Category Archive 'Business & entrepreneurship'

4 Reasons to Charter a Jet For Your Next Business Trip

Business & entrepreneurship

There’s a situation with a major client that needs to be addressed now. While much of it can be done remotely, there are still some tasks that must be managed face to face. That means you have to be in front of the client quickly. Instead of trying to arrange something with a commercial airline, look into the idea of a private jet charter from Novajet.com. Here are some reasons why this approach is what you need right now.

A Commercial Flight Won’t Get You There in Time

You’ve already looked at flight schedules with the major airlines. Even if you tried flying standby in hopes of taking advantage of a last-minute cancellation, the chances of getting to your destination in time are somewhere between slim and none. That’s not a position you want to be in when one of your most valued customers is on the line.

With charter flights, you tell them when you want to leave. In most situations, the service can accommodate your schedule and ensure everything is ready by the time you get to the airport. Even if this is a trip that came up at the last minute, you’ll find that a charter service is much more flexible with departure times than the average commercial airline.

Getting Work Done on the Flight

If you’ve ever tried to get some work done on a commercial flight, you know that’s not easy. This is especially true if you’ve flown in what’s sometimes still known as business or economy class. The seats are cramped, you have no room, and those trays don’t provide much of a surface for doing work. There’s also the kid behind you who keeps kicking the seat.

Seating on charter flights tend to provide more room. Since you’re flying solo or possibly with only a few people, there are less distractions. If you need to work more on a presentation or get the details in a legal document down pat, there will be time to do do. Best of all, you can focus on the task in relative comfort. Think of what that means in terms of being prepared when the jet lands and you make your way to the client’s office.

Landing in a Smaller Airport

Your client happens to be in a small to mid-sized city. There’s an airport, but larger aircraft can’t land there. Fortunately, a charter jet can land there with ease.

This is great, since you won’t have to settle for landing in the nearest larger city and then driving the rest of the way. That leaves more time to get to the hotel, rest a little, and then get ready to meet your client. You can bet that the service handling the management of your aircraft will confirm that landing in that city is possible, and ensure you get there on time.

Making Schedule Changes if Necessary

Things turned out to be more complicated than you thought. That means you won’t be returning to your city on the date that you anticipated. Making changes to a flight itinerary can be difficult with a commercial airline, but things are simpler to manage with a charter service.

As soon as you know that it’s necessary to extend your stay, let the service know. They will cancel the previous outbound flight and set up a new one. The entire process may not take more than ten minutes. If you need to salvage an account and that means traveling to the client’s place of business, don’t rely on a commercial flight to get there. Call a charter service instead. The amount of time you save may mean the difference between losing a lucrative account and keeping it for many years to come.

How Can You Finally Engage The Online Audience?

Business & entrepreneurship

Where do you write the most?

If you’re in the field of marketing, blogging, or anything remotely involved with writing, you know that you have to work on your writing constantly. Writing isn’t easy. It’s challenging to come up with new topics and to engage your readers on a consistent basis. Online readers have a short attention span. Attention is highly limited and difficult to gain.

Where am I going with this?

I found an article at Fast Company that shared a study about how your most important writing is done on Facebook.

Below is an excerpt from the article:

“It’s not that you can remember the Facebook posts a little better–you can remember them a lot better,” says study co-author Dr. Laura Mickes, who calls the findings “jaw-dropping.”

Why on Earth on Facebook updates so important?

Facebook posts, as well as Twitter posts, are so memorable because they are what Mickes calls “mind ready”: unedited and unfiltered. They’re off-the-cuff remarks and thoughts. These words, which flow quickly and easily from your friend’s mind onto his Facebook page, are then absorbed by you with similar ease.

With all of this being said, how can you improve your writing and how you engage your readers?

Work on great headlines for your articles.

I’ve been told that the best headlines provoke emotions. The best headlines are those that attract readers to even read the article. It’s challenging enough to have someone even stop by your site, let alone want to read an article.

How can you work on your headlines? You have to just play around with different ideas. You have to find ways to trigger our emotions. You have to look at how other sites get readers.

I would start off by reading Copy Blogger and their piece on how to write headlines that work. From there, you can play around with different headlines and strategies. The trick to remember is that writing great headlines is a work in progress.

Tweet what’s on your mind.

Do you have an idea? A quick thought? What about posting an unfiltered idea to Twitter? You never know when you can come up with a gem. I often find myself howling in laughter when following some of my friends. I could tell that they’re posting their unfiltered thoughts/jokes/ideas.

Do you ever Tweet a random thought that’s on your mind? Give it a try today. When something interesting hits you, post it. Don’t think about it. As long as it’s not something totally offensive or inappropriate, you shouldn’t worry about the negative backlash. You never know when you blurt out an idea that has potential for the future.

Work on Facebook status updates.

What do you post on Facebook? I usually post useless stuff. After reading this research study, I’m going to make a conscious effort to post thought-provoking updates — or at least updates that garner attention.

Have you seen any interesting Facebook updates lately?

Are you going to improve your writing? Let’s work on finally engaging the online audience.

Are You Afraid of Financial Unknowns?

Business & entrepreneurship

I’ve recently been looking into the unknown. I’ve been trying out ideas that have absolutely no guarantees or promises of any nature. In the past, I used to be afraid of this sort of stuff. Now I’m not.

“The unknown is the black void, the place where failure can happen (and so can success). Our instinct, then, particularly if we’re successful at one thing, is to avoid the unknown.” — Seth Godin

Many of my friends are afraid of the unknown. They worry about finding a steady job and receiving a steady paycheck. They don’t want any risks. They don’t want to take any gambles. While I certainly understand this think, it just isn’t for me.

I’ve been working on launching a new site recently, related to fitness. I’ve been putting in tons of hours into this project. I’ve been dedicating lots of time and taking time away from other tasks.

One of my buddies asked an important question:

How much are you going to get paid for this?

My answer was simple: I have no clue!!! I had no answer because I still haven’t seen a penny from this project nor do I plan on ever seeing a penny from it. Seriously.

I actually do tons of work where there are no guarantees. This site could totally flop. I could invest my money and time into something that will never see the light of day or never see any results. That sort of scary to think about. This project could be a flop. I could be wasting my prime. Yet, I don’t mind at all.

Are you afraid of the financial unknowns?

Many of us have perfect reasons for fearing the unknown: family, kids, mortgage, bills, and not wanting to be homeless.

The majority of us, just don’t want to take risks. We want everything to be the same. We resist change. Does this sound like you? Do you avoid financial risks at all costs?

How can you overcome this fear?

Just try out an idea that comes with no promises. Give it a try. Pour your energy and passion into something that drives you and pushes you. You’ll totally forget about the money and everything else.

I also highly suggest that you keep your current job. I don’t believe in quitting. I’m not that insane. You need to have some money coming in. I just believe that you can use your spare time to create something cool. You don’t have to be afraid of failure. I would be more concerned with the same that comes from not trying. Five years from now you’ll have more regret for not trying than for failing.

I’ve failed many times. It stings. You feel sorry for yourself. You don’t want to talk to anyone. You get over it. It’s not the end of the world. I can promise you this.

Are you going to overcome the fear of financial unknowns? Why not try working on a new project for the next 30 days?

Is Being Self-Employed Right For You?

Business & entrepreneurship

Have you been thinking about venturing off on your own?

If you want to be self-employed one day, this is the article for you. There are many myths and false pretences out there about the notion of working on your own. I wanted to give you some food for though today.

What should you think about before you travel down the self-employed route?

Your responsible for the money in every way.

The money is all on you. You have to have the money coming in. You have to pay suppliers. You have to take care of the accounting and taxes.

As you can see, you have to deal with all of the finances. Is that cool with you?

If you don’t like to deal with the financial side, you can outsource everything. Then of course, you have to pay for this. Money is now your issue.

The buck stops with you.

Not only is the money your problem, you’re also responsible for everything. You have to hire, outsource, design, delegate tasks, and take care of everything on your own. Everything is on you.

Some of us enjoy this type of responsibility. It gives us a sense of entitlement. For some it’s a pain. Which side do you fall under?

There are no set work hours.

You no longer have a 9-5. Your set hours are gone. This is good and bad.

The good news is that you can sleep in and work whenever you want. Feeling tired? No problem, just take the day off. Feeling motivated? Stay up all night.

The negative here is that there are no boundaries. You can be up all night and then sleep in, totally throwing your schedule off. You might be stuck working weekends and holidays. You might even offend your partner or friends when you bust out your laptop at the worst possible time.

You can easily overcome this. You can create a schedule. You just have to be disciplined enough to follow through with this schedule and stick with it no matter what. Can you do that?

You can get bored really fast.

You’re on your own. With all of your friends at work, you’ll be in your apartment all day hanging out by yourself.

The annoying workers won’t seem so bad on a boring and lonely Tuesday afternoon. You have nobody to bother or catch up with. You’re just on your own.

Do you like being alone? Would you prefer to be surrounded by others?

Being self-employed isn’t for everyone. It could be for you. If it’s not, that’s cool. The best solution is often to start a side business on the side while you still remain at your full-time gig. This will allow you to save up money and make the transition easier when you’re finally ready.

How Much Should You Spend on Your Business?

Business & entrepreneurship

How much money have you spent on a business? How much capital have you raised?

One topic that has been on my mind lately is the idea of spending money on your business. I always think about this sort of stuff because there are generally two schools of thought on financing a business:

  1. It’s okay to spend money. You can expense it and it will be itself off in the long run.
  2. You should be as frugal as possible. Start with a small investment and grow from there.

Let’s look at what’s involved here…

What are good ways to spend money on a business?

Some of the best investments could be:

  • Attending a conference.
  • Hiring quality staff/freelancers.
  • Buying new equipment.
  • Training.
  • Upgrading your skills.
  • Legal protection.
  • Improved resources.
  • Any sort of networking opportunity.
  • Consulting services.

What are horrible ways to spend money on a venture?

Hmm time for the flip side. What are some horrible things you shouldn’t spend money on?

  • Office space if you don’t need it.
  • Staff if you don’t have any extra work to delegate.
  • Fancy business cards.
  • Expensive dining.

Money spent also depends on the stage…

I’ve noticed that your stage and growth will determine how much money you should spend. A rookie might not want to dive all in with spending because they still haven’t proven that their idea can make any money. When you’re getting started your goal should be to find some paying clients first.

When you’re more involved and are making money, then you might want to take some huge risks.

I remember I used to work at a friend’s dads warehouse. One day the back room received a huge shipment. We asked him what the plan was and he told us that he had taken a huge risk and invested into a shipment of new goods. He wasn’t sure it was going to work, but he knew that this was a calculated risk worth taking.

Those were just some rough thoughts on spending money on a business. I’m interested in hearing from you guys.

How much have you spent on a business in the past? Do you regret spending too much money at some point?