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Tips

Benefits of HVAC Zoning

You may have spots in your home that are too cold even after running the heater for hours. You may also have remarkably warm areas heated by sunlight during the day. If you have either of these issues, a standard system may not be the best for your heating and cooling needs. Luckily, you can resolve most of these issues by switching to HVAC zoning.

What is a Zoned HVAC System?

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Zoning is a modification made to your HVAC system, creating independently controlled areas. In a zoned system, each area of your home or office has its own zone with a separate thermostat for each. Installation follows the same process as the typical system, with only a few electrical changes and the addition of dampers. An existing unit can be zoned out any way you like.

All homes and businesses can benefit from setting up a zoned system. Here are some of the advantages arising from HVAC zoning.

Improved Energy Efficiency

In a standard HVAC, temperature control happens in the same way throughout the whole house. In a zoned system, your HVAC can avoid the unnecessary work of heating a room that you don’t use frequently. The system will save some of the energy it would have spent heating the entire house.  As the heating and cooling become more efficient, your energy bill will drop by a significant margin.

Aside from the money aspect, the savings come as a good thing for ecological conservation. The level of harm caused to the environment will decrease with every drop in your energy footprint.

Personalized Comfort

If you are sharing a house, you may probably know how hard it is to agree on the right thermostat setting. For example, you may want to warm up thing a bit while your partner prefers to keep it cool. With HVAC zoning, you can create a “sweet spot” with your preferred temperature. Ideally, you should zone out each of the rooms so that you can have more control.

At the office, personalized comfort will increase your concentration, making you more productive.  At home, you can enjoy a more comfortable and healthy rest.

Improved Temperature Control in Hard-to-reach Areas

In a typical system, certain areas can be hard to control because of the building’s structure. For example, some spots will be warmer because of overexposure to the sun while others will be cooler. It is a common problem in buildings with multiple floors or levels.

Zoning will offer more control over the entire house, as you direct the heating and cooling to where it is needed.

Better Handling of Indoor Air Quality

The HVAC system can spread airborne mold and harmful bacteria to other areas of the house. Since a zoned system will split the building into separate sections, you can minimize the spread of airborne particles. Zoning is ideal when you have special conditions like asthma and allergies, or even when there is a baby around.

 

Tips

Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Air pollution is an unpleasant aspect of modern life.  Many people are aware of air pollution outside but don’t consider indoor air pollution. Harmful pollutants from outside, poor ventilation and uncontrolled humidity can destroy your indoor air quality. Poor air quality can put your health at risk, especially if you suffer from respiratory conditions like asthma.

Luckily, you can eliminate many situations that cause indoor air pollution with a little household maintenance. Here are some of the things that you can do to improve air quality.

Clean Up Regularly

When dirt and dust pile up in your home, they attract dust mites and many other harmful pathogens. Your shoes will also bring in dirt and pollutants from outside. Place a mat at the door to wipe the dirt off your shoes, or get everyone to take off their shoes before entering the house.

Clean the floors with a vacuum to get rid of dust, and use a wet mop to clear the leftover dirt. You will also need to dust the walls, chairs and appliances. Your HVAC systems should also be serviced and cleaned regularly.

Control Humidity

Uncontrolled humidity encourages the spread of mold, viruses and dust mites, which can trigger allergies, asthma and other illnesses. Heating systems and damp environments form one of the biggest causes of high humidity. The problem is prevalent around winter when most people shut themselves indoors.

Ideally, humidity levels should be around 30 to 50 percent. Opening the windows to let in the fresh air can help to lower the humidity. You should also fix all the leaks in the plumbing. Dry your clothing in a dryer or hang it to dry outside. You might want to get a dehumidifier if you have tried everything here and still have a problem with humidity in your home.

Get an Air Purifier

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Even when you stick to the highest levels of hygiene, the air around your home is never free from contamination. You will still have traces of airborne bacteria, mold and viruses. The particles can cause allergies and respiratory infections. Air purifiers help to rid your home of the harmful particles by trapping them and keeping them from recirculating in your home.

Air purifiers are also effective in controlling dust mites. If you live in an enclosed environment like an apartment block, you may want to consider getting an air purifier. You may also want to get an air purifier when you have a baby at home, or you live in a heavily polluted environment. 

Maintain Proper Ventilation

Good air quality requires proper air circulation around the house. Letting in fresh air from outside will remove the stale air and reduce humidity on the inside. One simple way of ventilating would be to open the doors and windows. Choose a time of day when pollution levels are at their lowest, like mornings and evenings.

If you are afraid of letting in more dirt and toxic substances, you can try trickle ventilation. This allows a small amount of air to come in from outside through a vent. The vents are fitted with filters that clean impurities from the air. The installation can be done as a standalone unit or made part of the door and window frames.

 

Business

Things to Do if the Process of Selling a House Becomes too Stressful for You 

 

You were too optimistic when you started to think about selling your house. You thought the endeavor would lead to positive results. Unfortunately, the process isn’t as easy as you had hoped. After waiting for some time, you still haven’t sold your house. If you become stressed out because of the process, these are the things you need to do.

Take a break

Divert your attention to other things first and stop thinking about selling your house. You keep worrying and you don’t see the desired results. Try working on other things while you wait. If someone comes to ask about the property, it’s a good thing. If not, life goes on.

Think of an alternative

Go back to the reason why you’re selling the house. If you’re doing so because you need money, perhaps there are other ways to get it without selling the house. If you want to move to a new place, you can think about where to move first. Deal with the sale of your old house later once you have resettled.

Ask for help

It would help if you have a real estate agent helping you in this process. You will feel more confident about this endeavor if you know that someone’s there to boost the popularity of your property. You might have to pay the agent to do the job, but you can quickly sell your property and avoid stress.

Repair broken parts of the house

The chances of selling your property will increase if it looks better than its current appearance. Therefore, you have to find a way to repair the broken parts. You might even have to remodel the kitchen or bedroom if necessary. As long as the changes could help boost the popularity and value of the property, there’s no harm in doing it. Once you see more people becoming interested in buying the house, you won’t stress anymore.

Opt for wholesale buyers

If your goal is to quickly sell the house and you’re okay with a decent offer, you can choose wholesale buyers. They will give a reasonable amount and you can take the offer right away. You know that you need the money for a specific purpose, and you hope to seal the deal as soon as possible. These wholesale buyers won’t require you to renovate your house. You won’t have to go through a long process. You can negotiate with them to increase the offer, but the process won’t be stressful for you. After you accept the offer, you can sign the papers and walk away. It won’t take much time before the transaction is over. Check out Sell My House Fast Miami now if you wish to get a great offer.

It’s painful to discover that your house isn’t as popular to potential buyers as you had hoped. Despite that, you can’t let it affect you. Never stress about the situation. Eventually, you will sell the property and use the money for whatever purpose you want.

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/rgRAEobMmUU

 

Tips

Downsizing? Here Are 3 Clever Storage Solutions for Small Spaces

Going from a large home to a smaller home or apartment can be a daunting task. However, you do not need to feel overwhelmed about storing your items. You can keep your home free of clutter and have enough room to function efficiently by utilizing these storage solutions for your small space.

Use wall racks on areas behind doors

Tight spaces make it necessary to utilize any space that is available. The backs of doors are empty space when they are not used to store items. Wall racks can be placed to add more storage behind doors and keep your home and closets from becoming cluttered. They are also ideal for pantries and drawers, lessening the amount of clutter and making it easy to keep items organized.

Some racks even come with shelves that are adjustable, so you can add and remove them as you need them. This makes them even more convenient for individuals, so your own style can be expressed, and your unique needs can be met. Racks like this free up space on countertops and in showers.

Get a storage bed

A storage bed can significantly maximize the amount of space in your home, especially the bedroom. Items that are not used often can be stored under the bed and stay easily accessible for whenever they are needed. These are ideal for individuals when they downsize, and they usually come with at least four drawers that are attached to the frame of the bed. Your clothes and other necessities can be stored under the bed instead of taking up space in your other drawers.

A storage bed can also be ideal for families that have children. Their items, such as clothes and toys, can be easily stored so that rooms do not remain messy after playing or changing clothes. Laundry can be organized and compartmentalized to make mornings getting ready for school a breeze. You may still need storage units in Santa Clara, but you will be able to keep more in your home with these organizational tricks.

Utilize bins and baskets for storage all over the home

Bins make a great place for storing various items of all kinds. They are affordable and come in several colors and designs to make them match the aesthetic of your home. They are also a great way to save space in the home when you are downsizing. Baskets and bins can be placed almost anywhere, this includes:

  • Kitchens
  • Closets
  • Bedrooms
  • Pantries
  • Bathrooms
  • Entryways
  • Garages

Every area of the home could be fitted with storage bins or storage baskets to save space and store items for quick access.

Your home can benefit greatly from the introduction of any of these clever space-saving ideas while downsizing. Use wall racks on the backs of doors to increase space in several areas of the home. Storage beds can increase the amount of storage space and decrease clutter in bedrooms. Bins as well as baskets can be used anywhere in the home for added storage.

To read more on topics like this, check out the tips category.

Tips

Tips On How to Make Perfect Wedding Invitations

Your wedding invitation card is the first peek that your guests have into your wedding. You want to make it shine specially and appealingly. The best way to do so is through custom wedding cards, which allow you to choose the style of your presence.

How do you get started? Here are tips to guide you on how to make perfect wedding invites with pictures.

Get all the information together

An excellent invitation entails all the details about the wedding, which is the name of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding, the venue and time. You should include all arrangements of the day to give the guests a clear idea of what to expect and how to handle the schedule. The benefit of having it all figured out before making the card is that it helps you avoid mistakes and the need to keep adjusting the information when making changes.

Choose a style and theme

If you want to make perfect pictures, then you must picture yourselves as a bride and groom which will help you come up with an ideal idea and style for the day. Do you see yourselves as a classical couple? What do you want to focus on the theme of the wedding? It could be a location or a certain feeling. For example, you would like the theme to be happiness, or you would want it to symbolize bodies of water or any other location that you both love. Also, understand what features you want to include. This allows you to make an invitation card that complements the overall concept. If for instance, you want to have a contemporary reception, you may select a theme that is associated with the ’90s.

Select the colors and shapes of the cards

Colors are always the main point of focus. Fortunately, you will get a range of color collections to choose from so you can go for one that matches your theme. You can choose a different color for the paper and the text. You may select a distinct color for the font which will reflect the color of the paper stock respecting the general theme and style of the wedding. If you opt for light colored cards, it is best if you choose dark fonts for perfect contrast.

When it comes to the shape, go for a shape that will compliment the type of flower that you choose. Mostly, a rectangle card will go well with most flowers, but you can go for square or circular if you want the card to look more modern.

Go for simplicity

You do not have to overdo things to impress your guests. Simplicity and minimalism is the best way to convince them to read the cards. Be clear and concise with the wordings; go straight to the point. Get a simple but cute picture too. The point is, do not overcrowd the card trying to add in unnecessary details.

For cute and customized cards, choose reliable sites such as Mixbook.com where you will get a chance to design your card in the most desired way. The platform is convenient, easy to use and you will get excellent customer services where you will be guided through the process. You also want a site that offers you flexibility in case you need to make changes on the cards without interfering with the quality.

Join the discussion on this topic with Local Market Launch by visiting our contact page.

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.

 

Business

5 Simple Ways To Market Your Business

Launching a business can be incredibly difficult, but making that business actually stand out from the crowd? That’s even harder. According to figures by GEM Global Report (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor), a study of entrepreneurship around the world, 100 million businesses are launched every single year. This is equivalent to over three businesses being launched every second!

But promoting your business and making a name for yourself in the tough corporate world doesn’t require so much and there are actually several incredibly simple ways for you to market your business.

Utilize Social Media

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A simple (and free) way to market your business in minutes is by utilizing social media. Facebook has more than a billion users, Twitter has hundreds of millions of users and photo and video platforms Instagram and YouTube also have billions of users between them. A report put together by Hootsuite and We Are Social confirmed that there are over three billion people on social media sites.

With so many people on these sites, it makes sense for you and your business to be there too. There are so many potential customers looking for new products to purchase and services that can help them out in their day-to-day lives.

Give Things Away

Although it may seem counterintuitive to just give away freebies, they can be an incredibly effective way of enticing customers through the door. As the saying goes, you’ll attract more flies with honey than with vinegar – consider freebies the business equivalent of honey.

These freebies may be a piece of free content such as an ebook or a guide that shares some of your knowledge and handy tips, encouraging readers to find out more. Or you can follow a route similar to Oddschecker with its bingo bonuses and free spins. By offering bonuses and rewards, as well as free spins with online slots, users can get a taste of the bingo games on offer, giving them an easy way of testing out a game before they decide to become a long-term player.

Create Your Own Content

Source: Pexels

Speaking of ebooks and guides, creating your own content is widely regarded as a strong and efficient way of getting the word out there about your business and what you do. Your created content doesn’t just have to be ebooks and guides; it may also be highly shareable infographics and images on social media, or informative how-to videos about the niche that you’re in.

As highlighted by this Lyfe Marketing article of the benefits of content marketing, content marketing can drive traffic to your website, build brand awareness, and build trust with your target audience just to name a few.

Engage the Community

It is already advised that you make engaging the community part of what you do in your day-to-day business duties, but did you know that it can also be considered as a way of marketing your business?

When a customer comes to you with a complaint or some feedback – perhaps they have left you a message on one of those social media platforms that we mentioned above – it’s imperative that you reply to it. When the feedback is positive, responding to it can help to amplify that positivity but when it’s negative, nipping that in the bud right away can help to turn that customer’s frown upside down. They may even praise you for replying to them so quickly!

Craft Your USP

USP stands for unique selling point and it is defined as a feature or factor that sets a business apart from its competitors. For example, if you are a restaurant, then the fact that your kitchen is run by an award-winning chef may be your USP. Or, if you are a delivery company, then the speed at which you deliver your goods may be your USP. Knowing your USP is important for marketing campaigns going forward so it’s important to point it out now.

These five points only scratch the surface of the ways that you can market your business; there are other ways such as handing out flyers and just telling your friends! But these methods are among the simplest, making it easy for any business to get started with them.

Blog

How To Stay Mentally And Physically Fit When Working In An Office!

If you’re concerned about staying mentally and physically fit, whilst working a traditional office job, continue reading to discover a few handy tips on how you can stay mentally and physically fit.

How to stay mentally and physically fit when working in an office: 4 Handy tips and tricks

  1. Make sure to use your lunch break to complete quick work out and grab a bite to eat

While you may be tempted to try and work through your lunch breaks, if you want to work on staying mentally and physically fit it’s imperative to take a break from your office chair and work, in order to give yourself a mental break and to take an opportunity to get in a quick work out. If there is a gym located within a 5-minute walk of your office, you may want to consider signing up for a membership.

However, if there is no gym located within a short walk of your office, it’s still worth getting into the routine of packing a bag of workout gear as you’ll be able to go for a 30-40 minute run during your lunch hour.

Just ensure that you leave yourself 10 minutes to enjoy a healthy, balanced lunch. Which will refuel your body after your grueling workout and will ensure that you’ll have energy to focus on your work, for the rest of the working day.

  1. Keep a water bottle next to your work desk at all times

If you want to stay mentally alert throughout your working days, it’s well worth purchasing a reusable water bottle, which you’ll be able to fill up at your office’s water cooler. As you’re far more likely to keep hydrated, if you have fresh water on hand, rather than if you have to walk to a water cooler or an office kitchen, in order to pour yourself a cup of water.

  1. Consider walking or cycling to work, instead of driving or catching public transportation

Another way to remain physically active, whilst working a 9 to 5 office job is to forgo driving to work or catching public transport, in favor of either walking or cycling to work. Depending of course, on how far the commute is from your home to your office. As a bonus, not only will you dramatically increase your fitness by walking or cycling to work but you’ll also eliminate most of your transportation costs!

  1. Take the stairs to your office’s floor instead of catching an elevator

Another easy way to increase your mental alertness and your fitness level is to get into the habit of taking the stairs to get to your office, instead of taking an elevator. As taking the stairs will get your blood pumping, which will help you keep focused and alert and will burn a fair number of calories.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not impossible to stay mentally and physically fit if you work a traditional office job. Simply follow the four health-related work tips listed above in order to get started.