Author: Jennifer Brazer

Freelance work or “by the project” is increasingly common worldwide now. Professionals who offer their services to companies for specific projects and who, when finished, look for new opportunities.

1. Keep all your information safe and in the cloud

A common mistake of those who work alone is that they save all their work and files on their computer’s hard drive or some external hard drive mistake. These forms of storage can cause accidents that could cause you to lose your information, or someone can easily steal them, leaving you without files, a project, and probably without work. You can access all files from any computer through cloud storage services. You can do this by selecting your task for remote working, taking a laptop to meetings, etc. You must show all your files to your customer anyway in their offices.

Also, you can share such files with other users for the best collaboration practices. You will not need to send and receive these files regularly as a team member. You can save all of them on Google Drive and Dropbox.

2. Use technology in your favor

Face-to-face meetings are no longer necessary when videoconferencing tools can make work easier. Ask your clients or collaborators to use Skype or Google Hangouts to plan meetings, conferences, or teamwork sessions without leaving your workplace.

3. Do not depend on the Wi-Fi of others

Having a reliable internet connection as a freelancer is always essential, but this is not always possible. There are places with slow connections, limited or absent, and you must be connected if you plan to work independently. Invest in a portable connection device that allows you to connect from anywhere. Come to your mobile phone company to know all the options they have for you.

4. Stay organized

You must have an organized system for setting a definite plan. It must be helpful to solve pending issues in a minimum duration, especially in the absence of your boss. Streamlined proceedings help you to protect your reports on the right track. You can use Google Calendar or Wunderlist to synchronize all your devices. They will be the best reminder for your presence in every meeting on time and help you finish all the activities you want to conduct.

5. Digitize your payments

Give a facility for electronic payments to your clients. For this, you can use bank portals or PayPal services. This selection is up to you as it must suit all your requirements. This way, you can check all your payments as quickly as possible, and the transaction process will remain unaffected. 

6. Hire the topmost freelance service

Hiring the topmost freelance caretakers who don’t spend too much time is far better than hiring a freelance business partner. Hire bookkeepers, virtual assistants, and transcriptionists who would be the best caretakers for your freelance administrative tasks. It will give you extra time to focus your time and energy on customers and other projects for which you are passionate.  

7. Avoid unnecessary expenses

You must avoid unnecessary expenses to keep your business at its potential level. They include excess office expenses, monthly subscriptions, and free projects. The better way is to list the freelance business expenses you will need throughout the year. Don’t forget that you are unsure about its usage in future proceedings.

8. Boost your community

Freelance business is not only looking for multiple customers and making money as it is beyond that. It is a business you control with a passion that creates a way to help your community develop. It allows you to build valuable apps, share different techniques, and contribute to something believable.

9. Find relevant information

Customers have excellent knowledge of their brand. You need strong skills as a freelance to adjust their requirements in the shape of your work (for example, a blog or article writer). Call a meeting with your team members, including your client. Meanwhile, explain everything and strive to give all answers to queries. Note their working criteria and the reason for their business, and find the demands they want from media and communication plans.

10. Keep your beginning and ending strong

Start and end your blog’s paragraphs by spending and refining them well. Both parts must dovetail and consist of highly essential points and these two elements. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Income taxes are one of the topics of interest in the United States. However, so much misinformation exists that many prefer to leave all this work to their accountant and not get involved. Either way, do not worry. This article tells you everything you need to know about taxes in the United States.

What are Income Taxes?

Income taxes are those paid in the US for yearly income. Although some income is exempt from income taxes, most people are subject to them.

Do I Have to Pay Income Taxes?

If you work in the United States, you will most likely have to pay your federal taxes yearly. Although some states, such as Florida and Texas, do not impose income taxes, you may still be responsible for paying taxes to the federal government.

Depending on where you live, some cities and municipalities add another layer of income tax you must pay.

How Much Will I Pay in Income Tax?

The amount you must pay for federal, state, and local income taxes is determined by the amount you earn each year. The United States uses a progressive tax system, which means that the more money you make, the more you must pay in income taxes.

However, some factors can make you pay fewer taxes, such as your marital status (single, married couples filing a joint return, etc.).

If you work independently or own a small business, income taxes can be more complicated because you must handle everything alone.

Overworking means that, in some cases, you will have to pay taxes instead of receiving money for income taxes. You must also make estimated tax payments for each quarter to avoid penalties.

How to Pay Less Income Tax

There are several ways to reduce income taxes. The US government allows you to deduct certain items from your gross income or the amount you earn before taxes so that you can reduce the total amount of money subject to taxes. Some legal ways to pay less income tax are:

Payless Income Taxes: Exclusions

One of the ways to pay fewer income taxes is by taking advantage of items that do not appear on your tax returns. These are known as exclusions and do not add to your gross income.

For example, tax contributions to a retirement account sponsored by your workplace allow you to pay fewer income taxes. Another example is the interest received for municipal bonds (known as bonds), which are not added to your gross income.

Save on Income Taxes: Deductions

Another tool to save on income taxes is deductions. Some expenses, such as the interest you pay on some loans (such as a student loan or mortgage), operating expenses if you are a business owner, and specific contributions to retirement accounts can reduce the amount of income subject to income tax.

Most taxpayers are also eligible for other deductions, although the amount of money you can save varies depending on your marital status, type of employment, and financial situation.

These deductions are specified when filling out a 1040 form, including donations, work-related expenses, certain losses resulting from accidents, theft, etc. You can see more information about deductions on the official IRS website.

Payless Income Taxes: Credits and Deductions

In addition to deductions, some taxpayers are also eligible for tax credits. These are the reductions of the taxes owed. So, for example, if you end up owing $2,000 in taxes but are eligible for a $500 tax credit, your tax bill will go down to $1,500.

This differs from a $500 tax deduction, which would reduce the amount of your taxable income by $500.

Some of the most used credits include having children or dependents, buying a house for the first time, and some educational credits.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Effective content marketing is a tool for grabbing readers’ attention and building your brand image. Content marketing has gained importance because many people use search engines to find relevant answers to daily questions. Whether you are a seasonal marketer or a fresh writer, coming up with eye-catching content is worth considering. If you want to bring more readers to your website, you need to follow the tips for effective content marketing.

Plan

Staying prepared doesn’t mean you must think a lot before writing a single piece of content. Instead, you need to plan your content to be specific and targeted. Your plan must cover your organization’s objectives, the purpose of the content, and your target audience.

After knowing about your target audience, you will be clear on what to write, which tone to use, and when and where you should publish the content. While planning a content strategy, one must remember that different platforms require different posting frequencies.

Twitter needs multiple posts in a single day, whereas Facebook needs only one post per day. A content calendar will be an excellent option to ensure you post content per frequency. The content calendar clearly describes content types, platforms, publishing dates, and times.

Know Your Audience

Having a targeted audience is essential in effective content marketing, as it helps you understand your readers’ needs. You must keep your content topic and material relevant to your functional industry. It’s better to tell your customers how your organization’s products and services are beneficial in resolving their problems.

You can analyze your consumers’ demographics using tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights. These tools show how many visitors visit your site and represent your readers’ category.

You can choose the topics and styles of your blog posts per your audience. To give your customers a more personalized experience, you can create content for different demographic sections that visit your website.

Creating content that covers different customers’ questions, concerns, and interests can get higher views. Other than the topics, your target audience research helps you identify a suitable tone for your content.

Know Your Platform 

You can create an eye-catching blog post, but your audience will not approve it because of the wrong platform. Posting your content on a forum your customers don’t use reduces the number of views on your published content.

Like the publishing platform, posting time also matters. If you post at a time when a considerable portion of your audience remains offline, then your content will be of no use, as it will reach its target readers.

Social media managers must keep updated with their customers’ activity to identify a suitable platform and time. If your company doesn’t have a social media manager, you can rely on a social media analytics tool to know when many visitors visit your website. Several tools help to ensure effective content marketing.  

Ensure Quality 

The crucial element of effective content marketing is high quality. Remember that your audience will prefer your informative, quality content over quantity and greater word count. Readers usually visit websites to get answers to their questions or to gain valuable information.

If your website has a 1,000-word long blog post that doesn’t answer their questions, they will leave your website. Sometimes, your businesses can lose their potential customers because of low-quality content.

Mixed Content 

You can share your content through several online platforms and in different content forms. The most popular content form is the text that grabs readers’ attention. However, you can also use images and

videos to deliver information to your customers or promote your products or services. Video content ranks second in popular forms as it is the medium to reach a wider audience.   

Optimize Content 

The key to effective content marketing is proper optimization. The company can optimize content by using the right keywords that help them rank higher in search engine result pages (SERP). You can add images with titles and descriptions for the text form, allowing search engines to find your content easily—higher chances of getting top-ranked by inserting keywords into Alt image, meta descriptions, and titles.

In a nutshell, an effective content marketing strategy can help you deliver relevant and eye-catching content, meeting the needs of your target audience. All you need is to consider the tips for effective content marketing.  

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Supply chain management refers to the complete manufacturing process of a product or service, from the initial stages to the delivery to the end user. Managing inventory, placing orders, receiving goods, and authorizing payments to suppliers are all key processes involved in supply chain management. It is crucial to ensure that these processes are properly managed, which highlights the importance of effective supply chain management.

In other words, supply chain management is a business process coupled with manufacturing, retailing, customers, and suppliers in a complete chain. It is the process of synchronizing the flow of goods and information associated with production. 

One of the first to point out a precise explanation of supply chain management in 1990, the International Journal of Logistics Management, “An interrogative philosophy to handle the total flow of a circulation channel from the supplier to the user.”

Every modern business struggles for existence and growth in a competitive environment. One way to achieve this is to offer an excellent product at a reasonable rate that meets the customer’s requirements.

In the mid-1990s, after over a decade, “supply chain management” expanded currency when a burst of articles and books focused on it emerged. The company initially defined supply chains as encircling all activities related to the production flow and altering properties from raw materials to the end-user. 

Decisions for SCM can be Classified into Two Categories

1. Strategic
2. Operational

Strategic decisions are typically made over a long time. They are closely associated with the business guide and strategy SCM policies. Alternatively, the functioning decisions are short and focus on daily events 

The four major and central decisions on SC management are:

1. Location
2. Production
3. Inventory
4. Transportation and distribution.

And do not forget that there are both strategic and operational elements in all these mentioned decision areas. The importance of Supply Chain Management will increase soon. Customers will start demanding faster than ever.

Manufacturing will assume excellent knowledge of order necessities, and similar potentials apply to outside entities. The want for increased management among clients, service providers, and suppliers dictates greater collaboration and visibility throughout the supply chain.

It is a time-based rivalry that requires harmonization with other corporate roles. This also requires a continued emphasis on outsourcing and expansion of performance encircling SC partners. Increased collaboration between SC partners and e-commerce enables communication throughout the SC management and will help the supply chain.

Supply chain Consulting is a facility involved in the transmission of data on how to exploit current assets. Better management can be a source of competitive lead; because of this, the role of the consultant is to help administration by adding value to the whole process through the numerous segments, from ordering the raw materials to the final product.

In conclusion, in this dynamic marketplace, the equations keep changing quickly with the leaders of yesterday. This requires intense competition and demands product life cycles, customers, and the rapid technological advancement. All these factors will change the competitive dynamic in the global environment.

What is the SCM course?

A supply chain management course begins with an introduction to the subject, the networks, and operations. Later, you will study all the individual firms, physical infrastructure, and personnel.

The supply chain management course will be of results-worthy interest to all experts in management, operations, procurement, logistics, and info technology.  

Conclusion

So, in short, supply chain management is the flow of goods or services that involves the movement, management, and storage of raw materials of the WIP (work-in-process) inventory and to fulfill its purpose from the time of origin to the point of consumption.  

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Humanity has made great strides. You cannot dispute that tremendous changes have occurred in every aspect of human existence. One of them is the way we trade.

When The company created the idea of money, the barter system collapsed. Over time, the concept of currency evolved from coins to paper money and ultimately to cashless transactions. Today, we have arrived at a point where a cashless society is possible.

According to a recent study by AT Kearney, the first entirely cashless system will exist in the next decade. Cash payments accounted for fewer than 15% of all retail transactions in Sweden as of 2016. Additionally, UK Finance reports that 34% of revenues are cash, and debit cards have surpassed cash as the preferred payment method.

While you cannot phase cash out of your daily life anytime soon, several technological advancements strive to eliminate the need for paper money. This category covers wireless payment methods such as credit and debit cards, digital wallets, and online banking. Without a doubt, a cashless society will have a profound effect.

Advantages

Those with the technical capability to benefit from a cashless world will almost certainly find it more convenient. You get immediate access to all your cash holdings when you have access to your card or phone. The convenience factor is not the only advantage. Additional advantages include the following:

Reduced crime rates

Carrying cash puts you in a dangerous place where criminals can spot you. If the money is transferred to your e-wallet and placed in the wallet of a criminal, it will be impossible to trace or establish that it is yours. According to one study conducted by German and American academics, crime decreased by 9.8 percent in Missouri when the state substituted cash welfare payments with EBT cards.

Electronic paper trails

Financial crime, too, should cease to exist in a cashless society. Illicit transactions, such as drug trafficking or illegal gambling, are often conducted with cash to avoid quickly leaving a transaction record and laundering money. Money laundering becomes problematic if the initial point of the money transaction is constantly known. It’s more challenging to conceal income and avoid taxes with every payment.

Disadvantages

Reduced privacy

You can make anonymous purchases with cash. Without currency, we could not keep track of everything we purchase. Privacy may not concern some; many are concerned that businesses and governments may utilize our purchase history to follow, monitor, and even threaten us.

Reduced financial security

Cash protects you from all threats, saving outright physical damage and robbery. However, when money is stored digitally, it is susceptible to system failures and hackers. Additionally, any power loss or network failure may render your money unrecoverable. Cash provides a degree of financial stability that a cashless economy cannot.

Criminals will become more sophisticated.

Since the government enforces monitoring of digital transactions and tracks black money, including drug cartels who do business in cash, it’s a basic plan to safeguard their funds. However, it provides law enforcement with a distinct edge. They can confiscate or destroy cash tracks, wreaking havoc on criminal groups. Law enforcement agencies might lose this advantage in a cashless world. A cashless society makes it easier to track certain criminals’ accounts; the absence of an alternative might drive many crime syndicates into offshore banking.

Conclusion

Numerous financial experts believe that currency will eventually cease to exist as a payment method for the products and services we enjoy. As contactless cards, mobile payment systems, and Open Banking accelerate the growth of digital payment alternatives, the demand for physical currency decreases dramatically.

34% of purchases are cash in the UK, and debit cards surpassed money as the most common payment method for the first time in 2017. Similarly, in Sweden, cash currently amounts to less than 2% of total transaction values, with that figure expected to decrease below 1% by the next three years.

Banks, FinTechs, and government agencies must collaborate to guarantee that the transition to a cashless society is as seamless and gradual as possible and that no segment of society is consequently left behind and financially exposed.

There are many other possible problems associated with a cashless society that You must address to maintain an adequate level of readiness.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

In the present questionable atmosphere, client experience and client support are turning out to be two exceptionally hotly debated issues. As nations begin going into lockdown, shutting all shops and organizations, individuals are compelled to remain at home and do the entirety of their online shopping.

As much as purchasers comprehend that the season of emergency means it’s not the same old thing, networks meeting up and informal voyaging a lot quicker will probably keep customers’ desires at a significant level.

In 2020, buyers were engaged more than ever, and conveying incredible client encounters presently can assist organizations with driving faithfulness and income over the long haul. Minimizing the significance of client experience and client care in troublesome occasions is not, at this point, a possibility for organizations out there, as the voice of the client keeps on getting stronger consistently.

The customer experience will be more than a product’s price and quality, the key differentiator of a brand by 2020. It improves long-term relationships, defines your brand, strengthens your leadership reputation, and generates new business opportunities. Despite the importance of the recognized customer experience, it is often overlooked. It is one of the simplest, most profitable, and most effective methods for developing your business. Here’s everything you need to know about the customer experience to reap the rewards.

What is the Customer Experience? 

In short, the customer experience is what customers (new and recurring) think of your brand. Companies and customers do not always agree regarding describing it globally. Perhaps it is because most leaders confuse experience and service.

The Difference Between Customer Experience and Customer Service 

Even if these terms are similar, they refer to very different things. Customer service refers to one aspect of the customer experience: making a purchase or requesting assistance. The customer experience, on the other hand, also involves interactions with the brand, which go beyond people-to-people exchanges. 

The Importance of the Customer Experience: New Context? 

Technically, the customer experience was born with the idea of exchanging a product for money. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that we started to take an interest in how businesses interact with customers and how these interactions affect customers’ emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual dimensions. And, if in the last twenty-five years, we have spoken almost exclusively of brands, today and in the future, in terms of trade, it is all a question of experience. 

It is a subtle but significant change. Branding is about creating logos, messages, and content that tell the public what they think of your business. The customer experience, on the other hand, is based on the public perception of your business and involves finding new ways to improve your relationship with them. Therefore, if branding denotes an authoritarian approach, the customer experience naturally lends itself to professional collaboration. 

Why is the Customer Experience in Vogue? 

The number of US companies prioritizing customer experience has increased by 53% since 2010 (today’s total number exceeds 86% of customer-centric business structures). The customer experience strategy is, by nature, a tactic that puts the power in the public’s hands. With the help of social media, consumer review sites, and new business tools to collect feedback, the average consumer has never had so many options. It is, therefore, logical that the customer experience is trendy today. New technologies have enabled consumers to play an active role in their daily business relationships. 

Create Your Customer Experience Strategy

A customer experience strategy takes advantage of anything that can strengthen customer/business relationships. This strategy can be divided into categories: employees, design, tools, and performance.

The most important thing to keep in mind is, of course, the customer. Their relationship with your business is subjective and will differ from person to person. You cannot control their feelings, cultural perspectives, or personal preferences. But you can control how you build your relationship with him, which is the goal. 

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

You run a risk with investing. With lifecycle, we gradually reduce the risk in your investment portfolio until your target date. It makes your assets less sensitive to sharp price falls due to unexpected events just before your target date. Because the closer the date on which you want to achieve your goal, the less time there is to make up for any investment losses.

Before you start trading on the exchange, clearly state your financial goal. For example, you aim to preserve and increase your investment with minimal risk. Then, a conservative strategy will suit you. It is most suitable for novice investors.

Portfolio diversification. You must distribute your capital between different assets. Even if one of them brings a loss, the growth of others will be able to compensate for these losses. Let’s take an example of how diversification works. Let’s say you bought shares in Aeroflot and Gazprom. All these companies belong to different sectors of the economy. However, such a portfolio may not always be reliable. The fact is that these companies belong to the Russian economy and depend on it. In a crisis in our country, these securities may “sink” along with the expected income. Therefore, add securities of issuers from different countries and sectors of the economy to the portfolio, and pay attention to the fact that companies do not depend on one indicator (The use of the Russian economy is simply an example).

Instrument liquidity. Liquidity is the ability to sell assets quickly and profitably on the stock market. We recommend that novice investors buy instruments with high liquidity.

What Principles Should You be Following when Choosing Investment Instruments?

Analysts and economists generally agree that inflation is unlikely to derail right now. Nevertheless, every portfolio should include some form of inflation protection. And that is especially important if the economy continues to heat up. For capitalization investors, stocks are the best way to stay ahead of inflation. Those who are (nearly) retired should again be careful not to be too cautious with bonds and cash because even average inflation is currently eating away at the low returns of such securities.

Retirees and near-retirees should also ensure that their portfolios include targeted inflation protection, as the higher cost of living slowly but surely gnaws at the purchasing power of the money they withdraw from their portfolios.

As a result, prudent equity investors should be careful in their choices and ensure that their portfolios are not unnecessarily exposed to overheated sectors. Defensive sectors such as healthcare and consumer staples were cheap a year ago, but now they are trading at prices in line with or slightly above our analysts’ fair value estimates.

Fund investors should reasonably target new purchases in funds that fall into the value segment of the Morningstar Style Box. The managers of such funds may reduce their exposure to overheating stocks and sectors and increase their exposure to stocks and sectors with better earnings potential. Sensitive sectors such as materials and energy currently show the most compelling valuations. The same goes for utilities and technology. Does all this mean you must mess up your portfolio and invest everything in energy producers and gravel suppliers? No. But if you’re taking new positions in individual stocks, it’s best to start with securities with a 4- or 5-star Morningstar stock rate, which indicates a low valuation.

What can You Add to a Portfolio?

We advise you to build a portfolio for passive investments for novice investors. You will not need to make transactions daily, constantly follow the news, and study the financial statements of the company day and night. Passive investments are less susceptible to sudden changes in the economy and are suitable for investors who do not yet have profound experience and professional knowledge. Investing in precious metals can also protect you from unfavorable market conditions. However, their share in the portfolio should not be too large.

We remind you that no universal investment portfolio would suit every novice investor. The set of assets depends on your goals, capabilities, interests, attitude to risk, and investment duration.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

1. Making a good plan

Planning is conditioning your behavior for a future programmed action in a strategic way. You certainly have several dreams if you are young and starting to structure your financial life. Is that a student exchange or a vacation trip? Buying a new car? Have money to open a business? All this is possible regardless of your salary. But, of course, if there is planning.

And there’s Luiz Barsi, who will not let us lie! With discipline and patience, in addition to well-defined goals within his investment strategy, he obtained more than R$1 billion on the stock exchange.

2. Create an expense control worksheet

Target detected an amount defined; it is time to understand how your salary will reach it, which goes through the elaboration of domestic budget control. A spreadsheet detailing your finances will help you review your priorities. More than that, it will make you realize that many expenses can be reduced or readjusted.

The simple structuring of personal finances makes it possible to reduce expenses by 20% to 30%. To do so, record all your expenses and income for a later critical evaluation of what can be resized.

3. Understand that the most successful know how to give up

You have already defined your target in the planning; you already know how much it costs and your monthly expense structure. It remains to measure the size of your financial sacrifice- how much you will have to save monthly to get where you want. Life is a game of loss and gain. In your case, this means that ensuring a certain monthly amount will certainly impose certain waivers.

In other words, that nightclub on Saturday, those daily Uber trips that are much more comfortable than taking public transport, that cool outfit you saw in the mall window last week, etc.

4. Set realistic goals

A warning: goals are not personal desires! I want to put all my salary together to buy a Ferrari, but I know it would be absurd to believe I can get through the month without spending a cent.

Be realistic; do not work with unrealistic dreams. Instead, stipulate feasible financial benchmarks, potentially concrete targets capable of materializing with effort, discipline, and determination. That is thinking about the long term.

5. Monitor your performance permanently

The process of building a stabilized financial life requires constant feedback. It is an incremental process, a dynamic path involving permanent readjustments, adjustments, and intense monitoring of your expenses to check if you are still on the right path.

It would be best to constantly reevaluate yourself to find new possibilities to generate income or save money. It is necessary to check if it could avoid any of the waivers to reinstate some expense that would be important to you and that, because you cut it, caused problems.

6. Believe in your ability to achieve set goals

Believe that you can materialize your planned goals. It would help if you had empathy with yourself. Rest assured: your disbelief in your ability to build something negatively conditions your actions, inducing you to weaken at crucial moments in your financial journey.

Many failures originate not in your pocket but in your mind, skeptical of the success of your audacious financial planning. It would be the case of someone with high financial goals, which impose heavy waivers on the consumption of essential items and involve changes in habits that are difficult to consolidate.

7. Be patient in pursuing your financial goals

We are taught to enjoy today and pay tomorrow. The culture of installment plans, financing, and overdrafts, almost non-existent in developed countries like Japan (where children learn to save early), usually slows our financial growth.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The Birth of a “Corpse”

Bezos graduated from Princeton with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. He works in the technology sector but has a career in finance. At 30, he is vice president of an investment fund, DE Shaw & Co. When a young secretary and aspiring writer is hired, she falls in love with the loud laughter of the manager. It is MacKenzie Tuttle, future ex-Mrs. Bezos. Jeff has an idea running through his head: it is called e-commerce. He ditches DE Shaw & Co. to sell books online and invest $10,000 out of his pocket.

The ideas, however, are apparent from the start: the pages would have been just the beginning. The company is registered under the name “Cadabra.” When the first legal counsel reads it, he points out to Bezos that it sounds remarkably like a “cadaver” (corpse). It’s a little macabre for an e-commerce site. The founder is convinced. Evaluate Relentless.com (guess where this address is referring today) and then opt for Amazon, the American name for Amazon. The river also enters the first logo: an “A” crossed by a stream.

Bezos is the Man of the Year

Amazon was listed on May 15, 1997, less than three years after the foundation and two years after the site’s launch. It is worth $300 million and is “the largest bookstore in the world.” The managers of Barnes & Noble (always them) do not go down and take Amazon to court; the definition would be false because the site is not a shop but an intermediary. The matter was closed a few months later with an agreement. No money at stake: both allow the other to define themselves as the largest bookstore on the planet. Bezos has one more thing to look after: the company’s expansion.

Amazon began to plant its flag around the United States, multiplying the distribution centers. In 1998, it stopped being just books and sold CDs. In 1999, the first cocoon of what the company would have made excellent arrived: Amazon is a digital center for other retailers. Initially, it was a way to find and buy rare books. Then, accept the merchandising linked to some titles. It so Bezos, at 35, is Time’s Man of the Year, which defines him as “the king of e-commerce.” No CEO had won the cover among popes, activists, and presidents. But just as his big face goes to press, his company is under pressure. The dot com bubble bursts and stocks plummet from over $100 to less than $10 in just a few months. Ten years will pass before we review the levels of ’99. The climb has been continuous, except for the thud that united the technology sector at the end of 2018.  

Successes and Failures

As shares recover and e-commerce expands, Bezos is making a move that, more than any other, makes the group’s prospects brilliant today: it launches Amazon Web Services, the infrastructure on which the rest of the services, from cloud hosting.

Today, the company is a leader in this sector, ready to intercept a growing turnover flow. In the latest quarterly, Amazon grossed $59.7 billion. Most still come from e-commerce, but more than 12% is from AWS, with higher growth rates and margins (half of operating profits come from there). The hardware sector instead had alternate fortunes. They promoted the Kindle, the e-reader launched in 2007. It rejected the Fire Phone.

Not even Bezos has resisted the charm of smartphones without, however, breaking through. It was a complete failure—one of the few. A completely different sign is the debut of Echo, the line of digital butlers animated by the digital assistant Alexa. Bezos arrives before the others and imposes its importance in a market that is not just hardware. The research, purchases, and future data pass through the smart speakers. Entering homes means opening a door connecting users’ living rooms with Amazon’s services and marketplace.

The Discovery of the Brick

When Amazon imposed its domain, many thought physical stores would die—many but not Bezos. Since 2015, the CEO has added brick to digital, starting (once again) with pages and paper: the first bookstore opened in Seattle. The importance that Bezos dedicates to stores is confirmed by the fact that the company’s largest acquisition is made of shelves, not bits. In 2017, Amazon paid $13.7 billion to the Whole Foods supermarket chain.

Amazon 4-star (which sells items with positive online reviews) and Amazon Go (supermarkets without cashiers) have also arrived. A physical network, together with the increasingly widespread distribution centers, has a double purpose: on the one hand, it opens new revenue channels; on the other hand, it creates a system of “sentinels” that in the future could be used as outposts of e-commerce, for super-fast deliveries or to order online and collect at the checkout. Although the business involves increased sectors (and who knows how many more, starting with food delivery), Bezos does not lose sight of e-commerce.

The company’s heart needs constant stimulation: in the last quarter, sales grew “only” by 14% year on year. That is why they are already moving from Seattle, testing deliveries with drones and robots, reducing shipping times for Prime subscribers to one day, and starting construction of an airport that will allow them to manage the entire logistics chain.

The “Day One” Creed

Like successes, discussed working conditions are part of Amazon’s story. Bracelets have been talking about monitoring workers and imposing unsustainable rhythms on them. An unsafe environment in which the intervention of ambulances is undoubtedly familiar. In the United States (but not in Italy), there is also an algorithm based on which warehouse workers are evaluated and fired.

The company has always defended itself, denying the accusations but highlighting the economic effects an Amazon center has on employees and induced. Last November, he responded to pressure from the US parliament by raising the minimum hourly wage to $15. Cash registers certainly do not have the problem of having to count loose change. The group closed in 2018 with a turnover of $233 billion. In 2005 it was still below 10. It exceeded the one hundred billion quota in 2015. In recent years, profits have risen, historically kept low to have aggressive prices. Until three years ago, they had only exceeded the billion mark once (in 2010). In 2016, they reached 2.3 billion, and in 2017, 3 billion.

Bezos preferred (and partly still likes) expanding rather than making immediate gains. And it is precisely this that has produced a paradoxical effect: Bezos has become the wealthiest man on the planet. This is thanks to the Amazon shares that have pushed – for a brief period – the capitalization over one trillion dollars. Last year, they exploded: 10 billion. It is all consistent with Bezos’ philosophy, explained in a letter to shareholders from 1997:

“Experiment patiently, accept failures, plant seeds, protect saplings, and up the ante when the customer’s pleasure is seen.”

It is the “day one” creed: lead your company as if it were just born. It’s as if you were in that depressing office that became a meme. But with a more toned physique and $150 billion in his pocket.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Working in a foreign country comes with many challenges, including the following:

• The cost of the immigration bureau: Since the employer needs to pay the immigration bureau a recruitment cost when applying for recruitment abroad, the laborers who go abroad also need to bear a fee at the immigration bureau;
• Foreign lawyer fees: Because foreign employers entrust lawyers to recruit lawyers in China, the entrustment of lawyers will incur specific fees, and lawyers also need a fee to apply for an invitation to the Immigration Bureau, so laborers who go abroad have to pay a foreign lawyer fee.

With excellent career and personal development prospects, the UK received more points this year for offering a good work/life balance and a good salary. Most ex-pats also said the UK’s work culture was better than theirs. In addition, the UK has a clear advantage in terms of educational attainment among the population surveyed. More than two-fifths (43%) of foreigners have postgraduate degrees. At the same time, respondents believe this is the first person in the world to learn a new skill.

• Material costs: Public expenses, insurance fees, airport pick-up fees, accommodation arrangements, extension arrangements, and coordination and settlement of special events by overseas agencies.

The above expenses are all necessary for working abroad. The domestic costs are relatively small, and general labor and most fees must be spent abroad.

•  Expenses required for labor services abroad

1. Physical examination fee: The physical examination can be carried out by yourself at the hospital or above a country’s level or by the operating company. According to the actual fees charged by the hospital, and leave a receipt;
2. Training fee: Depending on the length of the training time, it is generally 150 to 600 Yuan (including the teacher’s certificate and the foreign labor service qualification certificate), and you directly pay the training fee to the training center or operating company. The operating company organizes this training at a state-recognized foreign labor training center, and the movement is qualified—at least 48 hours of training sessions.

What is the Agency Fee for Working Abroad in the High-Tech Zone?

1. Passport fee: pay visa fee according to regulations;
2. Airport construction costs: paid according to national regulations;
3. Vaccination: according to the actual fee charged by the epidemic prevention department;
4. The notarization fee: the contract you and the dispatch company signed will be based on the receipt amount.

Performance Guarantee and Service Fees

1. It should also pay in the “expatriate labor contract” or other agreements signed by the operating company, following national regulations, performance bonds, and service fees. The performance guarantee is that you must go to work abroad According to the provisions of the “expatriate labor contract” and “employment contract.” The performance deposit is directly handed over to the operating company that sends people to work abroad, and the operating company will give you a receipt. When completing a labor contract and returning, the operating company shall refund the principal and interest of the performance bond (calculated by the interest of the demand deposit during the labor service abroad) in full with the submitted receipt. If the contract is not completed, there is no right to ask for a security deposit refund.Service charges are fees incurred by operators and their staff when providing administrative and management services abroad.
2. According to national regulations, the performance bond shall not exceed 20% of the total contract wages (excluding overtime pay) earned during your work abroad. The service fee shall not exceed 25% of the actual contract wages earned during the overseas work period if a domestic work unit’s labor contract relationship is maintained. Suppose there is no work unit or the labor contract relationship with the original team is terminated. In that case, the service fee shall not be higher than during the overseas work period. 12.5% ​​​​of all contract wages earned. How much to pay will be carefully calculated according to the contract. As a reminder, be sure to ask for a receipt when paying the fee and keep it for a refund in the future.

However, the specific amount is not specified. It is paid according to the percentage of the salary in the contract. The contract signed by both parties can make the particular payment. It can refund some of the labor costs for going abroad, and some of the cashiers themselves will not be repaid. Relevant documents should be kept and returned for reimbursement later. About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.