Category: Design

  • Bureo Skateboards

    Bureo Skateboards

    Bureo is a sustainable skateboard brand, manufacturing boards in Chile through the team’s initiative, ‘Net Positiva’, Chile’s first ever fishnet collection & recycling program. This initiative provides local fisherman with environmentally sound disposal points, while Bureo receives highly recyclable and durable raw materials which is used to build its skateboards.

    Founded byBen R. Kneppers, David M. Stover and Kevin J. Ahearn, three friends coming from engineering and sustainability backgrounds, Bureo has already funded the production of its first skateboards thanks to Kickstarter – although the campaign is still running and all the additional contributions will go towards expanding the ‘Net Positiva’ initiative.

    Find more about Bureo on the video below and support the Kickstarter campaign here.

    www.bureoskateboards.com

  • Designing a Workspace That Improves Productivity

    The design of your workspace can have quite a significant effect on your productivity. Every day, businesses need to encourage their employees so that they can be more efficient and more productive. The same goes for you if you are working from home, or building a business from home. There are plenty of ways that you can make this happen, from making sure that you’re up to date with technology, to having some tips and advice from the experts. 

    In an office setting at home, how your design the space can have a much bigger impact on productivity than anything else, which is why it is so important and why it needs to be a consideration. No matter where you work from, setting up a working area that is efficient is one of the best things that you can do. Not only will it boost your business because of your productivity, but it can work wonders for your mental well-being too.

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    Making an office space more efficient

    Workplace productivity isn’t just about getting one thing done in the fastest time possible. It is more about getting the job done in an efficient way, but still being content and happy. Productivity doesn’t mean sacrificing everything for work, in order to get something done. There can be some unexpected and surprising things that have a big impact on how efficiently you work, such as the desk set up that you have, the room that you have, and other elements. You do have to work with what you’ve got, and for some, that is just working with a corner in a room at home.

    One thing to consider is what you don’t need to directly take care of where you are. For example, if you’re working from home and your job will involve inventory or having things sent to you, then would it be better for productivity to have that taken care of somewhere else? For example, PhysicalAddress deals with mail and mail forwarding, if you want some help with that. You could also outsource to storage for inventory, for example. Just because it is related to your business, it doesn’t mean that it needs to be with you in your home.

    Best office layout for productivity

    Your desk and your office space are some of the first things that you need to consider, when designing and looking at where you will work from. The space you choose will have an impact. Storage is important, as working from a clean and clutter-free desk can help productivity. If you know where everything is filed, then that will be much easier to do as well. 

    If you can commit to making an effort each day, to help to maintain a clutter-free desk space, then it will help. Have the supplies and office materials to make the day run smoothly, and the technology that will help you to get your job done. Even if you are using a room in the home like your bedroom, you can still have your workspace be clear and organised.

     

  • What Do You Want From Your Life?

    Have you ever taken the time to sit and think about what you want from your life? It doesn’t matter how old you are or what stage of life you are at, when you think about the future, what does it look like? Of course, this might change as time goes on, but there is no reason that this should stop you from living your best life right now. In this article, we are going to be taking a look at some of the things that people typically want from life, and how to get them. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more. 

    Picture Credit – CC0 Licence

    A Family

    The first thing that many people want at some point in their life is a family. If you don’t want a family, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, it’s not for everyone. However, if it is something that you would like then you can’t rush it. It will happen when it happens, and there are always ways to speed up the process or get the ball rolling if need be. Just make sure that you are ready for what this entails if you are set on starting a family because otherwise you’re going to be in for a big shock.

    Try to document all of those special moments so that you can look back on them in years to come. For example, look for a maternity photographer if you’re pregnant, and make sure to take pictures of you and your family enjoying those special moments in life!

    A Solid Career

    Another thing that most people want is a solid career. You want to feel secure in the career that you have chosen, knowing that you are good at what you do, while also enjoying it. Some people seem to think that you can’t have both, but you absolutely can. It takes finding something that you enjoy, and then being willing to work to get to where you want to be, making a name for yourself as you go. 

    To Be Happy

    But, the thing that everyone wants is just to be happy. This means that you need to do your own thing that will lead to your best life. Get rid of all the complications and distractions that take you away from doing whatever it takes to be happy. At the end of the day, you need to live your life for you, and you are the only one who will know what will make you truly happy. Follow what your heart tells you, and you will lead a happy life.

    We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you can do if these are the things that you want in your life. Keep in mind that everyone wants something different, and you should never feel as though there is something that you should want, because this doesn’t matter. It’s all about what’s best for you, so take the steps necessary to live your best life.

  • 12 Powerful Methods For Branding Yourself

    There’s a lot of opportunity in this world to make all of your professional dreams come true, but there’s no denying that there’s a lot of competition out there. As such, it’s important that you’re doing all that you can do to get yourself ahead of the pack. Things like studying for qualifications and working hard will both help, but it’s also important to incorporate more modern techniques into your professional career, too. One increasingly popular method is to brand yourself. This is called personal branding, which is the process of sculpting your persona in such a way that you can become known for the characteristics that you present to the world. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at a few methods you can use to achieve this goal. 

    Pexels – CC0 Licence

    Know Your Strengths

    The whole point of personal branding is that it’ll ultimately lead to new opportunities. As such, it’s important to focus on the things that you excel at. If you’re going to build your professional identity around something, then it should be something that you’re good at. So in the early stages of planning, think about the skills you have that you can do better than other people. It’s all about elevating the skills that you’re good at. During this period of reflection, it’s also recommended that you take a look at your weaknesses too. Ultimately, when you’re promoting the entire you (rather than just one skill), there’ll be times when you need to do things that are outside of your forte. By thinking about your weaknesses at the beginning, you’ll have an opportunity to work on them ahead of time.

    Choosing Your Niche

    The process of personal branding is all about diving deeper. It’s about going into detail, rather than just keeping things vague. For example, it’s not enough to just say that you’re a specialist in marketing; it’ll be much better to present yourself as a specialist in Facebook marketing. This will help in numerous ways. For starters, it’ll enable people who are looking for your specific offering to find you. Second, it’ll allow you to figure out who you’re targeting. Though personal branding will help to effortlessly bring clients to you, there’ll also be times when you need to market your services out there. If you know the specific skill that you’re selling, then you’ll be able to target your intended much more accurately.

    Sharing Your Knowledge

    A crucial part of establishing your personal brand will be to show yourself as an expert in your field. To do this, you’ll need to share the knowledge that you’ve acquired (not all of it, of course, eventually you’ll want to be paid for your expertise). There are multiple ways to do this, including writing blogs, appearing on podcasts, and releasing ebooks. You won’t be recognised for your expertise straight away, but that’s slowly what will happen. Most importantly, when people search for your name, they’ll see that there are multiple outlets where you’re showing off your knowledge. Of course, the more reputable the sites where your writing appears, the better it’ll be. Nobody will doubt your credentials if you’re a regular contributor to Forbes, the Huffington Post, and so on.

    Get the Look

    When it comes to personal branding, it’s important to remember that you need to focus on the whole package. It’s not just what you say, or the work you create, but also how you look. It has to be in sync with what you’re telling the world about yourself. If you’re pitching yourself as a young, trendy, progressive entrepreneur, then you should look that way too. It would look strange if you dressed as if you worked in a traditional office space. Instead, you should curate your own wardrobe of professional yet stylish clothes. In addition to their clothes, a young and forward-thinking entrepreneur should have some of the staples of modern trend culture, such as a tattoo. If you haven’t yet got one, take a look at the work offered by Monumental Ink Tattoo Studio, and book yourself in for a session. Focusing on your appearance isn’t shallow, and other people aren’t being judgemental by looking at your appearance as a way to check your authenticity. It’s just about showing that you walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. 

    Exciting Social Media Profiles

    Your personal branding mission will be considered a failure if it’s not making you stand out from the crowd. If you’re just lost in a sea of fellow professionals, then you’ll need to find a way to get your voice heard. In order to do this, you’ll need to make the most of the tools at your disposal. By far the most useful ones will be your social media channels and your blog – if you need some help with this, check these blogging statistics to help you grow your blog. But of course, there’s a lot of noise on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on, so how do you get your voice heard? By making things interesting. If you’re going to have success with your personal branding, then you’ll have to get creative and come up with high-quality content. There’s little room for just another voice. Part of what makes people believe in people with strong personal branding is that it’s hard to fake it: if you’re at the top, then you’ll need to show it, and delivering interesting and exciting content on your social media channels is a great way to do it.

    Manage Your Google Searches

    When you brand yourself, you’re creating a narrative about your life. It’s not going to tell the whole story of who you are, but will show people who are interested in the professional side of your existence what they need to know. However, in order for this to work, you have to control the narrative. It’s a bit like with advertising: it wouldn’t work if people were presented with the flaws in the marketed product. In your case, the equivalent is what comes up when people search for your name on Google. It’s unlikely that it’s anything bad, but if it’s all just neutral content, then it’s not going to have much of an impact. As such, one of the best things you can do is to ensure that the first page of results for your name contains top-quality, career-boosting links. This will take time and effort, but it is worth it. 

    Be a Presence At Trade Events

    Ultimately, you’re trying to establish yourself as one of the prominent voices in your industry, or at least in the specific area of your chosen industry. As such, in order for this to be the case, then you’ll need to be involved in your industry events. It’s really important that you’re attending and having an impact at your industry’s big trade shows and other events. It’ll be all the better if you can make a splash in one way or another, such as by delivering a speech. While you’re there, present your most confident foot forward and connect with as many people as possible. And talking of connecting with others…

    Connecting With Others

    There’s only so far you’ll go by yourself. Once you’re on your way towards branding yourself, you’ll want to begin connecting with others. This should, of course, be a mutually beneficial relationship — you should give as much as you receive. It’s all about identifying potential partnerships and then working to bring them to life. If you’ve branded yourself well, you’ll find that the people you contact will be eager to talk with you.

    Pexels – CC0 Licence

    Link Yourself To Successful Brands

    As much as it’s possible to present a good image of yourself in the eyes of your potential customers, ultimately there has to be some demonstration that you’re able to work well. It’s not all about style; there has to be substance there. One recommended way to do this is to promote your association with the high-quality companies that you’ve worked with in the past. People will take you much more seriously if they can see that you’ve worked with some of the world’s leading companies.

    Get Feedback

    It’s recommended that you get some help when it comes to your personal branding. You’re the one making all the decisions, but you’re doing it for the public, and who knows if they see what you want them to see? From time to time, ask your friends and family members, or even outsiders, for some feedback on how you present yourself and how it comes across.

    Be Consistent

    Finally, remember that your personal branding will only work if you’re consistent. It can’t be something that you dip in and out of; it has to be watertight. This is why it’s really important that you brand yourself in a true way; if you’re faking something just to get ahead, then eventually it’ll backfire: the mask will slip off at some point. Once you’ve established your values and professional worldview, stick to it. Reputations aren’t formed overnight; they’re formed through the process of repetition.

     

  • 3 Considerations When You Buy Your First Home

    Buying your first home is one of the most exciting things that you are ever going to do. Not only is it a sign that you are moving on in life, it is also the beginning of a particularly enjoyable period in your life, one where you have your own place to live in, and that is something that a lot of people are going to be happy about when it is their turn. Of course, you will want to make sure that you do everything right, and that means knowing how to approach this as best as you can. In this article, we are going to look at some of the major considerations that you will want to bear in mind as you buy your first home. As long as you have considered these things, you should find that you are able to make much more of it and get the home that you deserve.

    Image Credit – CCO Licence

    Style Of Home

    If you want to make sure that you are happy with your home, you need to think about what style of home you are going to want to have. Only by being aware of this can you ultimately make the right decisions about which home to live in, so that is something that you are going to want to think about if you are keen to get it right. There are so many styles of home to choose from, and it might be that the best way to go about it is simply to go and look at a range of homes in your area and see which are going to be most likely to work for you. Or you might want to look for inspiration in magazines and online, or in the homes of friends of yours. In any case, it’s a good idea to have a sense of the kind of style that you are going to want in your home, as it will help you to narrow the search and ultimately make it a lot easier to carry out. If you already have specific ideas in mind, then it might be a better idea to work with house building companies to create your dream home.

    The Mortgage

    For most people, it will be necessary to find a mortgage in order to be able to afford the home. Only by having a mortgage can you make sure that you are going to be able to get the home you want, but the trouble there is that even getting the mortgage itself is going to take a lot of time and effort, and is one of the parts of the process that you are probably going to have to spend the most time on. One of the first things you need to consider here is trying to find out how much you are going to have to borrow, which is not always going to be easy to get to the bottom of, but is absolutely necessary regardless. You will want to go and seek the best loan calculator you can to try and figure out how much you need to borrow, but also to understand the full amount you will be paying back.

    Image Credit – CCO Licence

    It’s important to remember that this is probably the biggest loan you will ever take out, and it is wise to think of it as such, and not merely as something inconsequential. You must ensure that you have a strong plan for repayment and that you are only borrowing the amount that you feel you need to borrow in order to be able to afford the home. As long as you are sensible about the mortgage in these ways, you should find that you are able to make much more of the whole situation.

    Other Costs

    CA Flat Fee explains that first-time buyers are often prone to forget about some of the other costs that come along with buying a home. There are a few of these that you need to consider, and you will find that you are going to need to be aware of them so that you can plan for them as best as you can. The main one that you should be aware of already is the deposit – you need to get that together so that you can pay for the house. But you also need to have the cash for stamp duty, which is essentially a kind of tax on buying property, and also for a range of fees that you will be charged by your estate agent, the person who checks the property for flaws, and perhaps other people like an interior designer, if you hire such a person. All in all, it is going to add up.