, there is a lower risk of loss for someone who invests money in a money market fund than in stocks or mutual funds.

treasure letters

Letters T are very liquid and as such will have extremely low buy / sell margins. In addition, those who buy them will find that they are exempt from municipal and state taxes.

There are some investors who would like to get into money market funds, but find that buying them through financial institutions seems to be quite confusing, with all the different regulations and requirements surrounding them. But there is good news for people interested in buying T Bills.

Ordinary investors can buy them directly from the US Treasury, and there is a lot of information available about this on the Treasury website. So for anyone wanting an investment that is easily accessible, this could be an option that is definitely worth considering.

Money funds are also very flexible, allowing the investor to buy, hold, or sell shares whenever they want. There are no market restrictions when it comes to when you get hold of what you own. You can also use these funds for checks, which can be paid the day you issue them. Mutual funds can take three days before payment, making money market funds a better option.

As with an individual security, management is an important consideration and the process of identifying a well-managed mutual fund is very similar. First, look at the fund’s performance over the past five to ten years and compare it to other funds with similar goals. Get acquainted with the people on the investment committee.

Then consider what management is doing on a day-to-day basis: What are the most important investment areas of the fund? What stakes are being increased or decreased? What percentage of the fund is in cash, considering the current state of the market? And what does the management say in its reports? The challenge for the mutual fund investor is to select an investment company capable of superior performance with the fund’s investment objectives in mind.

For investors who have a limited amount of time to invest in their portfolios and who want more diversification, mutual funds are worth considering. But, as with individual stocks, your due diligence is critical – do your research before handing over your hard-earned money to invest.

Business

Major banks in the United States

There are thousands of banks in the United States. It is very difficult to decide which is the best bank. Here is the list of the best

1. JP Morgan Chase 2.533 billion dollars

2. Bank of America $ 2,281 billion

3. Wells Fargo $ 1.951 billion

4. Citi Bank $ 1,843 billion

5. Goldman Sachs $ 916 billion

6. Morgan Stanley $ 851 billion

7. US Bankcorp $ 461 billion

8. TD Bank $ 380 billion

9. HSBC $ 273 billion

10. American Express $ 181 billion

When considering where to put money for safekeeping, the list of bank and credit union options seems endless. There are small local and regional financial institutions that can be trusted with their hard-earned money, of course, but for full service and long-range banking, the larger national banks dominate. According to the Federal Reserve, these 10 financial institutions are the largest banks in the United States by assets they own. Below are our top 10 banks in the United States.

JPMorgan Chase

The nation’s largest bank and the world’s sixth-largest, the Federal Reserve reports that JPMorgan-Chase had about $ 2 trillion in global assets at the end of last year. This makes it number one on our list of the top 10 banks. The company is the result of the merger in 2000 of two much older banks, JP Morgan and Company and Chase Manhattan Corporation. While the JP Morgan name is used for investment banking and private wealth management, the bank offers retail and commercial banking services such as Chase.

The 19th century financial titan John Pierpont Morgan is the company’s namesake and was the founder of the original JP Morgan Bank, but the first American politician and notorious duelist Aaron Burr was one of the creators of Chase Manhattan. The House of Morgan generated $ 96.6 billion in revenue last year despite controversies and legal problems over alleged energy pricing and negligence during the Bernard Madoff scandal, which resulted in billions in fines. paid.

Bank of America

The presence of the Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, makes that city one of the largest financial centers in the country. Although it is not the largest bank, this company is in fact the largest wealth management firm in the world, because it owns Merrill Lynch, a giant in that field.

Bank of America has about 50 million retail banking customers, but it had fairly humble beginnings. It started with a small institution serving immigrants in San Francisco in the early 1900s, which, oddly, was called the Bank of Italy. Bank of America briefly ventured into finance in China by acquiring a stake in Chinese Construction Bank, which it later sold.

The company has made efforts to keep its Charlotte and New York headquarters green and LEED certified, but has also been accused of mortgage fraud in a series of lawsuits since 2010.

Wells fargo

Wells Fargo has long been associated with San Francisco, where it is still based, as it was formed to capitalize on the gold rush by two Northeast residents. In terms of one measure, market capitalization, Wells Fargo is the world’s largest bank, although it has battled the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for that title in recent years.

Wells Fargo has the oldest continuously operating banking status in the United States, originally granted to the First National Bank of Philadelphia. Wells Fargo pays the largest amount of corporate taxes of any American company each year, but has been accused of tax evasion practices.

Citi

A pioneer in the credit card and ATM industry, Citi Bank, formerly the City Bank of New York, was considered an equivalent of Wells Fargo on the East Coast during the 19th century, when both banks were purely regional. Citi was also the first United States bank to open a bank office in a foreign country, having expanded to Argentina in 1914. Today only 26 percent of Citi branches are in the United States, although they generate 51 percent. percent of the bank’s income.

Reference

Top 10 U.S. Banks

US Bancorp / US Bank

The current US Bancorp (which includes US Bank) is the result of the combination of the major regional banks in the West and Midwest. The company has $ 389 billion in assets, as well as $ 250 billion in deposits, from 16 million customers. Banks were prohibited by law from using “United States” in their names in 1913, and US Bancorp was one of the last firms allowed to do so, having added the phrase to its name the year before.

PNC

Based in Pittsburgh, PNC is primarily a regional financial institution operating primarily on the East Coast, but with offices in nineteen states and Washington, DC. PNC actually has two historical meanings: Pittsburgh National Corporation and Providence National Corporation, both Pennsylvania banks that merged to form the beginnings of the current company. They decided to only use the acronym thereafter due to their matching names. PNC was an early adopter of “virtual wallet” services among traditional banks and is known for its annual index of prices for “The Twelve Days of Christmas” carol items.

Bank of New York Mellon

The Bank of New York was founded in 1784 by none other than the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Bank of New York Mellon is the direct successor organization to that firm, having merged with T. Mellon and Sons, a Pittsburgh institution that financed the steel and fuel industries. This long history makes it the oldest banking corporation in the country. It has $ 27.9 trillion in assets under custody, making it the world’s largest custodian bank serving other financial institutions.

State street

State Street Corporation of Boston originated as a shipping finance company. He still does business in a similar spirit, focusing on global banking services and investment management for foreign institutional investors. State Street was involved in a landmark court case in 1998 that found that a computer algorithm can be patented in the US.

Capital one

Capital One is primarily a retail banking operation, offering primarily credit cards, auto loans, and home loans, as well as savings and checking services. Originally a credit card company, Capital One seriously expanded into banking in 2005. In early 2014, Capital One came under fire for changing its terms of service for clients to allow the bank to contact clients in any way it chose. , even deliberately misleading them with fakes. phone call identifiers.

TD Bank

The final institution on our top 10 list is not actually based in the United States; Toronto-Dominion Bank is naturally headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. More than 22 million people around the world are TD Bank customers, primarily in the US and Canada. TD has branches in fairly remote locations, including the Northwest Territories of Canada and the Yukon.

Update: If you have financial questions other than the major banks, SmartAsset can help. So many people approached us to tell us they wanted help with financial planning, that we created a tool for you to find a financial advisor who can meet your needs. You first answer a series of questions about your situation and your goals. The program then reduces thousands of advisers to three trustees who meet your needs. You can read their profiles to learn more about them, interview them over the phone or in person, and choose who to work with in the future. This allows you to find a good fit while doing much of the hard work for you.

Business

How to choose business domain names

As a business owner or website owner, you may have been faced with the task of choosing suitable business domain names. Choosing business names can be a much less simple process than choosing business domain names for a number of different reasons.

The trend is to name the company and then register a domain. However, what often happens is that the domain that matches your business name may already be in use, as domains can be easily registered at a cost much less than the cost of registering business names.

Names were thought to be critical components of branding and marketing. The Uniform Resource Locator or URL is the address that is used to connect to your website, so it was believed that easy recognition would come from business domain names that contained the company name. The problem is not that simple, as anyone can register a domain name, and it is done on a first-come, first-served basis.

If your business name is my business, a good idea was to choose business domain names that include the word my business. However, with the evolution of search engine technologies, including the company name in the domain can make it easier for humans to locate your site, but for search optimization, it was more important that the names include keywords, what it tells the search engines. what your business is about.

You can see that compromises were needed, as were search engine operators, who perceived that commercial domain names containing keywords were advantageous and were also vulnerable to abuse by website owners who were able to get a better one. ranking with top-level domain names. It contained keywords, but what was also considered inferior content. They reacted

penalizing sites that contain keywords in top-level domains or TLDs.

The task is complex, as it is still important that your business domain names are unique and reflect the essence of your business, but they should not include your keywords. It should also be unique, memorable, and not too long.

What was also important, were the extensions that are attached to the domain. However, the web is evolving rapidly and there are far more important considerations than extensions. Dot-com extensions were once the top rated extensions, but often they may already have been registered. The alternatives were others like .net, .info or .org.

These are no longer concerns, as extensions are now available for all genres. One of the most important questions now, when choosing business domain names, is whether to include a location. There is no advantage in including a region, if your clients are anywhere in the world.

The best option is to get business domain names that match your business and include a region only if your service is local.

Business

How to make a follow-up call to a donor after sending a fundraising letter

Follow-up calls to direct mail appeals or some special events may secure additional donations for your organization. But what are you saying?

If you are new to the world of fundraising, you may not feel comfortable calling a donor over the phone. Don’t worry, they won’t bite! Most donors are a pleasure to chat with, especially if they really care about your organization.

Here’s a sample script you can use to make follow-up calls after sending a fundraising letter in the mail.

Start with the obvious:

“Hello, I am (your name) and I am (your position) in (your organization). We sent you a letter a few weeks ago and I will call you to see if you received it.”

The answer could be ‘yes, we got it’, ‘no, we didn’t’ or ‘what letter?’ Say something below that reflects the content of the letter.

“As I mentioned in the letter, we have had a dramatic increase in requests for our services. We are asking our supporters to make a donation to help us continue to provide services and meet the growing demand.”

Then listen.

You may need to tell them how to send a gift (in other words, be ready with the address). Listen to the clues that they don’t want to receive future requests, then obviously jot down a note in their database. Also take note if they say yes they will send a gift. Offer to send them an engagement reminder if they need it.

Thank them for their time and for their continued support of your organization.

That is all!

Once you make a few calls, you will learn to talk to donors and find a rhythm for yourself on the phone.

Business

Elements of an LLC Operating Agreement

This article addresses entry-level to intermediate-level issues that need to be addressed in limited liability company (LLC) operating agreements with two or more members. The founding document of an LLC is the articles of organization filed with the state founding the LLC. Most US states do not require articles of organization to list all LLC members, and even if necessary, the identity of the members may change over time. Therefore, the most basic function of an LLC operating agreement is to identify members to third parties who do business with the LLC. Do single member LLCs have written operating agreements? Yes, precisely for the reason stated above (that is, to verify the identity of the members for third parties). The following are what I recommend as the most important issues that an LLC operating agreement should address.

  • Identify the members;
  • List the ownership interests of the members;
  • List members’ initial capital contributions (if any);
  • Indicate the method by which profits and losses will be distributed to members;
  • Indicate the method by which the voting of the members will take place; and
  • If the LLC has managers (rather than being managed by all members), identify the manager and list the items reserved for voting by all members along with a mechanism for members to remove the manager.

Some of the above issues are self explanatory, but others require explanation. When a member contributes noncash property to an LLC as part of the initial capital contributions, the LLC’s basis in contributed assets is the same as each contributing member’s basis in assets before contribution under the Section 723 of the Internal Revenue Code. means that the value assigned to the contributed assets on the LLC’s books (and also listed as initial contributed capital in the LLC’s operating agreement) is the basis of that asset in the hands of the contributing member. Generally, the basis is the cost paid for the asset less any prior depreciation. Consult with a tax professional for more information on the subject. Ownership interests are generally expressed in LLC operating agreements as units (similar to participation in a corporation) or as percentages of the total. If the percentage interest is assigned to the members, make sure that the percentage interest of the members is 100%.

The two main types of voting by LLC members are by capital and on the basis of ownership interest. If an operating agreement establishes that the vote will be by capital, then the vote of each member will have the same weight. Members’ voting based on ownership interest means that each member’s vote is weighted to their ownership interest in the LLC. For example, suppose that XYZ, LLC has three members whose operating agreement states that they must vote on the basis of ownership interest and the members have the following ownership interests: Member x – 15%, Member Y -% 30, and Member Z – 55%. In this case, it is as if X had 15 votes, Y 30 votes, and Z 55 votes out of a total of 100 votes cast. If XYZ, LLC’s operating agreement requires a simple majority to pass any resolution to a vote by the members, Z can then approve any measure with their 55 votes even if both X and Y vote against the measure.

The articles of organization of the LLC designate the LLC as being managed by all members or managed by a member-appointed manager or managers. To make matters more confusing, designated managers can be members themselves. Why would an LLC appoint managers? This most often happens when not all members need to be actively involved in the LLC. It can also occur when members who have majority ownership in the LLC can obtain an agreement from the minority members that the majority will retain management of the LLC to the exclusion of the minority. As the number of members increases, the practicality of all members managing the LLC decreases. In the case of a manager-run LLC, there are very few issues left for the members to decide. Two examples are the admission of new members and the voluntary dissolution of the LLC. However, members can include additional restrictions on the power of LLC managers in their operating agreement. Examples of such restrictions are loan transactions for a specified dollar amount, the execution of any real estate lease, the fixing of the salary of employees, etc.

The following is a list of additional issues that those who form an LLC may wish to include in their operating agreement. Many issues beyond these could potentially be addressed in an operating agreement.

  • Services required to be provided to the LLC by any member;
  • Any matter that requires the vote of the supermajority of the members for its approval;
  • Penalties for failing to provide the initial capital or agreed-upon services by the member;
  • Mandatory cash distributions to members;
  • Can the LLC require capital contributions from members after LLC formation?
  • Member withdrawal;
  • Member removal;
  • Fiduciary duties that members owe to each other;
  • Limits on the sale or other transfer of membership interest; and
  • whether any member will receive a salary in exchange for services rendered to the LLC.

Small businesses organized as LLCs are often found where members receive their share in the LLC in exchange for the promised future services rather than the capital contribution (or a combination of cash and promised future services). In such cases, it is important that the LLC’s operating agreement sets out in as much detail as possible the services that each member promises to provide to the LLC. Also, what are the penalties for not providing these services? When the LLC struggles, members often wander in search of other business opportunities, leaving the remaining members to carry on in business. Planning in advance to address this issue will prevent LLC members from facing considerable headaches in the future should the LLC be faced with this situation. Supermajority means a number above the majority and usually refers to 2/3 (or 66.7%). Matters where members may wish to impose a supermajority requirement for approval include the admission of new members, the decision to sell substantially all of the LLC’s assets, and the removal of the manager (if applicable).

LLC members who are unfamiliar with the tax intricacies of LLCs are often surprised to learn that all profits allocated to them by the LLC are taxed, regardless of whether the LLC actually makes cash distributions to them or not. The unfortunate LLC member may find himself incurring a tax bill that the LLC makes no distribution to cover. This can be especially burdensome for minority members who lack the ability to demand the LLC’s cash outlay to cover their personal tax liability from the LLC. This problem can be addressed by requiring in the operating agreement that, at a minimum, a certain portion of the annual profits (such as 40%) be distributed to the members each year when the LLC makes a profit. Since the amount of earnings allocated to each member is not known until the LLC’s tax return is finalized, it is common for the deadline for the required tax distribution to members to be a certain number of days after it is finalized. the LLC’s tax return (ie, 30 days).

The withdrawal of LLC members is a sensitive issue. In some states, such as Texas (see Section 101.107 of the Texas Business Organizations Code), members do not have the right to withdraw from an LLC unless this right is granted in the LLC’s operating agreement. In many ways, joining together to run a small business is like a marriage. Shouldn’t we expect divorces? All parties are better off if members put some level of retirement planning in their LLC operating agreement. Another issue that is often overlooked in the drafting of operating agreements is the fiduciary duties that members owe to each other. Especially important within this topic is whether members will be allowed to conduct business outside of the LLC and, more particularly, whether they will be allowed to engage in the same business sector as the LLC that can potentially compete with the LLC. It is not uncommon for state LLC laws to be silent or vague on the subject. For example, the Delaware Limited Liability Company Law does not mention the imposition of fiduciary duties on the members or managers of LLCs, leaving the matter to the contractual arrangement between the parties. See Del. LLC Law Sect. 18-1101.

Hopefully, this will help those who are about to enter into an LLC operating agreement to detect problems for which they can seek legal advice.

Business

What is the difference between wholesale and drop shipping?

What is a wholesaler?

A wholesaler is essentially the supplier who buys directly from the main distributor. Wholesalers often buy products in excessively large quantities, which they then sell to retailers or online store owners in smaller quantities, even in quantities as low as one item at a time.

However, you can also access wholesale prices directly from some providers. For example, a small business may still be so small that it offers direct wholesale prices to both retailers and online store owners.

What is drop shipping?

Drop shipping is an innovative method of order fulfillment, ideal for eCommerce stores. It allows you, the online store owner, to place items on your website for sale, without the need to have any inventory on hand. When an order is placed, you send the required information to your supplier and they send the order directly to your buyer. Most of the time, they make it look like the order was shipped from their fulfillment center and will never print your name on the delivery notes. This is known as blind shipping.

How do drop shipping and wholesalers connect?

If you launch an e-commerce website with the intention of keeping only minimal or no inventory on hand, then you will create a partnership with a wholesale provider that offers drop shipping services. When a customer places an order with you, you pay the supplier their wholesale price and keep the profits. Since you only pay wholesale prices, you can determine the markup for most products. Remember to always consider the shipping cost that you will have to pay to the supplier to send your order.

What are the benefits of drop shipping?

The reason many eCommerce website owners choose drop shipping is because it allows much less overhead and saves a lot of time. Here are some of the advantages over buying wholesale stock in bulk:

  • Sell ​​a wider variety of products, without a major financial investment and without having to pay for any products up front
  • Eliminate the time it takes to ship products
  • Sell ​​hundreds of products at once, without having any inventory on hand
  • Manage your business from anywhere with Internet access

Will I get good wholesale prices with drop shipping?

This is a very common question that many people ask. Most people unfamiliar with drop shipping can expect to get the same lower wholesale prices when buying in bulk, which is not the case.

When you buy from a drop shipping provider, the wholesale price will be slightly higher than the price when buying in bulk from a wholesaler or manufacturer.

For example, if you buy a large pallet of electronics, you can spend $ 5,000 up front for the entire pallet, but if you buy from a drop-shipping company, you’ll pay for each item one by one as you sell them over time. These companies will generally increase their wholesale prices to cover the overhead of storing the products and handling and packaging the products for shipment to their customers.

Compare your drop shipping price to the market

The best way to determine if you are getting good prices so that you can make a decent profit is by comparing your wholesale prices to those listed on eBay and Amazon.

When you are comparing your wholesale prices, always keep in mind that you are not the subject of overhead costs. You should also always consider the shipping fee. Some providers offer free shipping, and some may charge more shipping fees than others. Add up the selling price + the shipping fee and then compare the total cost with your supplier’s wholesale price + the shipping fee. This will give you an accurate result.

Also, when comparing their wholesale prices, you should always compare them with the average prices that you find on eBay or Amazon. The reason is that not all sellers use drop shipping. Some sellers may buy products in bulk at a lower price or they may buy cheaper replicas or similar products from China.

Most inexperienced sellers will compare their wholesale costs to the absolute lowest prices found on eBay or Amazon and come to a conclusion too quickly. You should always compare your prices with the averages and don’t give up before you start selling.

Remember that product quality is extremely important and will directly contribute to the long-term success of your online business. Focus on providing great quality products and great service, and your business will prosper.

Can you still buy in bulk?

Most sellers use drop shipping method only, but the choice is up to you. If you come across a rock-bottom wholesale order price that’s too good to pass up, go ahead and upload the product to your website. When that specific product is sold, of course, you will be responsible for the shipping. Unlike drop shipping, you will also have to pay for the entire order in advance.

Business

4 important things about an expat work permit in Indonesia

What do you need to know about the Indonesian expat work permit?

Article 1 (13) of Law No. 13 of 2003 on Labor (“Labor Law”) defines foreign workers (“expatriates”) as holders of foreign citizenship visas who come to Indonesia with the intention to work within the territory of Indonesia. Expatriates are foreign workers who live outside their home country and settle abroad, for example in Indonesia. Employers wishing to hire Expats to work with them in Indonesia must ensure that Expats have acquired a full set of Expatriate Work Permits as stipulated by the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower.

In this article, we will delve into 4 (four) important things that all Employers hiring and / or in the process of hiring Expatriates should know and understand:

1. Who can be a sponsor of a work visa?

Only the following entities can sponsor Expats in Indonesia:

• Government institutions, international organizations, representatives of foreign states;
• Representative offices of foreign chambers, foreign companies or foreign news;
• Foreign Direct Investment Companies (Penanaman Modal Asing or PMA);
• Legal entities that are established based on Indonesian laws or foreign business entities that are registered with an authorized institution in Indonesia (ie Foreign Representative Office);
• Social, religious, educational and cultural institutions; and
• Entertainment organizer business services (impresariat).

Entities in the form of a civil association, firm, limited partnership, business partnerships and individuals are prohibited from employing and / or acting as sponsor of Expatriates unless the Laws and Regulations stipulate otherwise.

DKP-TKA payment obligation for employers / sponsors

Employers or sponsors must pay the Skills and Experience Development Fund (“DKP-TKA”) in the amount of USD 100 / month (USD 1200 / year) for each Expatriate hired to work in Indonesia. DKP-TKA is paid in full at the beginning of the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) work permit application procedure, for the period of employment that has been approved by the Minister of Manpower.

The following employers or sponsors are not required to pay DKP-TKA:

• Government Agencies / Institutions;
• International agencies (eg WHO, ILO, UNICEF, etc.);
• Representatives of foreign countries;
• Social institutions; and
• Religious institutions.

2. Prohibited positions for expatriates

The following are the reasons expats work in Indonesia:

• As owner of the sponsoring company (Investor / Shareholders) and / or to act as a member of the Company’s Board of Executives (ie: Chairman / Director);
• As experts in certain skills, for the transfer of knowledge to Indonesians.

Please note that Indonesian law regulates that expatriates cannot fill certain positions in Indonesia. These prohibited positions are primarily in the Human Resource Development (HRD) field, such as Personnel Director, Human Resources Manager, and HRD-related Supervisors. The complete list of prohibited positions for expatriates is stipulated in the Decree of the Ministry of Manpower No. 40 of 2012 (“Labor Decree No. 40/2012”).

Apart from the prohibited positions listed in the Manpower Decree No. 40/2012, there are other prohibited positions for Expatriates working in certain fields, such as in the Oil and Gas Industry.

Ban for expatriates from holding multiple positions

In accordance with article 41 of the Decree of the Ministry of Manpower no. 16 of 2015 (“Manpower Decree No. 16/2015”), employers cannot double-post Expatriates in multiple positions, such as:

• Employing expatriates for dual positions, whether both positions are within the same company or in different companies;
• Employing expatriates who are currently employed by other employers.

Expatriates serving as members of the Board of Directors or the Board of Commissioners are exempt from the prohibition of double publication.

3. Procedures for obtaining work permits

Every employer employing Expatriates is required to obtain written permission from the Ministry of Manpower (“Work Permits”). The following are the procedures for obtaining work permits in Indonesia:

Permits to be owned by the Sponsoring Company:

• Plan for the recruitment of foreign workers (Rencana Penggunaan Tenaga Kerja Asing or “RPTKA”);
• Telex Vitas;
• Permit to hire foreign workers (Izin Memperkerjakan Tenaga Kerja Asing or “IMTA”);

Permits that the hired Expatriate must have:

• Limited stay visa (Kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas or “KITAS”);
• Multiple Exit / Reentry Permit (“MERP”);
• Letter of registration (Surat Tanda Melapor or “STM”);
• Temporary Stay Registration Letter (Surat Keterangan Pendaftaran Penduduk Sementara or “SKKPM”);
• Arrival permit card (Kartu Ijin Pendatang or “KIJ”); and
• Letter of Evidence of Arrival Report (Lapor Kedatangan or “LK”).

The data required from the sponsoring company at the beginning of the procedure consists of the planned: (1) name of the sponsoring company; (2) business address of the company; (3) name of the head of the company; (4) expatriate work; (5) job description of expatriates; (6) number of expatriates hired; (7) workplace of the expatriates hired; (8) Expatriate employment period; (9) expatriate salary; (10) start of employment; (11) number of Indonesian workers hired at the sponsoring company; (12) the appointment of Indonesian workers as expatriate companions; and (13) training program for Indonesian workers.

4. Obligations to obtain other licenses for expatriates

After a certain period of time, Expatriates working in Indonesia must obtain other licenses to fulfill their obligations as stipulated in the Manpower Decree No. 16 of 2015. The obligations are as follows:

• Tax compliance

Article 36 of the Decree on manpower no. 16 of 2015 requires expatriates who have worked for more than 6 (six) months in Indonesia to obtain the Taxpayer Identification Number (Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak or “NPWP”). NPWP functions as tax compliance for legal subjects in Indonesia.

• Local insurance policy

Article 36 of the Decree on manpower no. 16 of 2015 requires expats to have an insurance policy with an insurance company that is currently established in Indonesia as an Indonesian legal entity.

• Register of BPJS or Social Security Agency

Since the enactment of Law No. 24 of 2011 on the Social Security Agency, expatriates who have worked for at least 6 (six) months in Indonesia must also participate in the National Security System. Employers must register their employee with the Social Security Agency (Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial or “BPJS”) under 2 (two) security programs: Employment and Health.

Business

What is my motivation, Mr. Demille? Motivating yourself at work

During an interview with David Letterman a few years ago, Mr. Letterman was asked how much he loved his job and the interviewer commented on how great it must be to be the host of such a popular late-night TV show. Mr. Letterman responded, paraphrasing, that “after a while it’s a job like any other job.”

If you love your job but find that over time it becomes more difficult to motivate yourself and be as productive as you were when you started, then you are perfectly normal. We all have times when even the most exciting jobs become “just a job” and we wish we were somewhere else. Over time, we are presented with new challenges or we see that we are quite fortunate to have the job or career that we do, but what do you do when things get boring at work? How can you motivate yourself to complete the tedious tasks that often bother you?

Socialize – While socializing can be a huge “waste of time” at work, you can change this and use it as a motivating force at work. Use five to ten minutes a few times a day to socialize with your friends at work as a gift to complete a task that you really don’t like. Play “Let’s Make a Deal” with yourself and focus on the most horrible task until it is complete and then enjoy spending a few minutes chatting with a friend or a cup of coffee and light conversation once the task is complete.

Denying yourself trying to socialize with your friends at work until a task is complete means no email, no IM chats, and no idle chat. If someone walks by your desk, be honest with them and tell them that it is their “gift” and that you will talk to them once they have finished their work, but that you made a deal with yourself not to socialize until you have completed this task.

Time blocks – If you find it difficult to stay motivated for a long time, break your day into one-hour blocks. Employees are proven to be most efficient and happy when they work and focus on hour-long blocks of time. Work for an hour, get up and walk for a few minutes, and then go back to work. You will soon find that another hour has passed as you have been working diligently and it is time for you to stop what you are doing to take a breath and freshen up.

Using this technique of locking in your day in hourly increments will make it more effective and you will find that you are not as exhausted at the end of the day. You will probably also see that you are more productive despite stopping for a few minutes every hour to recharge your batteries.

You are you, even at work – Personalize your workspace only if your employer allows personal items in the workspace. Images that make you happy or quotes that you find inspiring can have a tremendous effect on your personal motivation throughout the day. A splash of color, family photos, or vacation photos can boost your mood during difficult or stressful times. Another trick that can keep you motivated throughout your workday is having photos or reminders of why you work so hard around yourself. It could be pictures of your children or your family’s pets, or even a brochure of a vacation spot you plan to visit one day.

No matter what motivates you to work, keep a visual reminder handy and keep your eyes on the award as you push yourself. Little tricks like these to help you motivate yourself and treat yourself to doing even the tasks you really hate will make your job more enjoyable and provide more value to the company you work for. You will find that your stress level decreases as you tackle the problem of how to properly motivate yourself, and your coworkers may also find it more enjoyable and easier to work with you.

Try some of these motivational techniques and see if you can make your days more productive and less stressful. Share these tips with your friends and let them know what you are trying to do. You may well be the one who brings motivation and team spirit to your workplace.

By: Erica D.

Business

Crafts: How to price for profit

If you are thinking of selling the crafts you make, one of the most important decisions you can make will be how much to charge for your items. If you don’t price your items correctly, you won’t have sales if an item is priced too high, or you will go out of business if the items are priced too low for you to profit. While there are many formulas for calculating prices, they are all based on certain common elements.

First, know your market. If the items you make are priced higher than what people normally buy in your area, you must either be priced lower or sell on the market that supports your prices. Trying to sell high-end jewelry pieces at a flea market won’t work, but finding a specialty boutique or juried fine art show will. Once you’ve decided who your target market is and what they’re willing to pay for, you can start working on your numbers.

Make a list of all your expenses related to creating your crafts. This includes materials, labor, overhead, and profit. When calculating costs for materials, this includes everything from glue, thread, markers, etc. Be sure to include the shipping costs for those materials if you need to order them by mail. Calculate how much the material costs to produce each piece, this gives you the price of the raw item.

Calculating labor is a bit more personal. How many items can you produce in an hour? How much do you want to be paid per hour? If, for example, you can produce five of your items in an hour and you want to earn $ 10 per hour, then your labor cost on each item would be $ 2. Obviously, this amount will vary depending on how many items you can produce in one. time and how much you want to be paid. Add this amount to your cost of materials per item.

Overloading is tricky. While most artisans work at home, don’t think you have no overhead. There is the space you occupy in your house for your work, pens, paper, the telephone, electricity, etc. that is used during your business process is counted toward your overhead. The easiest way to do this is to keep good receipts and open a separate checking account to buy anything for your business. For utilities, take an average household bill (such as electricity) and divide the total amount by the percentage of square feet your home business occupies. Once you have this total number, you can divide it into a daily or hourly number to make calculations easier. Add this figure to labor and materials.

Earning is one of those things that people add to the calculation of work or do it separately. It depends on whether you have someone to help you make the items or not. The profit is really the number you want to make beyond the cost of the item. So if you want an additional dollar of profit on each item over and above your labor, add that amount to the cost of each item. If the cost of making your items brings your retail price lower than the area averages, you can add profit and increase the price, keeping it in line with the average price.

Once you add these four items, this is the price at which you want to sell your item. As you can see, the profit number is what you can adjust to keep your item price in line with your market.

What if your numbers make the item too expensive for your market? The first thing to consider is the cost of materials. This may mean finding new sources for your materials or buying in bulk to cut costs. Don’t forget to look up your supplies on the Internet; You can often find great prices on materials that way. It could also reduce your earnings, or possibly your workforce, although these are the last decisions you need to make.

Take the time to work the numbers and you’ll be more likely to be successful in business selling your crafts.