Working from the comfort of your own home may sound like a dream come true. However, just like any other working conditions, it has its disadvantages. Be completely honest with yourself and consider these disadvantages before you take the leap!
INCREASE IN UTILITY COSTS
One of the inescapable costs that come with working at home is utility. And if you are inside your home 24/7, it can cause the bills to shoot up!
This is why you should make it a habit to conserve energy through simple strategies such as scheduling your air conditioning use, reducing indoor heat by painting your rooms white, or working at the brightest part of the house.
Since most people meet new people and make friends in the workplace, professionals who are working from home may experience loneliness, isolation, and depression. As they are plucked away from your previous co-workers and bosses, staying in touch with them is a must! In fact, Global Workplace Analytics showed that teleworkers who maintain consistent communications with traditional co-workers and bosses find career impact to not be an issue.
You can also use social media or join Yoga groups, photography clubs, or other types of support groups to creatively meet new people whom you share the same interests with.
INCREASE IN DISTRACTIONS
Distractions from accessible electronic devices, noisy family members, and many household tasks can be very disruptive. Sometimes these distractions can draw you away from your career responsibilities and later lower your income. Thus, keep your focused by turning off your devices or by using free Website blocking applications such as SelfControl (for Apple users) and SelfRestraint (for Microsoft users).
Also, use your home office space solely for making projects and crafting items so your brain can associate the space to automatic “work mode”.
DECREASE IN PERSONAL TIME
Based on personal experience, there will be days when you are tempted to work any time when you are hired to work from home. The lack of a management enforcing strict working hours and the lack of physical separation between home and work may add to the pressure of working endlessly.
Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)
So if you are under one company, consider setting your daily hours to avoid phone calls and emails that are conflicting with your personal time. Working from home requires time management and organization skills that not everyone has!
After eating a lot of food this Holiday season, get back to your desired shape and earn money at the same time by following these five tips:
1. JOIN THE “PACT”
Looking for an efficient motivation to help you stick to your weight loss resolution in 2016? Look no further as GymPact brings you the Pact app! Pact app allows its users to pledge a specific amount alongside the set of days they plan to work out. Users who do not go by the said goal must pay for each day they miss. You earn cash for staying healthy and get paid by “inactive” Pact members. Also, the nutritional option allows you to commit to healthy eating or pay its consequences.
If you are still contemplating on whether or not you must exercise or not then, you must know that regular exercise helps to increase your salary.
In 2012, a study published under the Journal of Labor Research found that employees who exercise regularly earn 9% more than their sedentary counterparts. This may be due to the enhanced mental function, energy levels, and mood. Thus, these improvements make them more valuable to their employers.
3. TRAIN OTHERS FOR A LIVING
If you have passion for fitness, interpersonal skills, and sufficient knowledge to back it up then consider a career as a personal trainer. A personal trainer works directly with the clients to make fitness assessments, set goals, demonstrate exercises, and provide constant feedback to improve the client’s physique.
The salary is usually S$70-90 per session. Aside from getting paid by doing something you love, you can also save money on costly gym or studio memberships.
4. MAKE YOUR OWN HEALTH BLOG
By constantly writing or blogging about a certain topic, you become sort of expert on that topic. The most feasible ways to earn money from your blog are paid advertisements, paid articles, offering fitness courses, and selling health books.
Start by sharing your own wisdom and genuine passion to educate the readers about being in shape. After which, only promote the products and brands that you really believe in.
5. BECOME THE HEAD AT BOOT CAMPS
Whether you believe it or not, some people pay money to be pushed to their limits and scream at for the most parts! If you are knowledgeable about fitness and you are capable to teach a group of people then, consider becoming an instructor at a boot camp. Do the workouts with your students to burn as much calories as you can!
Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)
While banking and finance professionals are still struggling with a decline in demand, Singapore and the Philippines are likely to see some pick-up in 2016.
22nd DECEMBER 2015 – According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines experienced a drop in demand for banking professionals amid the volatile economic conditions in November.
Across the three markets surveyed by the Index, the Philippines reported the least year-over-year decline at -3%, down from October’s 25% year-over-year growth. This is the market’s first negative growth in three months and the steepest month-on-month decline registered among all markets.
The BFSI sector in Malaysia registered the steepest year-over-year decline at -24%, falling six times as much as October’s -4% decline. This is the sector’s third consecutive month of annual decline.
E-recruitment in Singapore’s BFSI sector experienced a slight drop between October and November, at -5% year-over-year. Despite this, the three-month growth rate for November has improved marginally by 3%, compared to 2% in October.
The MEI is a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity, which records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.
Recruitment trends in the BFSI sectors have also led to the sluggish demands for Finance professionals in the three markets. Despite the overall negative growth, Finance and Account roles are the top growth occupational groups in Malaysia and Philippines.
Malaysia reported the steepest decline between November 2014 and November 2015 at -23% year-over-year, a sharp year-over-year decline from October’s -11%.
Singapore witnessed the least year-over-year decline at -9%. This is a marginal drop from October’s -8% year-over-year. The Philippines reported a -12% year-over-year decline, down from the -3% year-over-year reported in October.
“As the global economy leans towards greater uncertainty, each market will need to take measures to build greater resilience against any vulnerabilities that can potentially deteriorate the country’s economy and affect recruitment,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong).
“While the demands for Finance professionals in the Singapore and Philippines markets appear to remain on the decline, Singapore’s vigilance to any potential economic risks and the Philippines’ strong economic fundamentals in its domestic systems should help see them through external threats.”
The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.
See below for countrywide trends in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines for November 2015:
Singapore Highlights:
The Monster Employment Index Singapore declined -8% year-on-year.
No industry sectors or job roles registered positive year-over-year growth.
The Healthcare industry registered the least decline in online hiring at -2% year-on-year, while Healthcare jobs saw the highest demand – although at 0%.
Malaysia Highlights:
Online hiring in Malaysia declined by -31% year-on-year.
Not a single industry sector witnessed positive year-over-year growth in online hiring.
The Production/ Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary sector saw the least decline at -10%, while Oil and Gas registered the biggest drop at -40%
Demand for Marketing & Communications professionals takes lead at 0% year-over-year, while Software, Hardware, Telecom roles fared the worst at -60%.
Philippines Highlights:
The Monster Employment Index Philippines registered a -46% year-on-year decline.
The BFSI industry had the least year-over-year decline at -3%, while the Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary sector fared worst at -68%.
Customer Service jobs experienced the least decline at -9%, while Hospitality & Travel jobs reported the steepest decline at -64%
– Ends –
About the Monster Employment Index
The Monster Employment Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly analysis of online job posting activity in Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia conducted by Monster India. Based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of online career outlets, including Monster Singapore, Monster Philippines and Monster Malaysia, the Monster Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity nationwide. Monster has taken due care in compiling and processing the data available from various sources for Monster Employment Index, but does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or action / decision taken or for the results obtained from the use of such information. In the South East Asia region, Monster Employment Index was first launched in Singapore in May 2014 with data collected since January 2011 followed by Philippines and Malaysia in May 2015 with data collected since February 2014.
Facebook is one of the strongest social media platforms that have been dominating its competitors with over a billion users worldwide. It presents a great opportunity for business and people like us to generate money in the comfort of our own home.
To begin, here are 4 ways you can make money through Facebook:
1. SELL YOUR STUFF
Social media, defined as websites or applications that enable the users to share content and to network, allows daily access of many consumers…all over the world. With this knowledge, you can supplement your Facebook post with a Facebook Ad.
For example, you may clean up the clutter in your closet and find the things that you deem to be unused or underused and sell them to your friends and family through a creative Facebook page. Treat it as your virtual “garage sale”!
Alternatively, you can turn your hobbies (e.g., baking cakes or making soaps) into your home-based business.
2. USE SOCIAL INFLUENCE TO INCREASE SALES
Aside from directly selling on your Facebook page, you can redirect the post to a website that you own. This is a revolutionary idea that the 20-year-old Koby Conrad embraced. He owns an online shop called Hippies Hope Shop that sell unique items such as ring bracelets, crystal necklaces, hookahs, wood incense, and hippie clothing.
Because of consulting and mentoring, Conrad was introduced to the power of social media. He markets his items and receives traffic to his shop just by posting them on a Facebook page he runs called “The Hippy Bloggers.” With a Facebook page that has over 150,000 likes, he now runs a small business and taking on investors. Remarkably, this millennial is now living off Facebook!
Image Credits: facebook.com/TheHippyBloggers
3. GET PAID FOR ANSWERING FACEBOOK SURVEYS
Yes! You can get paid for your opinions that you are otherwise putting out there for free. If you are the type of person who is decisive and opinionated, try completing paid surveys offered by companies, universities, and other industries.
On the flip side, if you are the researcher, you can tap a massive focus group and reward them after by using SurveyMonkey and Facebook. Gather feedback from a wide range of people and enable them to share the survey easily by using SurveyMonkey’s Facebook Collector on your personal page or SurveyMonkey’s Web Link Collector on your fan page.
4. JOIN AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
Big companies and websites offer affiliate programs that pay you for your advertising efforts. Most of these affiliate programs provide you with marketing materials (e.g., link-backs or promotional banners) and pay you depending on how much traffic and sales you generate. In other words, this is a commission-based activity.
For instance, you can either take up Amazon or Qoo10’s affiliate program. Amazon offers a competitive affiliate program that pays you a percentage of sales after a person makes a purchase through your Facebook post. Simply follow these instructions.
While Qoo10 Curator Affiliate Program gives you 2% of the total sales amount if the item is sold due to your curating efforts. And if the item is sold due to your advertising efforts, you will receive additional rewards that are set by the sellers. The best thing is that you can join this program with no minimum traffic numbers and no initial fee! Simply share items, promotions, and others posts in social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
These people came from merely nothing but now they have a whole lot of wealth than the average person. Taking the leap of faith and believing in themselves led them to profit through adversity.
Without further adieu, here are four inspirational rags to riches stories:
1. HOWARD SCHULTZ
Raised in a housing project in Brooklyn, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz was a son of a struggling truck driver. Despite their poverty, he excelled at football. Fortunately, this earned him a scholarship to the University of Northern Michigan.
After finishing tertiary education with a degree in Communications, he worked for Xerox Company before discovering a small coffee shop called Starbucks. Filled with his love for coffee, he soon left Xerox and focused on becoming the chief executive of Starbucks.
Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)
As of today, his net worth amounts to US$3.2 billion (S$4.5 billion).
2. JOHN PAUL DEJORIA
As a first generation America, John Paul DeJoria and his immigrant parents had it tough from the start. His parents divorced when he was just 2 years old. By age 9, he and his brother began selling newspapers and greeting cards in order to support their family. Life did not come easy soon after as he lived in a foster home and become a part of a street gang.
Thankfully, he graduated secondary school and spent two years in the United States Navy. After which, he held numerous jobs ranging from a janitor to an insurance salesman. In 1980, things changed. He teamed up with Paul Mitchell and turned a US$700 loan into a hair-care company called John Paul Mitchell Systems. Now, it is known worldwide as the Paul Mitchell hair products with estimated annual revenue of US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion).
He is also the co-founder of the famed tequila company called “The Patron Spirits Company”. Currently, his net worth amounts to US$3.1 billion (S$4.4 billion).
3. ANDREW CARNEGIE
Who would have thought that a Scottish American with barely a dollar to his name would soon be the richest man in the world?
Andrew Carnegie migrated to the United States with his low-income parents in 1848. He then started to work as a telegrapher. 10 years later, he had investments in railroads, bridges, railroad sleeping cars, and oil derricks. Then, his wealth increased further as he worked as a bond salesman.
He became the world’s richest man in 1901. Aside from having a high profile, he was also a philanthropist. This is the reason why he gave away about 90% of his fortune (US$350 million in 1919 = US$4.7 billion in 2015) US to charities by the time of his death.
4. OPRAH WINFREY
One of the most recognizable faces in the world definitely did not grow up in a pool of luxury. American media maven, host, producer, publisher, actress, and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey was born in the Mississippi with her teenage single mother. She experienced hardships during her childhood such as being raped at age 9 and becoming pregnant at age 14. Unfortunately, her son died in infancy.
But these struggles only strengthen the young Oprah as she entered the halls of media in her first job as a newsreader in a local radio station. Later on, she got a daytime talk show in Chicago. The rest was history.
Persevering through life and diversity earned her a net worth of US$3.2 billion (S$4.5 billion)!
