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At a time when many businesses are restructuring and many more shutting down for good, the current health pandemic we find ourselves in the midst of doesn’t seem like the rosiest time to be launching a business, does it?

Thing is, though, while it may appear like you’re going against the grain, starting an NYC moving company during Covid-19 may not be such a bad idea after all.

Reason?

Well, for one, 2020 has seen an exodus of New Yorkers fleeing the city in favor of more affordable states like Pennsylvania, with others venturing further out interstate. The moving business, deemed an essential service in New York, has therefore witnessed a major boom during the pandemic.

So, won’t the bubble burst?

Well, the thing about NYC is that the moving industry here is very well developed compared to most other parts of the country. While Covid-19 may have prompted many to pull up stakes, moving in NYC is generally a thriving business all year round.

If you suddenly find yourself with more time on your hands during this period, or have lost a job, or probably made a resolution during the lockdown to start a side hustle, there are few better business ideas right now than starting a moving company.

Question is, what exactly do you need to do to get the business off the ground?

Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a Moving Business in NYC

Here are the most important points you will need to address when starting a moving company in NYC.

1. It all starts with a business plan. Create a solid business plan that addresses everything from the structure of the business, to the source of funding, the list of services you’ll be offering, an analysis of the market, analysis of the competition, your marketing plan, sales strategy and financial projections. Be thorough with your business plan as it will serve as a handbook by which you’ll run your business.

2. Get a business permit.

3. Invest in moving equipment. Purchase a van or truck or find someone who could use the extra funds to rent you one. Other equipment you’ll need include moving containers and boxes, dollies, packing and wrapping material, ropes, belts and padding. The aim should be to provide exceptional service, so it’s imperative that you look and act like a professional. Branded gear, including clothing, is a bonus.

4. The best way to run a moving business is as a licensed, professional company. Register with the USDOT and get all the necessary licensing and insurance.

5. Insure yourself. Get liability and cargo insurance to be on the safe side in case of potential losses.

6. If you’re considering storage services as part of your menu, find a secure, easily accessible space to rent. This, along with the moving truck(s) will be your biggest expenses, especially if you’re purchasing the truck/van, more so a new one.

7. Next, hire some personnel as you cannot run a moving business on your own. If you’re on a budget, consider, for instance, an able-bodied relative or close friend who has the time.

8. Promote your business. Once you’ve launched the business, you’ll need to advertise your services and get the word out there. Adopt a marketing strategy that includes a mix of both online and offline marketing methods for best effect. As well, join some local moving associations who can be a good source of leads and insights that can open your eyes.

9. Lastly, as we alluded to earlier, if you want to thrive in this sector, make customer satisfaction your top priority. That includes dispensing first-class service, offering attractive rates with NO hidden costs, and carrying yourself with professionalism. Customer recommendations will be your biggest marketing tool, so go out of your way to add a smile to every client you serve.

Budgeting is something that every business should keep in mind when trying to expand their horizons. Since expanding too fast will end up with you having to spend more money than your business can handle. Under spending, on the other hand, can cause your company to stagnate and cause your business to not grow as fast as it possibly could. So, how exactly can you get your budgeting balanced out to get the best results?

Budgeting is a Delicate Balancing Act

You have to keep in mind that whenever you make a budget, you’re dictating the pace of your business. Whether it’ll grow too fast and burn out too quickly or whether your business is going to be too slow and left behind by your competitors, you have to ensure that your budget is the perfect fit for your business. So, to help you create the perfect budget, we’ve put together some great budgeting tips for your business.

Never Take Funds Out Of The Business

This is the first mistake that many business owners make when business is booming. Instead of paying themselves a salary like an employee would, they would instead take funds directly out of the income of their business. This is a terrible practice that could lead to your business going under faster than a rock thrown into a canyon. This is because taking too much money out of your business will slow down the growth of your business. With competition hot on your heels all the time, stagnating will mean the end of your business.

Never Overestimate Your Profits

Every business has to turn up a profit for it to even be considered good business. However, many owners become over confident in their profit projections that they end up spending more than what they have on hand. Avoid this at all costs to make sure that you’re not going to end up having to pay a loan to pay off a bad case of overconfidence.

Pay Yourself a Salary

Even if you’re paying yourself a salary you should still make sure that what you pay yourself is fair and enough to get you by. This is the opposite problem of other business owners who take cash straight out of their business. You’re still an employee who needs to be compensated for their hard work at the office and neglecting to do so will leave you unfulfilled and stressed.

Correctly Weigh Risks

Risks are a normal part of the business. Every day you have to handle several risks, even if you don’t know whether it’s a genuine risk or not. Deciding whether to hire an employee, getting a loan and generally creating a budget are all risks. Each one comes with their challenges and it is up to your judgment as to how to handle it properly. You also have to know when to avoid these risks altogether.

Always Have a Backup Plan Or Funds

Business is often an unpredictable beast and you can suddenly find yourself in trouble. The worst part is that these situations often come without warning. One example is if one of your clients suddenly back door hires one of your candidates in the staffing and recruiting industry. You won’t know until John Smith starts his first day at your client without paying you a fee.

The best solution to these problems is to have a backup plan or extra funds that you can dig into when these situations arise. Preparation is key whenever you need to draft up a budget so always have a certain amount set aside.

Are you frustrated by the amount of money you spend buying businesses checks? Have you been looking for ways to save on these expenses? Then I am glad you’re reading this post.

With the ever-rising cost of doing business, you’d want to ensure that every penny counts. One way of doing that is making sure that you spend the least amount on checks.

The ever-tightening budgets leave no room for unnecessary expenses and motivate businesses to find favorable deals. This includes reconsidering your way of ordering checks.

Here you’ll find our tips to help you save money when buying checks. Read on and learn more.

Avoid Buying Checks from Banks

While banks offer an easy and convenient way to get more checks, it is probably the last place you should go. As with many things today, you’re likely to pay extra dollars for the convenience when you order checks from a bank. Thus the need to explore other options.

Though paper checks are losing in popularity, some people still use them for paying rent as well as other payments. Not all merchants accept credit cards or electronic payments.

As of 2012, 18 billion checks were written in the US alone. This is according to Federal Reserve.

Banks will charge $20 or even more for a box of checks. You can save up to 50 percent when you buy checks from online printers.

Don’t know how? I’ll explain it.

It is important to understand that banks do not print checks themselves. Banks are in the business of savings and checking accounts, credit cards, loans and digital banking.

Banks hire large scale printers to print your checks. Remember the printing companies are in the business of making a profit out of your order, banks feel they need to make money for the time they spent acting as middlemen between their customers and the printer.

Therefore, when you order your checks from a bank, they will be marked twice before reaching you.

Besides, due to the high costs of processing checks, banks do not want their customers to write checks. Banks would rather see their customers use other methods of payments such as electronic payments.

The high prices of checks from banks are meant to push consumers to depend more on online payments over written checks.

Order Your Checks Online

Ordering checks online is a great way to save money when buying checks. But don’t worry. Checks from online printers are just as good as those offered by banks.

According to Check Payment Systems Associations, all reputable companies produce checks that met the industry standards so that banks and other merchants can accept them.

With online printers, you are assured of fast business checks delivery in a secure and easy process.

Security is Key

If you are going to spend more on a check, it should be because it comes with more security features. Check payment is a method prone to a lot of fraud.

The main reason that makes some businesses shy away from buying business checks online is security concerns. Most of them consider ordering checks from banks safe while ordering online risky. But this is not always the case.

This can only be true if you’re ordering your checks from non-reputable websites. Reputable check websites are just as secure and safe as banks.

In fact, most online check websites use the same printers like the one used by the banks, only that they eliminate the middleman to make it less costly for you.

Therefore, conduct due diligence before deciding to buy your checks from a particular website.

You can do this by looking at the padlock icon available at the right-hand side of your check, just below the “amount’’ box.

If the check contains this icon, it is an indication that it has been approved by the Check Payments Systems Association, an association left with the responsibility of ensuring the security of checks.

CPSA will not give this symbol to check printers that haven’t included a minimum number of security features to protect consumers from altered or duplicate checks.

Checks bought online can even be more secure than those obtained from banks. Some check printers give consumers the opportunity of buying checks with extra security features, such as micro printing, thermocon imaging and chemically reactive paper.

While you might be charged an extra fee for these features, but considering the level of security that comes with, it is worth it.

Before ordering checks online, be sure to understand the process, including the amount of time it will take before you get your check.

These days, credit cards are driving the consumer market all around the globe. This is a mode of payment that yields benefits like car rental coverage, cash-back points, and automated payments just to simplify our lives.

However, a user needs to be aware of the ways in which a con artist can misuse these credit cards. It’s truly essential as these cards can yield disastrous outcomes when misused. With cards depicting high APR, you may find it tough to pull out of your debt burden. Avoiding debt is your only way out this problem.

You may do your research on using credit cards if you really wish to handle them responsibly. You may come across several online resources illustrating the use of credit cards regardless of whether you’re applying for your first card or is paying off dues to improve your credit rating. While repaying your credit card debt, you must arrive at an affordable minimum payment like when you calculated your personal loan EMI.

Know how to use your credit cards from now on:

1. Repay Your Credit Card Balance Each Month

You must stay focused on repaying your credit card dues every month. You shouldn’t find an excuse since it charges more out of your bank account once you fail to live up to these payments.

You’ll need to bear an interest worth up to 25% based on the outstanding credit balance if you fail to make a payment or opt for making a minimum payment.

You can only keep high rates of interest from piling up if you pay off your dues each month. You must also refrain from skipping a payment. You might have to pay a penalty interest (up to an APR worth 30%) in case you miss out on a due date. Your credit score takes a hit when you actually need to pay a penalty.

2. Restrict Credit Utilization to a bare minimum

Apart from improving your credit score, it will even help in restricting your debt. Credit utilization is the metric that constitutes a large portion of your credit score. Your FICO score tends to rise when your credit utilization falls.

For instance, your credit utilization looks great when it’s valued at 16% after you’ve used 2 credit cards with a balance worth $600 and a combined limit of $3,100. In order to fetch the maximum benefits, you may choose to restrict it below 30%. While avoiding the risk of acquiring debt, you’ll even enjoy an improved credit score.

3. Avoid Using Multiple Credit Cards Simultaneously

You may be lured by the benefits of opening several credit cards especially when you’re seeking the advantage of being a new cardholder or attempting to redeem reward points. You may be thrilled to make the most of cash-back or 0% APR offers. However, you must refrain from opening multiple accounts till you’ve learned to use a single card responsibly.

Chances of overspending get increased when you have several cards in your arsenal. You may even miss out on a due date. You must restrict the number of cards in your wallet as you won’t like to fall prey to any of these incidents.
Credit cards are indeed a very useful tool when you know how to use them properly. By considering the tips mentioned above, you may certainly walk a step forward and repair your credit rating. It will help in securing the financial future of your loved ones.

Cloud Computing: Revolutionizing Construction Techniques

Cloud computing is truly a game-changer; just consider these five revolutionary cloud computing applications. It’s possible to cut tens of thousands from traditional operations by reducing time necessary in regard to bureaucratic management, and costs associated with information technology.

On a job-site, the right cloud solutions can get everybody “on the same page” more quickly, provide for remote monitoring, clock-in/clock-out procedures, and information provision. Managers of a given site can more cohesively lead their workers, and those funding a given project can watch its progress in real time.

Beyond convenience and complication reduction in operations, many financing construction projects are becoming increasingly interested in problem prevention. There are many situations where a tiny change like a halt in building could have stopped a much bigger, costly problem from happening.

With the cloud, such close monitoring is more realistically feasible than it’s likely ever been. When you add to that positive political trends in reference to the construction market, such innovation presents itself as a nearly essential component of modern building endeavors.

Today, there is hope on the horizon—there is light at the end of the tunnel! Brexit last year heralded in global change, and was swiftly followed by a political administrative change in the United States that is, and provided nothing politically untoward happens, will continue to be, very good for construction.

Additional Cost-Saving Solutions

If you’re looking for discount sleeper trucks, at https://www.mylittlesalesman.com/find/sleeper-semi-trucks-i2c55f0m0, you can find a fine inventory of them—according to the site: “…you’ll find new and used sleeper trucks for sale that offer comfort and have as many axles as you need to comfortably haul any type of cargo…”

With a sleeper truck you can cut down transit times when shipping specific materials, which in turn cuts down operational costs. Cloud computing solutions can help you identify areas of operations where a tweak here or there could substantively reduce costs.

There are always places where you can conserve assets and optimize your business. Always. Sometimes optimization involves acquisition of newer software solutions, sometimes it means liquidation of antiquated tech. What’s sure regardless of purchase or sale is that there’s something you can do.

Look at your regular contracted jobs at the present time. What kind of jobs characterize the majority of operations? What are common problems which occur when you’re pursuing these jobs, and how can you prepare for those problems in advance? Conservation of time is the next best thing to the conservation of money.

Time And Money

When technology solutions can save you time with minimal invasive bureaucratic rearranging, that’s a cost-effective optimization. Additionally, it can be that which provides you increased competitiveness against other construction groups who have yet to incorporate this technological upgrade.

Look at cost-savings in terms of time. How much is one hour of production worth to your company? $1,000? $10,000? $100,000? If you can save just ten hours a month through more smooth operations via technology, at these numbers you’re cutting expenses by a minimum of $120,000 a year. If you’re saving ten hours at $100k a month, you’re saving $1.2 million annually.

Little costs add up. You can be “nickel-and-dimed” to bankruptcy, if you’re not careful of this trend. At the same time, you can use such techniques to increase profit gradually over time. Attention to detail is key.

So sit down and consider the costs of operation right now, identify where you can upgrade things, and take steps to facilitate those upgrades. Little changes can produce big savings, so be diligent to conserve all that is available to you.