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Successful

What Degree Do You Need to Be a Court Reporter?

Getting into the field of court reporting can be an incredibly fulfilling career. Beyond getting to be involved in helping facilitate court cases, court reporters can make a great income, with some reporters making close to $80k a year depending on where they live and work. Here’s what you need to know about getting started as a court reporter.

Degree requirements for court reporting

While some job descriptions explicitly ask for applicants with a four-year degree, the field of court reporting will often accept individuals with only their associate’s degree. This is because employers know that finding a university that offers a four-year program in court reporting is difficult, but associate’s programs are far more common. The typical degrees you will want to pursue are either programs in stenography or in court reporting itself. As you look for specific schools, make sure to find a college that has been accredited. Being accredited by an institution like the National Court Reporters Association can be a major boon to your career after college. The NCRA sets many national standards for court reporting and is a trusted voice in the field, so enrolling in a program that measures up to their standards is crucial if you want to succeed after graduation.

Useful electives to take

While an associate’s program will have different credit requirements from school to school, there will undoubtedly be some electives that you can choose from as you craft your schedule for each semester. The courses you choose are all up to you and your advisor, although there are a few strategic moves you can make to as you think ahead to your career post-graduation. For example, if you know that you want to use your court reporting skills in the courtroom, it’s probably a good idea to take that extra criminal justice course. By the same token, if you’re mostly interested in stenography as a way to provide open or closed captioning services and help individuals with special needs, taking courses in special education, hospitality, or even American Sign Language may be a better fit for your schedule and goals, since those are the venues you’ll most likely use your skills beyond the courtroom.

The importance of certification

Getting certified as a court reporter is one of the fastest ways to get ahead in a competitive job market. There are several different certification tests you can get, ranging from certifications that qualify you as a Registered Professional Reporter to roles as a Certified Legal Video Specialist, Registered Diplomate Reporter, or Certified Realtime Reporter. All of these certifications have different national standards, meaning that Miami court reporters and reporters in other cities across the country all fit a certain criteria to qualify for these certifications. As Laura Ohman, a registered professional reporter, claims on the National Court Reporters Associaton’s website, having a certification from the NCRA “definitely puts you at the top of the list” when you’re looking for a job as a transcriber or captioner. Getting a specialized certification helps to differentiate you from other job seekers and also shows your seriousness in your role. By investing time into studying for and passing any reporting test, you illustrate that you are skilled and invested in the career field you’ve chosen. You can even take all of the certification tests you’d like, allowing you to really level up your resume and make yourself a competitive job candidate in a wide range of roles.

With an average salary of around $50k and the ability to qualify for the job with only an associate’s degree, becoming a court reporter can be a great career choice for someone who types well and loves the legal system. Make sure to take the right classes in college and get a certification or two, and you’ll be well on your way to having a successful and fulfilling career.

 

Business

10 Innovative Education Startups That Are Making Graduates Successful

The world has changed a lot since electricity was discovered. Amazing inventions have been developed to make life easier for everyone. While technology is not without its disadvantages, EduTech has dramatically reshaped the educational sector. Students now offer assignment help to other students from the comfort of their homes using IoT devices. Getting a degree is no longer limited to classroom learning as distant learning has become increasingly popular in recent time. Graduates who take full advantage of technology in the educational sector are recording success around the globe. Schools are also using technological innovations to reinvent how they teach students. Many of these innovations have contributed to producing more successful graduates who are ready to face the world.

Top 10 Education Startups That Are Reshaping The System

1. Study Online With Piazza

This application allows students and teachers to interact online in virtual study rooms. Without revealing their identities, students can ask questions to teachers and the answers that are most fitting for the students are pushed to the top of the board for everyone to see. Many schools around the globe are already using this app.

2. Take Advantage Of Cloud Technology With Rafter

Cloud computing eliminates the need for heavy and expensive hardware. Rather than encouraging students to buy many books, some schools ask them to use Rafter to buy and store digital formats of the books they need. The digital books cost less than hard copies and they can also be used by campus bookstores.

3. Access A Pool Of Resources On Quizlet

This site allows students from around the globe to have access to limitless resources for learning. With over 15 million monthly users, the application has become one of the best free EduTech apps in the world. You can find it on the Google Play Store or iTunes. It is the perfect assignment helper.

4. Become A Developer With Dev Bootcamp

Web development is one of the most sort-after skills in today’s world. If you want to become a developer, you can join the Dev Bootcamp. The course runs for about 19 weeks and graduates receive certificates after completion. It also helps you build your network as a developer.

5. Get Personalized Coaching With InsideTrack

Universities now employ the services of InsideTrack to get personalized coaching for each student. This startup typically evaluates the technology being used by the university and gives reports about their findings. The universities will be able to provide a more streamlined learning experience for students based on the information they receive.

6. Enhance Certificate Management With Accredible

This startup offers certification management services to online schools. It allows students to add recommendations to their certifications making them part of their digital badge.

7. Study Better With Course Hero

This online resource contains past exams, study guides, class notes, flashcards, and many other resources. It also offers tutoring services to students who may need it. It has over 5 million students using its services.

8. Become A Better Professional With Udacity

This startup allows companies to train their staff with custom courses. It was developed by professor Sebastian Thrun from Stanford University and has been used by many top companies to train graduates in their various fields.

9. Make Every Penny Count With TORSH

Developed by Forbes contributor, Courtney William, TORSH is a startup that is dedicated to using technology to improve teacher development. William started this project because he was tired of seeing how broken the educational system in Brooklyn and Jamaica were irrespective of the amount that was devoted to education.

10. Change The World With 4.0 Schools

Founded by Matt Candler, this startup was created specifically to reinvent the outdated educational sector for good. It is a non-profit educational system that offers entrepreneurs the opportunities and resources they need to make a change in the current sector. This is a good startup for writers and professional assignment helpers who want to improve their skills.

There are many other startups that are reshaping the educational system and making graduates more successful but these are the top ten. You can check Mypaperwriter.com if you want an example of how startups are reshaping the system.

 

Successful

What Is the Ideal Age to Be An Entrepreneur

Go back 50 years and the average life expectancy was 52 years. Fortunately today a huge number of people are living to 80 and beyond. The reason this is relevant to the idea age to be an entrepreneur is that it merely emphasizes there is no idea age.

Anyone can become an entrepreneur; all they need is an idea and the motivation to start. Of course there is an array of challenges when starting a business but these are faced by all entrepreneurs; regardless of their age.

Energy & Enthusiasm

It is possible that people in their 20’s have more energy and zest for life. This makes it more likely that they will start their own business but not more likely that they will succeed.

The problem with all the energy and enthusiasm is that younger people generally lack experience and knowledge of the world. This is why the average age for a successful startup is actually in the mid 40’s.

Surprisingly this figure is fairly consistent across all industry sectors; although technological sectors do tend to have a slightly lower figure.

Attitude Matters

The difference and the key to a successful startup at any age is your passion for the subject in hand. The most successful entrepreneurs did not start their business with an aim to get rich. They started doing something they were passionate about and built a business from there.

Passion for a specific industry or product will help you to get past the hurdles instead of giving up; focusing on the money is more likely to leave you looking for the next ‘big’ idea.

Experience

The reason why people in their 30’s and 40’s tend to have more success is that they have developed knowledge through experience of their specific industry. These are generally things that cannot be taught through traditional business models or schools.

Prior experience isn’t essential to starting a business but it does appear to be a key trait of those that are successful.

Patience

Older people tend to have a little more patience when dealing with issues. Surprisingly this can make a big difference to the overall success of a business. Patience is key to taking a moment before making decisions.

This coincides with the tendency for older people to stick with a project goes a long way to confirming while people who start business in their 30’s, 40’s and older are successful.

The Age Of the Entrepreneur

There are more entrepreneurs than ever in modern society. Part of this is because the digital age has made it much easier for anyone to start a business and connect with people all over the world. But, this is also the reason why so many startups fail or are abandoned. If the research isn’t done before you startup you may find the competition is simply too much.

There is no perfect age to become an entrepreneur. Just because older people enjoy more success doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve success in your 20’s. All you really need is an idea, the passion to see it through and a willingness to learn from your mistakes.

Business

Tips To Be A Successful Franchise Owner

Buying a franchise comes with tons of risks. You are spending a considerable amount of money without a guarantee that your endeavour will be successful. Just like any other business, there is always a risk involved. The key is how you minimise the risks and maximise the profits. These are some of the most useful tips to help you succeed with new franchises.

Improve your management skills

You are not only a franchise holder, but you are also a team leader. You need to practise how to manage your team since each member will have a role to play in making the franchise successful. You will train how to be a manager, but you will also learn how to do everyone’s part. It helps you manage them better if you prepare yourself before the opening of the business. You need to practise other business skills as well like accounting, business taxation, budgeting, advertising, and many others. These skills will all play an essential role in the success of your business.

Follow the business model

You bought this franchise because you believe in it. You see its potential of succeeding in your area because it has a proven track record. It means that you need to follow the business model if you want to succeed. There is nothing wrong in asking other franchisees for help, but you should try to stick to the tested and proven model given by the franchisor.

Create a business plan

Of course, you need to modify the plan based on what you think would be suitable for your local market. Remember though that the extent to which you can make modifications depends on your franchisor. You need to ask in advance or read the terms and conditions before coming up with the final business plan.

Study the competition

Just like any other business, you need to know how you can compete with existing companies. You should take the time to study the market, and why consumers choose your competitors. It will help you come up with a plan on how to take over the market, or at least get a share of it.

Don’t stop marketing

The good thing about franchising is that marketing is mainly the job of the headquarters. They will come up with national ads, and your business also benefits from them. Your local market might need different ads to capture their attention. Therefore, you should come up with your local marketing plans. You can put up posters or distribute brochures to help boost the popularity of your business locally.

Don’t keep borrowing money

You will spend a massive amount of money to buy the franchise. You will also have other operational costs to consider. Make sure that you prepare for all these expenses. Stop getting more loans until you can start paying your previous loans, or until your business starts to gain income.

Hopefully, these tips will help you succeed as a business owner. Being a franchisee comes with a huge responsibility, but you can do it if you work hard.

Business

How To Take Risks Investing

Moneyfarm’s infographic on the wealthiest people in history inspired us to think about what it takes to build wealth.

According to Moneyfarm, there are many ways to build wealth. Investing is one of them. For example, Warren Buffet made his billions by investing.

So, if you’re not afraid of taking calculated risks like, Warren Buffet when it comes to building your investment portfolio, continue reading to discover how to manage the risks which you take in order to maximize your chances of making a fortune.

How to take risks investing:

  1. Consider investing in a company which is new to the stock exchange

If you’re interested in doubling or tripling your initial investment, you may want to consider investing in a company which is newly listed on the stock exchange and which could skyrocket in price, in the coming months. Just make sure to research the performance of the company over the last year to see whether its share price is likely to soar before you make an investment.

  1. Always look at a stock’s statistics before making a sizeable investment

Examples of statistics which are well worth taking into consideration include the recent history of a stock’s share price. In general, it’s worth paying particular attention to a stock’s performance over the last 2 years. As an example, you may find that a stock always increases in price after a small dip and that you’ll be able to make a profit within a short period of time by purchasing a stock for a cheap price, before selling it when it returns to its normal share price.

  1. Consider talking to an experienced stockbroker to gain valuable insight into the stock market

If you don’t have much experience when it comes to selecting profitable stocks, you may want to consider talking to an experienced stockbroker. As they may be able to help you select the right mix of stocks to build an impressive, profitable investment portfolio.

As a bonus stockbrokers are experts at interpreting stock market trends and can normally predict when the best time is to purchase and sell certain stocks. Which is incredibly important as to succeed as an investor, you have to know when to buy and sell stocks. As simply purchasing the right stocks, won’t necessarily earn you a sizeable profit if you purchase your stocks at the wrong time or choose to sell your stocks at the wrong time.

  1. Don’t invest too much money in a single investment

If you want to take risks as an investor but you don’t want to risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s well worth investing in several different companies, rather than investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a single investment. Remember, that if you change your mind and would like to invest more money in a particular company, that you’ll be able to make another transaction, once your current investment has proven lucrative.

  1. Consider investing in an industry that you’re passionate about

As an example, if you’re passionate about property, you may want to consider purchasing an investment property whilst if you’re interested in technology you may be more suited to investing in cryptocurrencies or a tech-related company such as Apple, Amazon, Alibaba or Tesla.

So if you’re keen to take calculated investment risks, it’s well worth considering all of the 5 tips listed above.

Business

Best Practices For Setting Annual Sales Plans

While most business professionals are familiar with the concept of a marketing plan or a business plan, they may have less knowledge about creating an annual sales plan. This document acts as a company’s roadmap to provide direction to the sales team via specific objectives and goals. While some companies write shorter or longer sales plans, the annual plan is the most common. Sales managers typically prepare it towards the end of a calendar year to guide sales operations for the following year.

How to Define Success

One of the most important elements in creating this document is determining which metrics to use to evaluate whether salespeople are meeting the goals and objectives of the plan. According to experts on annual sales planning, it’s important to include all of the following:

  • Business results: This covers such things as customer satisfaction, market share, and revenue. It helps to determine an organization’s overall health.
  • Sales objectives: These metrics include such benchmarks as customer retention rates, deal win rates, and new product sales. They help to determine how well each member of the sales team is achieving specific goals.
  • Sales activities: This looks at metrics such as how much training the sales team should receive, percentage of salespeople who use CRM tools, how many customers each salesperson manages, and sales call volume. This part of the sales plan outlines the specific tasks that sales managers and team members complete to attain specific business goals.

Revisit the Past to Plan for the Future

Creating a high-quality sales plan requires the ability to evaluate how things currently stand. Since each member of the sales team will have different ideas on this, it’s important to allow them to express their views. However, it’s important to limit everyone’s time to speak to ensure meeting the goals of the planning session.

Before starting planning for the next year, review what worked and didn’t work in the current year. The goal is to take lessons learned from the current year and incorporate them into the sales plan for next year. It’s a good idea to divide goals into new things to start, things to keep, and things to eliminate or modify.

Develop a Theme

With so many things to include and focus on for the business plan, it’s important to pull everything together and decide on an overarching message or sentiment. Creating a tagline for the sales plan gets more people behind it by generating enthusiasm. Businesses with a strong seasonal focus should consider creating a theme that brings all seasons together with a single statement.

Budgeting and Promotion

There’s no way around the fact that meeting goals takes money. Companies must include how they intend to pay for such things as marketing and advertising, training, and product development to ensure that creating the plan doesn’t require going over budget. Viewing the expenses in terms of an investment rather than an expense is also helpful.

After preparing the final copy of the sales plan, the next step is to share news of marketing programs and other activity with customers. Delivering the news in a fun and innovative way gets them behind the plan just as much as the employees and is something to strive towards doing.

 

Blog

What An Answering Service Does For Your Business

It’s possible you’ve either used or experienced an answering service at some point in your life. As technology continues to move forward, answering services can benefit your company in many different ways.

Global Resources Consultants present the following five ways that an answering service can benefit your small business.

Collecting Leads

Lead collection is critical to linking potential customers with your product/service. We know how difficult it can be to keep up with the influx of phone calls that small businesses receive on a daily basis. With missed phone calls comes missed leads.

It’s known that nearly nine out of ten people will not call you back if you fail to answer the phone. Think of it this way: if you don’t value their time, why would they care to give you business?

With an answering service, you don’t have to do this all alone. The answering services of today capture information exactly as you need it and hand deliver it right to your inbox. This will for sure increase your success. The other great benefit: answering services are working 24/7, around the clock for you.

Processing Orders

As a small business owner, I’m sure you’ve been obligated to take orders in the evenings or even on the weekends. Rather than using all of your precious time, an answering service can handle those orders for you. Since over-the-phone is generally viewed as the quickest and most efficient way to place an order, sales will constantly be processed.

Answering services have ways of inputting orders using either their own custom software or your sales portal.

Brand Integration

Sure, we know you’ve avoided answering services because you think agents pull customers away from YOUR brand. Well, you’d be surprised at how seamless and effective agents of today sound over the phone. Most people will just assume that he/she is working in-house.

Scheduling Appointments 

With your busy schedule, you likely don’t have enough time to take calls and manage your own calendar. Answering services can handle the back-end logistical work for you, while you focus on scaling your business.

Reporting Calls

An answering service provides call reports that lay out all of the nitty gritty details of incoming calls. This report includes, but is not limited to, number of calls, duration, geographic location and any end result(s).

Recap

Answering services of today will not only save you time and money, they will also help you collect leads, process orders, schedule appointments and provide great caller insights. This time-saving tool will help you scale your business and earn more profits.

Blog

Promotional Gifts: The Key To Profitability For A Business

Promotional items are key to achieving the profitability of a business. They are perfect for attracting new clients, rewarding loyalty of current customers, increasing brand awareness, and offering a stable and unified image of a company.

A customer who receives a gift from a company feels valued by it: it is a way to build loyalty. In addition, word of mouth remains the most useful strategy. The most likely thing is that the client speaks well of the company that gave the gift. That is, brand awareness is increased, and it is possible to attract new customers through this form of marketing.

On the other hand, a company that has personalised uniforms, personalised writing materials and stationery, offers a strong and stable external image. It offers a coherent “corporate image”.

Here are just three promotional gifts that you should consider using for your business:

Personalised agendas

Personalised agendas are not just an accessory in which you can note important contact numbers or information. They are much more.

This promotional gift is especially useful but, in addition, it is very accessible for a company. It is an economic and practical gift that is always welcome.

On the other hand, one of the greatest advantages of personalised agendas is that they are not a static object. They usually travel where the owner goes. It is a perfect way for a company’s logo to impact third parties and, in this way, increase brand awareness.

Personalised pens

Personalised pens are a classic, but they are useful and functional. Customising this promotional item is a way to send a message.

One of the biggest advantages of personalised pens is their ability to adapt to a large number of situations, regardless of the client’s profile. That is, it is a gift that will be well received by any type of company or individual because it is always necessary.

On the other hand, it is a way of awakening interest on the part of the client. When making a gift, the receiver feels flattered, so (in many cases) they will want to “return the favour”.

Personalised bags and backpacks

Personalised bags and backpacks can be considered a mobile advertising item. Your company logo will travel wherever your personalised promotional items travel. Of course, it is not the same as an item which travels stored in a suitcase or bag, as a personalized bag or backpack travels in full view of everyone.

Like the bags of clothing stores, electronics stores, etc., the personalised backpack will extend brand awareness wherever it travels, as it is visible at all times.

Promotional merchandise is perfect for increasing the brand awareness of a company, to retain existing customers and attract new ones, but not all promotional items are adapted to any company. In many cases, the choice of the ideal item can be the catapult to achieve certain business objectives.

Blog

6 Essential Things To Organise A Corporate Event

If you are planning to have a meeting with people interested in your company, you should follow the following tips.

Organising a corporate event can be a great challenge, especially if it is a project for a first-time entrepreneur who does not know all the details that should be taken into account. However, experts say that the key to making an event a success (whether it is with your employees, investors, potential clients or associates) is that it should be a great experience.

Beyond the corporate gift bags that you are going to give away, if you are going to use a corporate event to communicate something, you must make sure it is a memorable experience. To achieve this, as in almost everything in the business world, you must pay close attention to the details.

Here are the key elements that you must keep in mind so that those attending your event remember you forever.

  1. Number of participants, age, and gender

It may seem obvious, but beyond knowing only the number of participants to determine the location and quantity of necessary inputs, the fact of taking into account age and gender is essential to adapt the activities to the public. If you take into account the target audience, you will achieve the full attention of your audience.

  1. Objective of the event

This helps you to start planning it. It can be to reward the staff of your company, motivate the team, launch a product, celebrate an anniversary, or end of the year party. All events have an objective and the activities that take place must be aimed at achieving it.

  1. Budget

No matter if you decide to organise the event yourself or hire a specialist company, you must take into account from the beginning the budget for the event to develop a proposal for activities and general development of the event. Always try to do more with less. It is important to have or develop agreements with suppliers to maximise resources.

  1. Define the venue

Once you have defined the above details, you should look for a place to celebrate your event. You must take into account the schedules and ease of arrival to the location, or, if the place is not easily accessible, look for transportation options to offer attendees.

  1. Agenda of the event

Having a schedule of specific activities helps the organisers to keep track of essential elements of the development of the event such as venue rental, catering hire, AV rental and other required services. Having a schedule also allows quick decisions in case, for some reason, one of the presentations or planned elements does not go as planned.

  1. Planning schedule

Finally, it is important to remember that the realisation of a successful event, whatever it may be and with the objective that it is intended to achieve, should begin, if possible, at least three months in advance of the event to allow sufficient time to plan all the necessary elements, and to ensure you will be successful with your business event.

Blog

7 Tips to Design the Packaging You Need for Your Product

When we walk through the aisles of the supermarket, our eyes are invaded by an infinity of visual stimuli, with various brands fighting each other to get our attention. Thousands of products with different shapes, colours, smells and textures invade us with the sole purpose of being chosen to be part of our purchases.

When designing packaging, the strategy to follow is so important that it can mean the difference between the success and virtual invisibility of a product. For this reason, here are 7 key points that you must keep in mind so that the design of your product’s packaging is attractive and, above all, irresistible:

  1. Aim at your target audience

First, if you have not done so previously, you must define who your target audience is. That is, what kind of person will be interested in acquiring your product. For example: women aged 30 to 50, over 30 with purchasing power, children or adolescents, etc.

  1. Stay true to your brand

You must not deviate from your corporate colours, typography, style, approach, etc., unless a specific product or campaign is designed to breakout from this, for whatever reason. It is important that your product and brand is easily identifiable at a glance. For this it is essential to be faithful to your brand values.

  1. The budget is no longer an excuse

Nowadays, you can make original and fresh designs with few resources, because the trends mark minimalist designs that require few inks and accessible materials for all kinds of budgets.

You can save on printing with monochrome or two-colour designs. Less is more, saturating the container with forms and texts sometimes plays against you.

  1. Choose the right material

There are a variety of materials available to create your packaging: glass, metal, different types of plastic and a multitude of densities, etc. How do you know which materials are optimal? The tendencies of recent years in materials of packaging mark the use of natural or ecological materials such as kraft paper bags, containers made of recycled cardboard, corrugated paper, or cork, etc. In fact, more and more companies have chosen to return to glass containers, returning to the era before plastic and adding value to the product, denoting exclusivity and quality and also helping the environment. You can find out more about such packaging trends at pactivate.com.

  1. Amuse the public

There is nothing better than getting a smile from the public to remember your brand. The interactivity in the packaging, the sensorial experiences, making the packaging a game is a trend already present that continues to gain strength. Fun containers that are original will not go unnoticed in the supermarket aisles.

  1. Make the consumer’s life easier: intelligent packaging

It is about offering a solution to a problem that arises from the consumption or use of your product to make life easier for consumers and therefore show an advantage over the products of the competition:

  • Use of colour to warn of the expiration of a product or ideal consumption temperature, for example, a thermochromic label which tells you when, for example, beer is at the ideal temperature for consumption.
  1. Never forget ergonomics

It is essential when designing our packaging to take into account the ease of transport and the optimal convenience when using it.

  • A shampoo that does not slip in the shower or a bottle that adapts well to the shape of the hand.
  • Isotonic drink bottles for athletes, which in addition to having an organic, rounded shape that adapts to the hand, have a texture on the side that facilitates grip and prevents slipping while doing sports.

If you still do not know how to approach the design of your packaging or the steps you must carry out to develop it, consult a specialist in packaging design to advise you on packaging and help you to make your products look better, get the attention of your potential customers and increase your sales.