Monthly Archives: October 2018

Oct
29
2018

Environmental Toxins

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Environmental toxins are all around us whether we are aware of them or not. In order to protect your physical health and mental health, it’s vital that you protect your home atmosphere and remove any air pollutants that might be lurking. Over time, if you let these substances build up your body can start to suffer from uncomfortable reactions and overall fatigue. Luckily, you don’t need to be an expert in environmental medicine to begin taking small steps towards cleaning up the air around you. it’s not too hard or expensive to protect your home from any harmful environmental toxins. Let’s walk through ten easy ways to clear out your home and protect your body in the long run.

Removing Environmental Pollutants

Even making simple changes to your home will help your health and the overall safety of your home. Some changes can be a bit complicated while others are easy fixes, but the choice is ultimately yours for what to deal with. Among environmental pollutants like monoxide or pesticides lurking around corners of your home, studies have linked too much exposure with nervous system damage, brain complications, asthma, allergies, various types of cancer, and unexpected fatigue. However, you can decrease your exposure and risk of these problems with the following habits:

  1. Get rid of the dust. Having extra house dust really tampers with your physical allergic reactions and mental health. It also contains dangerous chemicals in the form of tiny particles like fire retardants, pesticides, and sometimes even bug feces. The best way to get rid of all the dust bunnies to replace your home’s carpeting and wipe down any vinyl surfaces that may be dirty. This can be a bit expensive though, as buying all the materials really does add up in fees. If you would rather save some money, opt for elbow grease to cleanse the surface level, vacuum every week, and invest in an at home carpet washing machine to scrub everything down.  
  2. Don’t continue smoking. If you’re someone who tends to smoke inside your home, it’s about time to quit. An estimated 40% of all children who live in a smoke invested home may develop severe asthma and sometimes even cancer issues later on in life. Since it’s costing the health of yourself and your living partners, opt for quitting the habit and stick to it before it’s too late.
  3. Make sure your paint is clean. Lead paint and even radon is extremely unhealthy for your living space and can cause serious brain damage to any young children around. What’s worse is that the lead can sometimes trigger a pleasure response in some people and lead to long term addiction. Avoid the environment pollution by checking in with your local health department to run a test of a paint chip sample from your home. They will be able to measure how much lead is in the substance and will recommend whether or not you should remove it and paint over the area with a less toxic paint.
  4. Never use pesticides in your home. These chemicals are meant to kill for a reason, as it can cause severe chemical burns on your skin and will cause serious breathing issues for younger children. Promote a healthier environment by preventing pests from coming into your home in the first place by washing your dishes at all times, cleaning up tables or cutting boards, vacuuming the floors, dusting off untouched spaces, and keeping food containers tightly sealed. A little goes a long way!
  5. Limit your cans and plastic goods. While these materials aren’t environmental pollutants, they can easily transfer toxic chemicals into the foods you eat every day. If you are regularly using plastic water or baby bottles, immediately go for a safer glass alternative that will not transfer BPA. BPA is clinically associated with various cancers that can form years later after overexposure. When you cook your foods, make sure you take out any plastic container or cling wrap that was covering it before. Heat easily melts plastic and can release a highly dangerous chemical that leads to burning eyes, toxic food, and a strong odor. Additionally, eat less canned foods so you are limiting any potential risks from the metal casing.
  6. Eliminating toxins in your water is crucial. Avoid drinking water straight from the tap by installing a water filter. Many choices today are inexpensive and highly efficient to ensure your water is safe and healthy for you to drink. In addition, avoid drinking bottled water at all costs as the water is only regulated by the FDA. The FDA requires much less strict regulation laws than local water surveys that usually test for bacteria and other toxins. If you’re on the go, fill up your handy glass water bottle instead!
  7. This may be a no brainer, but make sure you are always washing your hands or are using a hand sanitizer. After we get home from school or work, our hands have picked up thousands of harmful bacteria and chemicals left on surfaces we touched. Don’t let these environmental toxins harm your health further by letting it enter your home. Always make sure to wipe down your phone screen as well to cut down on germs and prevent sickness as well!

Better Safe Than Sorry

There’s always a good reason to keep your home clean and free for environmental pollutants. For the sake of your health and sanity down the line, you’ll be much happier you took extra time to clean up the corners and practice safer cooking instead of suffering from sickness. To make it easier, invest in just five to ten minutes a day or an hour each week to wipe down every dirty surface, dispose of foods sitting in plastic containers, or vacuum dusty areas. You’ll be glad you did!

 

Oct
29
2018

Commercial Real Estate

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Navigating the commercial real estate market by yourself can be a headache if you don’t know where to access the right resources. Commercial real estate exists almost everywhere in our daily lives as it refers to warehouses, work offices, and even large retail spaces we see often. If you are interested in getting into the market with your saved up funds, it’s absolutely critical to plan your strategy and real estate investments carefully.

Not doing so can run the risk of decreasing your income potential and maintenance problems that are often overlooked. As a result, it’s a good idea to think about hiring a property manager who can overlook all the necessary details if you’re looking to rent especially. Let’s dive into the benefits of having a second opinion and a helping hand for your real estate investments.

Using A Commercial Property Manager

Managing a real estate property can definitely be financially rewarding if done the right way. However, all the responsibilities with managing a property can take a lot of time and cause unneeded headache. Even if you consider yourself a frugal person who likes to take matters into their own hands, it’s much more practical to invest in a commercial property manager for the following reasons:

  • The commercial property manager will help you set an appropriate rental rate. Instead of sifting through hundreds of rental pages and rental Facebook groups, a manager will be able to conduct a thorough and accurate market analysis to ensure your rate is competitive yet satisfactory. Work with the manager on what your fears and needs are before conducting the market study. Open communication is key to maintain an efficient relationship with them. This way you can prevent any vacancy issues while still maximizing your income potential.
  • The manager will help you get your rent paid on time. Any landlord will tell you that they have had tenants who don’t pay their fair share of rent on time. Property management systems, on the other hand, have reputable and reliable systems in place so rent is collected at all times on time. If you have a limited number of real estate investments, having this benefit is crucial to maintain a healthy cash flow and gain peace of mind.
  • Marketing and advertising will benefit as well. Instead of figuring out what methods or graphics will work best to make your property look as alluring as possible, hiring a commercial property manager can help since they know what to do. They can form an informative and compelling ad for your property on the right platforms so people are reached. It’s no longer the right time to use classified or Craigslist anymore and the majority of young and even old renters are active on social media or renting specific platforms.
  • Once you’ve secured an interested tenant, you want to make sure that they are free of any problematic history and have the financial means to keep fees paid on time. A manager can easily do this work for you and run secure criminal background checks as well as running credit reports. In short, they can access all the important documents you need to make the right decision for the future of your real estate investment property.
  • Maintaining your real estate investment property can take a lot of upkeep. Hiring work from several different construction workers, plumbers, or engineers can be costly and complicated for your accounting records. The majority of property management companies will be able to find close contacts to vendors they’ve already worked with before to get you the best price possible. Since they have a good relationship with these businesses already established, the customer service you’ll experience will likely always be urgent and pleasant to deal with.
  • If you want to expand the amount of locations you have properties in, hiring a commercial property manager will also help to manage different areas. Normally, people are tied down to a single community or neighborhood since they don’t want to travel too far if a problem with the property or tenant arises. With a manager, they can provide the means to explore opportunities at other ends of town and possibly different cities. Don’t be afraid to explore places that you’ve never heard of before, you might be surprised with what hidden gems you find!
  • You’ll have more money and time in the long run. While hiring a manager might seem like too much of a luxury, they will take care of the day to day responsibilities of running a property successfully. With your free time, you can explore other investment options and keep better track of your expenses for the future. Preventing any risk of vacancy or late payments is also well worth the upfront cost, so no reason to wait!

Better Safe Than Sorry

As an upcoming real estate investor, it’s wise to do everything in your power to carefully plan and manage your hard earned investments. If you work alone, you could be spending a lot of time and money to correctly screen tenants for rent, market and manage your property, collect payment on a timely manner, or exploring further opportunities at different locations. If you aren’t sure how to go about hiring a trustworthy commercial property manager, look up reviews for ones around you who have a proven track record. Make sure that their investment properties are being properly taken care of and customer testimonials are genuinely written. After doing your homework, schedule a discovery appointment with the manager that you are most interested in. You’ll gain a better perspective on what their management style is and how well you communicate with one another. Don’t be hesitant to ask all the questions you need!

 

 

Oct
29
2018

Inbound Versus Outbound Marketing

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In today’s world of marketing, it’s extremely vital to keep up with trends and the right strategies to effectively grow your business. While you might be stubborn and may want to stick with old school marketing techniques like billboards, flyers, and even television spots, at this point in time the majority of potential customers are tuning in only to the internet.

Gone are the days of tuning into Saturday morning cartoons and listening to a boombox with the radio on. If your business wants to reach adults, you have to be active on Facebook, blogs, and form a website that they are willing to read. If you are targeting a younger audience like millennials, using social media spots like Instagram, Snapchat, and having an mobile friendly site will boost your brand integrity.

If this sounds like way too much information to consume at once, fear not. Let’s break down the differences between inbound marketing and outbound marketing along with tools you should be using right now.

Outbound Marketing Is Out

Do you ever wonder why some fashion trends tend to come into our lives for a brief moment before dying out while others are here to stay? People consume and use what is attractive and will provide value to them over the long term. The same principle goes with marketing your business, you want to be using a style of promotions that actually reach, resonate, and provide value to your customers.

Outbound marketing is the term for old fashioned marketing our parents grew up with and consumed throughout the day. These promotions include magazine spreads, radio and TV commercials, huge roadside billboards, product catalogues, and flyers mailed to the door. In the age where technology waits for no one, you have to be aware that almost everyone is spending nearly the whole day on their phones or computers.

Customers are actively consuming social media posts, videos, product reviews on Youtube, and attractive landing pages from brands that they feel they relate to. While doing this, they won’t be tuned into the hundreds of random flyers posted up on the wall beside them or the dressed up gorilla on the street corner promoting a furniture sale.

Since you don’t want to completely rule out outbound marketing, most marketing professionals advise businesses to invest no more than 10% of their overall campaign budgets to the method. This way, enough content is being made online but somewhat of a physical presence is still maintained for a brand.

For example, almost anyone following style trends have noticed that Adidas sneakers are nearly on everyone now after viral campaigns and celebrity endorsements the past two years. They recognized that their target audience of young people will relate to popular figures sporting their wear. They also completely rerouted their campaigns and understood that younger customers will appreciate consistent content provided across its social media, corporate blog, and sponsored YouTube reviews. Yet, while you still may see an Adidas ad on the street every once in a while the exposure is much less than what you may experience while scrolling your feed.

Inbound Marketing Is The Move

Now that we’ve realized the outdatedness of outbound marketing, it’s time to dive in on what strategies you should use with inbound marketing. The point of inbound marketing is to not broadcast your brand’s message to the masses, but to have customers reach for your benefits instead. This is done by forming a “hub” for your brand for people who are already searching online for the big players in your industry.

The trick is to create strongly consistent and engaging video or photo content across your social media. Keep a clean look and a straightforward message to your viewers, post weekly giveaways to create more traffic, and always reply to comments from people whether its negative or positive. Link your company website into the bio of your largest social media profile and invest time in making the site itself professional.

Utilize high quality photographs, product demonstration videos, customer reviews, and above all make sure your pages are attractive and quick to load for users on their phones. No one wants to stay on a cluttered website that is slow to road and boring to look at it.

Another great tip is to practice search engine optimization on your website by inserting highly popular keywords that pertain to your services and industry. This increases the chance that customers will find your page when they’re on Google or Safari because your page is being favored by the engine’s algorithm.

For example, if you are running a website for fitness coaching service, consider entering keywords like “fitness coaching”, “healthy lifestyle”, “training program”, etc. so someone searching those exact terms may stumble on your content.

The best thing about inbound marketing is that the opportunities are endless after setting up your platforms. To procure a strong relationship with your visitors, include a call to action and ask for their emails in return for a free newsletter sent straight to their inbox every week. These newsletters can be about seasonal promotions, tips that pertain to the problem they are dealing with, and different ways to get in touch with you. Make sure you do your homework on who your exact customer niche is so you can tailor your writing to their styles of communication.

Get Out There

As the entrepreneur and social media marketing influencer Gary Vaynerchuk would say, today is the best time in the history of mankind to be alive. Thanks to technology and social media, communication is easier than ever before and brands can directly be in touch with their customers with a simple like, direct message, or live video. The choice is yours on what marketing methods to use to grow your sales, but remember the sky’s the limit if you do it right!

 

Oct
29
2018

Dealing With Heroin Addiction

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Dealing with an addiction to any type of drug can be extremely hard. These days society and the mainstream media have intensified the stigma against drugs. Popular shows like Shameless feature main characters who are constantly using drugs like cocaine and heroin while letting their life spiral out of control.

If you know someone who is in need of heroin recovery or is currently suffering from another type of opiate addiction, make sure you know how to spot the signs of an intense addiction and react quickly. Symptoms of heroin withdrawal can also cause a lot of havoc on one’s body, so knowing more about those mental and physical side effects will greatly increase your ability others in need.

Long Term Side Effects Of Heroin

While addiction is still not fully understood by everyone, the effects that the drug has on our brains are substantial. The drug has the power to radically change our brain’s chemical pathways and form a large dependency on it over the long term.

For an addict, using a drug too frequently disrupts their normal behavior and causes them to suffer from long term issues . Symptoms of heroin withdrawal come into play as an addict’s body starts to yearn strongly for the substance with scary, painful, and disruptive side effects. These can include sudden onset depression or anger, chronic fatigue, intense and unexpected shaking, bloodshot eyes, pain in certain limbs of the body, and severe migraines in some cases.

Even if they want to calm down from these physical and mental problems, many people lack the determination to cut down on their drug use. In some cases, they might even increase their daily or weekly dosage so they can get through the temporary heroin withdrawal symptoms.

Over a long period of time, heroin addicts can suffer from life threatening diseases or develop problems that wouldn’t exist if they were sober instead. Such issues include long term heart damage or heart disease, collapsed veins from injection heroin methods, lung problems, a higher risk of developing pneumonia, long term memory loss or other processing damage, increased anxiety and moodiness, kidney disease, and potential death from overdose.

Clearly you don’t want any of these issues to hurt the health of anyone. As a family member of friend of someone who is hooked to a drug, it’s your responsibility to understand where they are coming from and not quickly judge their reasons for taking it so often. Many might actually want to get heroin addiction recovery but fail to do so because they are suffering from low confidence, lack of control, and debilitating physical effects that plague their daily life. You don’t have to be an expert in the heroin addiction recovery field, but you can help be supportive and encourage them to seek professional help.

Heroin Addiction Recovery

As soon as long term signs of heroin addiction and heroin withdrawal symptoms show up, it’s critical to gain help from a detox center. That’s the first step to cleansing the body of all the toxins left from the drug before starting an organized treatment plan. However, it’s important to note that while the physical problems are possible to get rid of, any mental health disorders that stem from heroin use may not be reversible. Addiction will always pay a visit to someone’s life and cause cravings that are amplified by the stress of a mental disorder.

In addition, co-occurring mental health disorders like depression might be present in an addict’s body for a long time even after their body is cleansed. Reaching out to a local addiction specialist will be great for the addict to treat both issues in a safe and sustainable fashion.

Luckily, there are a variety of treatment methods available today for people who are struggling with heroin withdrawal symptoms. A person can choose from behavioral treatments that are combined with medications prescribed by doctor to restore functionality to their mind.

Addiction support groups and holistic therapy will also calm the rest of the body and give emotional strength to overcome any relapses that may occur in the future. The most important thing to communicate to the addict in your life is that they need to choose to take action and not be afraid to be vulnerable to gain help.

Heroin addiction recovery is not an easy path; there will rocky days and feelings of regret along the way. But considering the long term health benefits that they will benefit from, it’s more important to break addiction from a professional detox and treatment center so their life is not cut unexpectedly short.

Communicating With The Addict

Keep an open mind, remain patient, and never give up on your goal to encourage the addict in your life to seek help. If the person is especially stubborn or wants to avoid your pestering questions, catch them in a time during the day where they are the most free to talk intimately.

Make sure you let them know that you truly care about their health and are very worried for their future. To make things easier for you and the addict, you can even schedule an initial appointment with a professional treatment specialist and offer to go with them. They may agree to go or react angrily, but odds are that they will come around to learning more about ending their heroin addiction if you can just take them along for the first point of help!

Don’t Give Up

Dealing with heroin withdrawal symptoms is never an easy task, but with the right resources in your area and enough patience, you can conquer the mountain of struggle it brings. Never forget that that an addict is saving their life, money, and relationships by suffering through temporary withdrawal effects in order to break their unhealthy habit once and for all. As long as you do the best in your power to give them support and positivity, you are helping them find the road to success!