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Establishing a startup is no joke, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, motivation and of course investment, and all this is just what you’ll need in the initial stages, as your business grows and expands you will need to put a whole different level of dedication. So grab a pen and a paper and start taking notes!

• Type of company, competition and owning your name

First and foremost is deciding the type of company your startup will operate as; a partnership, sole proprietorship? It is important to know the difference and how each operates as there are specific advantages attached with either type of setting. Also this will lay the foundation of the regulations that you are meant to be following. It is important to own a name for the company, make sure the name you end up choosing is available and it defines you as a business. Search the list of trademarks registered to ensure that you don’t pick the same name that has already been chosen and a trademark has been raised.

The second most important thing is; knowing your competition. If your idea is common then you need to focus on ideas that differentiate you from your competitors, if you have a unique product you have to consider a niche and devise a marketing plan, know your demand before you start supplying. To summarize the last three lines; know as much as possible about the market before starting.

• Investment:

Calculate the amount of money that you will need to invest in the business. Investment doesn’t always necessarily mean the amount of money you will use to purchase the assets and carry out  the business, a number of different costs add up to your initial investment which you need to include in your calculations. You need to understand the laws and regulations applicable to your start-up, this will help you forecast your future cash flows in a prudent way  which will enable you to devise a return that you could expect on your investment.

• Paying yourself:

When starting out, you won’t be looking to buy a Ferrari anytime soon, but you will need cash that you will pay yourself to meet your personal expenses. Remember, a successful business keeps the business and owner separate, even if you are a sole proprietor, compute an adequate salary for yourself and don’t cheat it, stick to what you are making and reinvest the rest. This will help keep your feet on the ground and this way you will be able to better account for your personal expenses.  

• Know the law:

One of the most important things is to know what law applies to you, try to obtain licenses that would be applicable to your startup as quickly as possible. Consult a lawyer and discuss all possible risks you feel are surrounding you. Its best to be safe than sorry. If you have taken out a bank loan for your startup then make sure you will have the adequate funds to make the interest and principal payments on time, make sure you understand the collateral if any, that you keep when entering business contracts, and ensure that you will have the means to fulfill your contracts

• Deal prudently:

Liquidity is an important aspect that you need to consider. If you have any stock market experience then you will know that its best to diversify the risk before it surpasses your risk appetite. Make a contingency plan whist making a business plan, it’s good to be in control of what you are doing, and prudence can help you get out of sticky situations quicker compared to if you go in unprepared. This goes without saying but always at all times keep emergency cash and make sure to rebalance the amount periodically, this will help you stay and feel secure in your business.

• Know your market

Jack of all but master of none is not something one boasts about. Know who your consumers are, the truth of life is that it is absolutely impossible to please everyone. Market research is extremely important, no matter what sector of the economy you wish to do business in. knowing your consumers preferences, taste is important because they will make you a success. Playing it smart is the way to go, I always tell my clients; make and take the market, simply this means is apply everything to yourself, see if you would buy what you are selling, be objective in your decisions and improve where you feel you lack.

• Online presence:

I’ve seen many startups who fail to update their websites and social media, which gives the impression that the owner is not passionate enough. Its fine if you have to become that ‘self-promoting’ person on Facebook, but if you don’t promote yourself then who will? It is necessary to have a front to your business where interested people can come and see what your business stands for. Presentation is key, the better you present your business online the more credible it looks and catches attention of a larger crowd. Updating the site and social media is just as important as having one, you need to show your followers/consumers that you are very much alive and developing.

• 9-5?

With 9-5 jobs you have a pretty standard and a predictable routine, you wake up, get dressed, go to the office, do work , come home and repeat. But with owning your own business you can get a little lazy, especially if you work from home, you will find yourself watching Netflix in the afternoon and working whilst in bed, while that may seem as a privilege it can get a bit annoying especially if you have family and a thriving social life. It is important to take your own business seriously, because your attitude will inspire and motivate the people who work for you, and if you are not punctual this can lead you to end up paying a lot of overtime. Beside balance in life is very important, it helps you stay creative, too much and too little work are both not good for a business, find a moderate schedule that works for you and stick to it.

• Mission Statement:

When starting a business the first thing people make is the mission statement, i.e what reason you started your business and the objectives for which you are working for. It is important to come up with a short and long term mission statement. Usually typical mission statements are long term but it is important to challenge yourself, I like to think of mission statement as a list of tick boxes, I tick off objectives that I have achieved in the short term and how achieving them has helped me in stepping closer to my longer term objectives. This is a mere piece of paper or document on you PC which helps your thought process to develop and stay sane. Also it helps you recognize the things you would wish to change about your business and areas where improvement is needed.

• Get yourself an accountant

Managing a business is tough, there are a zillion things that you need to look after so it’s best to leave the nitty gritty to an accountant. An accountant will help you map out not only your expenses and revenues, but together you can forecast the future cash flows of your business. Forecasting investment plans helps you conclude whether your business will be a going concern entity or not. Also it helps you calculate the return that you should be making. Also if you know a thing or two about accounting and finance then you can come up with investment plans for surplus cash flows. Initially in the starting phase investing in portfolios and securities on listed on the market might seem a bit farfetched, however once you get a stable revenue stream it would be beneficial to start thinking about investing surplus cash to however long you prefer and according to the liquidity requirements of your company.

This would simply help you in reducing the opportunity cost of your cash, and also help in diversifying away your risks and reducing them to a minimum acceptable level.

Bottom line: starting a business is hard work and one has to act smartly and diligently, and it takes time to get a grip of things, but motivation and passion are the driving forces and if you have ample amount of that then there is no stopping you, Best of luck!

Starting a business is fun, if you already have a bank balance that will let you buy an office in the city with high ceilings and a downtown view. However for most of us starting a business from scratch might not be as fun and the road up can get quite bumpy.    

Financing the startup can be one of the most challenging decisions you’ll make, and I say this because there are so many modes of financing available, either you get completely swamped by the overwhelming choices available or you start by taking out a loan  to cover your funds. Majority of the businesses take the route of a loan from the bank, however hopefully by the end of this article we will have you convinced that there is so much more that is being offered and you just need the right people to guide you up to your destined success!

The reason why taking out a loan is not the fittest option for young businesses is because; you never know what will happen. I always opt for a ‘what if’ analysis when accounting for money, primarily because loan is an obligation and it’s not yours, so it puts your business at stake, if at all you are unable to meet the set obligation, you will find yourself in serious trouble.  Being prudent is always the way to go, but just being prudent gets you only so far, you have no control over the macroeconomic factors at play and you can never estimate that the grass will always be green, hence for me taking out a loan means;” you already need to have a business to start a business “

Venture Capital is the new thing and a safe haven for startups! Do you believe in angels? If you do then venture capitalists are the closest things to angels you will find on the wall street.

Now in all honesty venture capitalists are no people of God, however  they are the people who will have the same objectives for your business as you, because success of your business will benefit them greatly. Hence the business outlook will be aligned, also due to the increasing success rate of young companies, massive growth in technology, improvement in the IPO market , abundant entrepreneurial talent, and government policies favoring venture capital formation, these angles will come and find you rather than you finding them.

Having said that, it will be up to you to make yourself discoverable for them to find you, it’s time you take that cloak of invisibility off and start doing things that will get you “found”

One thing you will need is a flashy business plan, now I hate to break it to you but investors won’t put in money if they don’t find your business plan fruitful, investors are nasty creatures, they come where there is potential wealth. It is for you to make sure that your idea stands out from other business offering similar products/ services. The best thing to get things going is to invest in a website and spread the word. The more thought out the social media optimization the more chances are there to get discovered.

You need to pitch in an idea which screams ‘sustainable growth” the thought process of a venture capitalist is a short term one however their outlook is long term. If they don’t see your business idea surviving for the next 10 to 15 years, they will not bother putting in money, even though they plan their exit in the next five years. For them to put in their money they need to see returns, and how much added value the investment brings to them .

The next most important thing is human capital. Hire the best people for the job, don’t compromise on any position, because the people who work for you are your biggest capital and no amount of money will bring you more profits or success if the people who work for you aren’t good enough. Venture capitalists have an eye for people with exceptional talents, it ensures them that their money is in the right hands.

A well-defined capital allocation plan  is necessary, it sounds easy because at the back of every entrepreneurs mind there is a plan as  to how he wishes to go about his investments, however mapping the thought process out on a piece of paper can be quite tricky, and you will also find that keeping money lying around in a savings account just isn’t enough. The way venture capitalists see this is where the opportunity cost of their money is the lowest. For example investors put in $100 in your account and you end up using $70 then you will have to allocate the remaining funds somewhere, such as short term securities to minimize the opportunity cost of money. Now it’s great if you are good at trading in securities and you have the alternative investment area covered, however for most mere mortals this can be quite a challenge because chances are most venture capitalists will pass up on investing in your business if you don’t think about alternative means to make money.

It is important that minimize the opportunity cost of money by all means, at the end smart work pays off a lot more than hard work.

It is not always true that VC’s will discover you, especially if your business is less differentiated, you might find that supply of capital might be limited, until you start spreading the word. Approach venture capital firms and pitch in your idea. Many firms take in business ideas with high risks because of the possibility of higher returns, also there are many firms dedicated to investing in a specialized area or subsector. By targeting those which are the most relevant to your business will increase your chances  of obtaining an investment.

And last but not the least venture capitalist judge your outlook and dreams for the future. They tend to believe in you more not only if you are 100% dedicated to your work and business but also how much you value it. A future outlook which is not just an imaginative path to success but a well-planned map to the future.

Yeah getting a VC to invest in your business should be no problem at all. Good Luck!

Social media marketing is fairly a new type of marketing that has paved its way into main stream media and is probably the most dominant and effective mode of marketing at the moment.

Marketing is a major part of fund allocation for startups. No one knows who you are and what business you are doing. Marketing on social media is one of the cheapest modes of marketing one can opt for, also there is no limit to the outreach of the marketing, think; the whole world!

There is a large pool of applications to choose from when it comes to marketing on social media, but the most effective mode of marketing is the one your business will get the most fruit out of.

The first and foremost is to develop a strategy that sits with your business objectives, and the kind of people you want to attract to your social media profile. Believe it or not each social media application has a dominant age bracket that prefers using that application, studying these statistics can make it easier for you to process the applications you will need and filter out the ones which don’t fit your mission  and objectives.

For example Facebook is a great way to market your business because of the large number of people who visit it daily, also the post sharing culture will help you get the message out there, however because  so many startups are taking their business to Facebook, you can be a tiny fish in the ocean. The best way to stay in the news feed is to devote yourself or for this matter hire an assistant who will manage the account daily. There is nothing worse than an inactive Facebook page. Also Facebook is great if you have highly visual content. You want to build trust in the minds of the users by leveraging their friends’ networks.

Twitter is a great place to start for brands who have an active marketing strategy, because twitter does require you to be quite active, the only way to build up an audience on twitter is to be interactive, and if you aren’t a social butterfly, then hire one and get on it because the outreach the application brings to the business is quite extraordinary.

Linkedin is a great way to market yourself and your business, however it is a very tailored approach to marketing. With that being said, it is  great if you are a business to business company, or you wish to establish connections with similar business. It is not  a great place to market visual content but having a linked in can be a front for back links because the search results rank quite high on google

Google+ helps with SEO, which is again very helpful in setting up a front for other social media profiles you choose to make your business profile active on.

Pinterest is a great way to market your brand if your target audience are women, or someone who has an eye for creative things. If you have sell-product-at-profit approach then having a flashy pinterest is a viable option for marketing.

Instagram comes in the same league as Pinterest with the advantage of a larger pool of audience. Instagram is a great way to interact through visual content, which enables to make your business discoverable to people with similar taste and preferences.

No matter which application you choose for special media marketing, the key is to be an interactive business. Customer service has to be a strong suit if you wish for your brand to grow. Customer response lead time is an important key performance indicator to consider when it comes to getting back to clients.     

It would make sense to appoint individuals to run a social media marketing campaign for your business, primarily because there is only so much you can do on your own, and secondly because the more creative individuals you hire the better ideas you get which will help you in formulating a number of social media marketing strategies.

The only way to ensure that social media marketing will set off is to get a league of brand ambassadors. Reaching out to users who are interested in products and services similar to what you are offering and allowing them to make use of the products or services for free will not only create awareness but will benefit you in getting first hand feedback. Brand  ambassadors help in enhancing the magnitude of market outreach, which helps in targeting the right group of people.

There is no publicity as bad publicity especially if it’s in the form of gifs. Gifs are a great way of spreading the word through pop culture to which a lot of people relate to. Now we know that not every startups business plan and objectives will suit the gifs culture but don’t be afraid to experiment with humor. Take the example of when “Hello” came out by Adele. The main reason why the song became viral overnight was because of the enormous amounts of gifs and memes that were posted online following it release. Now we don’t know if all the efforts were made by fans or by Adele’s management company, if it is the latter then we have to give them credit for making the single a massive hit overnight.

Evaluate your social media strategy regularly, it is important to stay up to date with the latest pop culture. Promotions are a great way of starting out, especially if you are in retail. Offering promotions will drive in a large amount of traffic and even if 100% of the traffic doesn’t translate to sales it will help in creating awareness.

A very important step to marketing is knowing your audience and analyzing their changes in taste and their preferences. Having a website will help in analyzing how many people are interested, in exactly what they are interested in and how much time they spend searching for something on your site. This can help you in forecasting future sales and production levels.

Best of luck!

There are all sorts of people in the world whom you see whilst on holiday, but to speak generally there are those who work hard all year round to save up enough to afford a nice hotel and have enough to roam the city then on the other hand are those people whom you see carrying designer bags in the mall and shopping like there is no tomorrow, these are the type of people who keep the luxury hotels in business, be it Bora Bora or Dubai, Geneva or Paris so today I thought of listing some of the most expensive hotel rooms and suites that your could book which I’m sure cost more for a night than your yearly rent.

Now before we start I would like to add that these rooms are very expensive, and by that I mean not just your $1,500 a night, no these rooms are booked by people who travel on a private jet with their chuffers and Louis Viton suitcases, so in no particular order here are the world’s most expensive hotel suites that are available for booking;

1. The Apartment at the Hotel Connaught in London, England

Located in the posh Mayfair area in London this Apartment is anything but cheap, from beautifully handcrafted ceilings and doors this rental promises a good time all year round, with 24 hour butler service available who just fails to say no any of the guests request, it’s a palace In disguise, the view from the balcony is amazing, and gives the guest the satisfaction to be in a good area and be surrounded by rich blueblood money all around, and it would be a shame if the guests dint have that peace of mind, I mean a night to rent this apartment costs $23,500 which is more than what most people make in a year, so yeah. The apartment can house 4 guests at a time but can be extended to accommodate another four if a connecting room is also booked, the apartment comes with two bathrooms, imagine not having to wait for your sister to get out f the shower so that you could use it, yep that’s the stuff!

2. The Presidential Suite at the Hotel Cala di Volpe in Porto Cervo, Italy

The Hotel Cala di Volpe is the epitome of luxury hotels, having over 100 sea front rooms which always manage to drop jaws of many. Now staying at this hotel is no joke because the bill might just give you a heart attack irrespective of the fact that you are a heart patient. A night at the presidential suite at the Cala di Volpe costs around $26,000 so if someone decides to stay 5 nights in the suite they’ll end up paying over one grand, and that’s just the living so yeah you have to be pretty rich toafford this kind of holiday. So there is a reason why this suite costs a fortune, and here is why; it comes with 3 en-suite bedrooms, each bathroom has a jacuzzi, an “oversized shower,” and “dual vanities of Sardinian marble.” The room also comes equipped with a solarium, a private pool, and a fitness area.

3. The Shangri-La Suite at the Shangri-La Bosphorus in Istanbul

Turkey has been THE travel destination for years, there so much to see, it has so many historical sites and remains from the Ottoman Empire and a great deal of ancient Islamic history, beautiful mosques, night clubs, restaurants that a normal person wouldn’t normally spend their day in their hotel but would rather explore the city, however there are some who live the good life and treat even their luggage to the best, The Shangri-La Suite at the Shangri-La Bosphorus is definitely a vacation hotspot for the rich and famous, the hotel itself is palatial. This suite costs $26,385 per night and covers the entire top floor of the hotel, the view is great from this suite to say the least, you can see the whole of the buzzing Bosphorus, the bathroom is a true luxury it comes equipped with a TV. The room has three private terraces that give you views of pretty much the entire Istanbul skyline. So I guess I were staying in this room I would probably never leave it!

4. The Royal Suite at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris

There is nothing fancier than French “fancy” they take the fancy to a whole new level, it’s no surprise that the French like being classy and posh The Royal Suite is the largest hotel room in Paris, with 450 square meters, it also costs $27,000 to stay in for just one night. So what makes this suite expensive? One word; GOLD, literally. The carvings and embroidery is done with pure gold in this suite, so you definitely get your money’s worth. However I would like to add my two cents in; so what its gold? What am I going to do about having gold ceilings? It’s not like I’m going to lick them? The most I can do is brag about it to my friends and is that worth $27,000, um I don’t think so, but then again I don’t have that kind of money!

5. The Royal Suite at St. Regis Saadiyat Island, in the United Arab Emirates

If it’s going to be extravagant, it’s going to be in some Arab country, from cutlery to the Lou made with gold fittings it’s not surprising to hear that per night in the Royal Suite at the at St. Regis Saadiyat Island costs $35,000. Now it makes sense that this suite is expensive and primarily because it is located on an island in a desert so im sure the hotel pays a whole lot of maintenance and so the rent for each suite is going to be as high as the Burj Khalifa. This Royal Suite is the largest in UAE, it has two floors so it’s basically a house, it offers a 24 hour butler service and a private movie theater It also has a swimming pool and a games room. The master bedroom takes up pretty much all of the bottom floor and has an ocean view, what more can you ask for?

6. The Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons in New York

New York is known to attract all sorts of people from around the world and so there is an abundance of luxury hotels, however the Ty Warner Penthouse takes luxury to a whole new level, it’s like luxury on steroids. It cost $45,000 a night but you get a full 360 degree view of The Big Apple’s skyline, which is only the most popular city on the planet, also it is the highest hotel room in the city. It took roughly $50 million to construct the suite which comes decorated with all sorts of antiques and original paintings which is every art junkies dream come true. The floors can be adjusted for heating as required. The walls, ceiling and sink in the jewel-like guest powder room are fashioned from semi-precious tiger’s eye stone. Talk about going overboard!

7. The Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland

Now if you’re wondering where exactly is the most expensive hotel room in the world? Then I think you probably know, or can guess which country it might be in! If you guessed Switzerland than you are correct, the Swiss are rich people, if their chocolate is so expensive imagine how expensive 5 star hotels be. The Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson Hotel is one of a kind. The selling point is the view from the suite, it opens up wide to give a panoramic view of Lake Geneva. It sleeps up to 6 people and has 12 bedrooms and bathrooms. It costs $60,000 per night and comes with a private elevator, gym, and pool table, a Steinway Grand Piano and ensures the guests maximum security!

So there you have it, some of the world’s most expensive suites, which ones will you be staying at?

The hoover boards or self-balancing electric scooters are the in thing everybody is taking to town with them, and if they agents that’s because they’re waiting to get one as a Christmas present, whatever the case maybe a lot of companies have come out with their very own versions of these, and are available for as less than $300. It was one of the most sought after product during black Friday and I did a bit of travelling around that time, and these hoover boards were all the rage at the airports.

However as much fun as they are, they are also pretty dangerous and many people have met with accidents whilst being all cool on their hoover boards.

I guess it’s safe to say that obesity is still one of the problems still out to get us, I mean children are already inside playing video games and stuffing their faces with cheese and chocolates and now there is a product which does the walking for you as well, uh-oh I feel an obesity wave coming in anytime soon.

But obesity is the least of the governments’ concern they are more worried about the street safety for the people riding the boards and also for those who prefer good old walking (such losers).

So there is a lot of negativity surrounding these hoover boards recently, as many have said to have caught fire whilst on charge and Amazon has haled sales of the highly sought after device for this Christmas, Amazon has sent out notices to many hoover board manufacturers to provide proper documentation assuring safety o their products. It is believed that the ones catching fire are Chinese knock-off which aren’t built with the most efficient materials.

A hover board called Swagway released a statement “Swagway already meets all those certifications and is happy that Amazon has decided to take steps to weed out the low quality boards. As safety is always on the forefront for Swagway, we’re glad that this is taking place, especially in light of recent concerns with the fires with the poor quality batteries”

Many airlines such as American and Delta have banned hoover boards due to the batteries catching fire and to ensure the safety of their customers. Delta released a statement saying; “Delta reviewed hover board product specifications and found that manufacturers do not consistently provide detail about the size or power of their lithium-ion batteries.”

However in some parts of the world steps are being taken to legalize the use of Hover boards. Canada seems to be taking the first step in everything these days, be it welcoming refugees or taking initiative to recognize the hoover board riding community. Nova Scotia wants to become the first Canadian province to legalize Segways on sidewalks, bike lanes and roads

A bill introduced in the Nova Scotia legislature Thursday to that end features a number of restrictions, including needing to have a bell or horn installed. Riders also could not travel on roads with a speed limit over 60 km/h. The province’s transportation minister stated “If we’re going to have Segways on the road, obviously there has to be rules and regulations and safety measures in place,”

It was proposed that riders cannot go faster than 20 km/h on roadways and no more than seven km/h on sidewalks. You also have to be at least 16 years old to operate one, or 14 with permission from a parent or guardian.

This initiative has received positive feedback from the community as not only would it make the hover board riders happy but could be used as a cheap form of transport for carrying out many day to day services, such as delivering the post which would be cost and resource efficient plus it would make environmentalists very happy.

New York City However on the other hand has banned the use of Hover Boards stating ; State law “requires all motor vehicles to be registered… Since none of them may be registered they are not permitted.”

Some college campuses have also banned hover boards, including the University of California system.

British authorities seized 15,000 hover boards this year, saying the charging systems could be hazardous. Singapore Airlines have also banned hover boards. SIA says that the reason for ban was because of the threat the batteries are and the ban applied to both checked and carry-on baggage.

The baggage restrictions on SIA’s website state that the airline prohibits the carriage of lithium batteries with watt hours more than 160 or a lithium content of more than 8g, of which electric hover boards, electric bicycles and underwater lamps are listed as examples. The latest announcement extends the ban to all hover boards, regardless of wattage. SIA subsidiary Tiger Airways has similarly imposed a ban of all hover boards.

The hover boards became immensely popular this year after many companies started focusing on marketing through YouTube, which is recent years has become a safe haven for all creative crowd, intense marketing by sending many popular YouTube personalities to use and test out the products, which most of them did and which basically ignited the fire to their popularity today.

Patent disputes have also arisen over the technology used in the boards. Apparently everyone is suing everyone so Segway, which is now owned by a Chinese firm and produces its own version, filed suit against one rival, and US manufacturer Razor who has sued another competitor. Hoping that dint confuse you.

So far an estimated 1 million hover boards have been sold worldwide, 2015 has been the breakthrough year in sales for these products and analysts forecast that the sale numbers are going to increase in the coming years, despite the legal issues being faced by these products. The hover boards are a major hit with people aged 18 – 24 which is the target audience, and if marketed correctly I see why there isn’t anyway hover boards won’t take over the city streets soon, and I feel it would be as bad, first of they are cheaper more efficient in the longer term, especially if you live in a city where driving is a hassle then the hover boards will be a win win!

The government will have to recognize the increase in demand for such products and should learn something from Canada, again! The best way to win at anything is to legalize it!

Having a good camera is just not enough to take killer photos or videos, you need to also have a kick ass lens to do your bidding. If you own a Nikon camera then you’re in luck because there is a never ending list of options to choose from, however deciding on which lens to get is always tough. In this post my aim is to list down a number of options based on popularity and results. Let’s get started

1. Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF

Opting to invest in a 50 mm lens is a no brainer really, it’s one of the best lens to get. The 50 mm comes in different varieties so you’ll see a f/1.8 D a f/1.4 D and so on. The one I would recommend is the f/1.8 D primarily because it is more affordable and gives amazing quality images. The trademark 50 mm result is the blur background and the crisp focus point, which makes it one of the best lenses to take portraits with, it works well in low lighting compared to the f/1.4 D. and each shot is Facebook display picture worthy.
Another option you should consider when buying a lens is the weight, because when you’re taking photos the heavier the camera the sooner you will get tired so in order to make your experience more enjoyable opt for a lens which is not heavy for you. This lens is a compact shape and size and doesn’t add a whole lot of weight to the camera and therefore it is one of my favorite lens to shoot with.

2. Nikon 24mm f/1.4 AF-S G

This lens is a recent release by Nikon, released in 2010 it can easily be one of the best lenses available in the market today. If low light is your interest, I’d suggest getting this 24mm f/1.4 instead of a wide zoom. The aperture on this lens is unreal, it takes beautiful pictures, because it does so well in low light, you can really edit the picture a whole lot to completely change it without getting any noise on the picture. This lens has far more depth compared to a 50mm, and takes incredibly sharp photos. I personally love the image quality delivered by this lens. It is far cheaper than other 24mm lenses available which makes it an even better buy.

3. Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX

Another easy on the pocket but great value for money lens is the 35mm. It is great for autofocus if that is one of your prime concerns. Again this lens performs well in low lighting, not as good as the 24mm one of course, but for the price the results are insane. Also the quality of video shot from this lens is amazing. I like to use this lens when I’m shooting a walking around video primarily because of the fast autofocus, also I like using this lens in product and food photography.

4. Nikon 18-55mm VR DX II

This lens comes included with many Nikon cameras as a kit lens and I kid you not you will not have to update to a better lens for at least a year. There is so much you can do with this lens, the amount of zoom you can achieve with this lens I great. It is capable of taking super sharp looking photos. The newer version of this lens comes with autofocus and a smaller body making it less bulkier and easy on the hands. It is capable of capturing a lot of space when set to 18mm which makes it a great lens for event photography when you need to capture larger groups of people. I find that 55mm setting on the lens takes super sharp images, it doesn’t perform as great in low lighting but after tweaking the ISO levels you can definitely get decent quality photos. I like to use this lens when I know I’m going to have to shoot a larger area and having a fixed zoom is going to be problem for me, I also like shooting videos on this lens, mostly set on 35 to 45mm and it is capable of shooting a great quality video, also it works well with most Nikon cameras, and is a real winner for a kit lens. However it only covers DX; it doesn’t cover 35mm film or FX wider than 24mm

5. 85mmf/1.4 Al-s

This lens is pretty old, it was released in 1981 and now has been upgraded to the newer version which offers autofocus. This lens is included on the list because it is a great example that sometimes manual lenses outperform the newer autofocus ones because you can really go in and change the focus based on your preference. Nikon kept manufacturing this lens till 2006, the main reason why this lens was so popular and still is with photographers is because of the sharp images and a better bokeh then most other Nikon lenses available in the market. Because this lens doesn’t have autofocus it is best for still photography and sit down videos. The quality of image is unreal, literally I prefer this lens over many other new ones I own because I know that every picture I take is going to be magnificent

6.18-200mm VR DX

Released in 2005, this lens has great range to it, so if you’re someone who doesn’t like changing up the lens for different shots and just want one lens to worry about then this is a great option. Having said that it is a bit bulky so its definitely going to feel heavy and you’ll find your hands getting tired, I personally don’t prefer this lens most of the time because it is so big and doesn’t do particularly well in low light or say shooting sports, but if you’ve set this on a tripod and are sat taking pictures it is an amazing lens to work with. I would say this lens is particularly good for wildlife photography because of the possibility to zoom in to 200mm without losing quality and light and without having the hassle to change up the lens for the shot, so it is heavy but it’s the only lens you’ll need. I would quickly like to add that 70-200mm VR lens gives you just as much to shoot far away objects but does well in low light and moving objects, so that is also another great option to buy.

MAC is hands down one of the best laptops available in the market, but it isn’t for everyone. If you have been using Windows as long as you can remember switching to OS X could be a little daunting.

Here are a few things you should know when buying a MacBook.
MacBook runs on OS X which updates when an update is released by Apple. Compared to the familiar Windows interface, MacBooks have a different look and feel to them, they do seem a bit daunting at first, but that is because we’ve grown up using Windows. It would be wrong to say that MacBook beats Windows, because it is untrue. Windows laptops beat Apple in terms of Laptop sales, however I have met users of both systems and I have to say MacBook users are far more content with their laptops compared to average PC users.
One thing I’d like to add before we start is that people with more of a traditional mindset tend to stick to windows because of familiarity, whilst people more open to change are likely to switch to the MacBook .Now I could be wrong in my generalization but this is the hypothesis I have reached after meeting a number of PC users.

So, how is MacBook different from a laptop running on Windows?

The first and the most obvious difference is that Windows comes installed in a variety of laptops from numerous brands so the capability of each laptop depends to some extent on the operating system but also largely depends on the manufacturer. Also the laptops are priced differently to appeal to a wider clientele hence there are so many varieties of windows laptops compared to a MacBook. An updated version of the MacBook is released every year with software updates accompanied by the new release.

Another popular difference is the price range, you can buy a Windows laptop for as cheap as $200 which is a fraction of what a MacBook would cost you. So buying a MacBook will be heavy on the pocket to say the least.

Sticking to the hardware, MacBooks are almost identical to each other, there have been some changes, like the newer Macbook models are slimmer and more sleek compared to their predecessors , however Windows laptops come in all shapes and sizes, and I mean that literally.

Another visible hardware difference is the trackpad. On a Windows laptop your get a sensor trackpad with two button for right and left click, whilst on the MacBook the trackpad has no button but a tap on the trackpad is deemed as a click, I find the MacBook trackpad to be life simplifying, I was a bit skeptical at first but after using a MacBook its very hard to go back and use the trackpad on a Windows laptop. You can do a whole lot with the trackpad on the Mac; flip through pages, access apps in the background etc.

The screen on the MacBook is much better than Windows laptop, now the quality of the screen varies with price and manufacturer but when I compared the display quality of older versions of Mac with the newer similar quality Windows laptops the difference in quality is hard to miss.

Now moving on towards the software, the Macs a are protected from viruses, this is largely due to lower number of Mac users, in recent times some Mac users have reported viruses surfacing their Macs. Apple says it’s added new types of encryption and security features in OS X Yosemite to keep your computer safe. And, since Apple’s Mac operating system is built on Unix, it’s a little more secure by default than Windows.

Another difference is the look of the Mac is a bit cleaner than Windows, mainly because the concept of keep icons and folders on your desktop is not there. All the programs that one uses are displayed at the bottom of the screen and the whole desktop is clean, at least that’s how I like to keep it, clutter free.

However one downfall of having a Mac is that it requires you to show your allegiance to Apple on multiple occasions. Here is why, you need to have a specific type of charger, only Apple manufactured HDMI wire works, Macs also have generally limited customization options, while PCs usually allow for a much wider range whilst supporting different kinds of hardware.

However Apple has a better customer support system, and they definitely shower you with their gratitude for showing your allegiance.

Macintoshes use a more graphics-based interface, while Windows is more text-centered. Having said that they cater to the creative audience.

It’s no surprise that Windows is the preferred software in many large organizations due to the availability of standardized and familiar programs, Macs on the other hand offer better specialized programs which a lot of PC users might not have or know about, the also offer powerful graphic and video software, such as photo and movie editors, so their processors are designed to enable these programs to operate quickly and smoothly. PCs tend to be less geared toward these areas.

Another differentiating factor is the kind of connections and optical drives found on Macs and PCs. Macs offer a pretty standard selection of such features, including a SuperDrive (reads and writes CDs and DVDs), audio in and audio out, USB, FireWire(data transfer), Thunderbolt (video output), Ethernet, and a magnetized power port. PCs offer comparable features, plus a few more, like Blu-ray players, TV tuners, touch screens and HDMI ports.

The marketing strategy also fifers for both, Apple as always sticks to its ‘less is more’ approach by offering just five computer lines: the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro, the Mac mini, the iMac and the Mac Pro. Whilst the Consumer Reports reviews 11 distinct brands of Windows-based computers, including Acer, Asus, Compaq, Dell, eMachines, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, each offering numerous configurations of desktop and laptop models.

However if you are a Windows user and would want to try Mac, then fear not you can have the best of both worlds by installing windows on your Mac. This feature is relatively new and still needs a tad bit more development, but for an average user this should add value rather than taking any from it.

I recently did a post on the most annoying types of people you’ll find on Instagram, and I thought it only made sense to do a whole article on the annoying types on Facebook. Facebook is older and has more traffic hence more variety of annoying people which am sure you we all have in our friends list.
So let’s get started;

1. The politician

Seems quite fitting provided the circumstances, we all have that friend who would rather be out there giving speeches and running for president, but that seems a bit farfetched so they sit at home and share news articles, all day erryday. From topics ranging from refugees to the governments health care spent, these people care so much that sometimes us mere mortals feel as if our life is worth nothing and is just as meaningless as Donald Trump’s speeches these days.

2. The viral friendship

I thought writing on people walls was a past story and the world had since moved on since the update to the timeline version, but nope I was wrong, some people even today post on each other’s timeline displaying fully how good chummies they are. From posts ranging from I miss you to all sorts of inside jokes. Somebody introduce them to whatsapp!

3. The PDA queen/king

What’s more annoying than a viral friendship is the PDAers, now these people aren’t necessarily friends with their targets, but they just have to show the whole world how getting coffee from Starbucks this morning reminded them of that one time they got Starbucks with their friend, I mean come on.

4. The serial likers

Okay so it’s a good thing to show your appreciation once in a while but every time a cute girl posts a photo this bro is there and is the first one to communicate his approval, heck sometimes these seriel likers run out of material to like so they start liking their own photos. There is only one thing they are getting by this and it’s called ‘friend zone forever’

5. The photographer

This category is everywhere, so it started with mobile uploads and now its Instagram uploads. Bro you have the same people on both apps why are you making people like the same photo twice, and no, nobody cares if had Mc Donald’s for lunch.

6. The ‘TMI’ crowd

Okay I personally delete anyone who starts sharing way too much information on Facebook, it’s cool that you’ve checked in at your favorite restaurant, but you don’t need to update your entire friends list where you are every half hour and surely no one in your friends list gives a rats ass if you’ve just checked into your bed. #AintNobodyGotTimeForThat

7. The party crowd

It’s great that you like to party, but posting noting but hazy club pictures every weekend is kind boring, don’t you think? Also would you want your future employer to know that you like smoking weed every Sunday?
And if you make the risky choice to sell drugs, don’t make a status about how you just picked up a few ounces and everyone can hit you up about it. Law enforcement officials are likely to be your first customer — you just publicly admitted to illegal activity.

8. The fake profiles

Before I begin to describe these people, my question, which im sure is a question that many sane Facebook users would have – Why would anyone make a fake account? Atleast once in two weeks you probably get one friend request by someone called ‘Daddy’s princess’ or ‘Barbie girl’ when you open her profile all you see has she has liked One direction and high school musical which Is completely okay, but we have no mutual friends how on earth did you find me, and oh you only have 11 friends, great I just wasted 5 minutes of my life!

9. The serial friend shipper

I’m sure we all get friends requests, but there is a hike in the number of friend requests, then think hard if you’ve recently commented on a public thread, video or picture, if you have then chances are that some people might have found your profile picture cute and decided to add you. Sir, I don’t know you so I won’t add you, bye.

10. The other messages

Now if you’re a girl life is hard for you as it is, you also have a whole long list of other messages where random blokes drop by their heartiest sentiments saying how much in love with you they are, and if you don’t reply they will question your character and say ‘ why so much attitude am only trying to be friends.’ Well Sire, there is a reason why I did not respond, I don’t want anything to do with you!

11. The shy girl

Okay so I hate it when girl overload my newsfeed with their selfies, but what really makes my eye balls bleed are the girls who post pictures of themselves and don’t ever show their face properly, these are the types who think they are above everyone and no one can handle their beauty! I have many a times seen girl posting a photo but they will hide their face with their hand, why do you even have a Facebook profile?

12. The one with the heart of gold

While us mere mortals are just getting through the day, this guy is donating all his money to charity, his hair for cancer patients, running a marathon to raise child abuse awareness and by night is helping out at the homeless shelter. I don’t think even Hilary Clinton can compete with this guy!

13. The friend who got married

Getting married is definitely a life story worthy event, but if every week you’re going to upload a photo from you’re wedding I might as well just throw up the next time I see it. And it’s okay to share your wedding photos but its been 3 years since your wedding, maybe the time has come that you stop?

14. The EDM-er

So we have the party goers and drinker, but the EDM-ers just chill, they have attended almost every frat party and rave on and off campus, all their pictures are wearing neon, sweaty and holding beer bottles. I would have envied your lifestyle to be honest you’re just a big baby!

Hello there, welcome, if you’ve stumbled upon this article then I believe you are in a bit of a conundrum. Setting up a blog can be tough especially when you don’t speak the language. Fear not, today I’m going to be sharing with you a few DONT’S when it comes to setting up a blog.

1. Selecting the right theme

The most important step is taking the first step towards establishing an online presence, this is the most important decision you’ll ever take. I have witnessed with my own two eyes people selecting themes for their blogs which are absolute suicide. Now where ever you choose to start your blog is your business, be it blogger or Word press, choosing the right theme is an over whelming process so it is important to ask yourself the following questions;

• What am I blogging about?
• What color scheme do I want?
• What should the feel of the website be?

These are a few important things you need to figure out, if you’re going to be blogging about technology advancements then selecting a pink theme makes less sense whilst if you’re going to be a fashion blogger, pink would be an acceptable choice.
Having said that, don’t go for a pink theme. The rule number one for me is to go for light sober colors, like pastel pink, tiffany blue and so on. The lighter the theme color the more inviting your site will look and make the content on your blog shine.
Select a theme, which is professional and fits the content you are going to be posting.

A few examples of well put together sites are;

2. Easy navigation

Easy navigation is key, if you want to enhance the reading experience of your viewer you want to enable them to easily scroll through your blog and read whatever they are looking for. Now this can be tricky especially if you are new to the whole HTML game, but a lot of themes offered by blog hosting sites have more or less an easy step by step setting up process, keeping it real you will need to go out and search how to set stuff up if you are new, but once you do I kid you not your view per post will increase tremendously.

Categorize your content and link each post to the related category.

3. The more visual the better

Now a blog isn’t complete without content, and the most important part of the content being the visual i.e; pictures, lots and lots of pictures. Now growing up we have learned that seeing is believing, which is quite true, so if you don’t show what you are going on off about chances are no ones going to bother reading it.

It is highly important to insert pictures in your posts, it not only gets you more visitors but it also helps improve your website ranking and on a good day gains you followers.

4. Quality of visual

The quality of visual is equally important as the visual itself. I have seen a number of bloggers who hide their faces in pictures they post. That just prompts me to never read the post, I hate faceless blogs and I’m pretty sure a lot of the viewers do too. When you set up a blog your main aim is to gain readers who find your content interesting and engaging, if you don’t try to connect with your readers by posting faceless photos you sir will never build an audience. So in short it is highly important to put up good quality pictures which would capture the reader’s attention and would prompt them to read more of what you are offering.

However it is highly important to resize the images you upload to your blog, they key is to keep the image smaller than an MB, this is important because the larger the size of your image the longer it will take to load, so anyone viewing your site will experience slow downloading of your content which will drive traffic away, so its always important to resize your images

5. Titles of posts

Another important aspect of blogging and gaining followers is to have intriguing post titles. Consider what your are going to be talking about, take blogging as SAT except this time you’ll be a 1000 times more motivated. Keep the length not too short not too long. A good post is about a 1000 word long, it drives the message across without being too long that your readers will get bored.

6. Create links

Many new bloggers are not familiar with how important it is to create links within the site, in your posts refer your readers to another relevant post that you have previously done, this will help you in gaining more views and blog hits, 80% of the time readers tend to clink on the links, this also helps in boosting up your SEO ranking!

7. Write like you talk

It is important to be yourself, I cannot stress this enough. Blogging as a place where you can truly be yourself so the only way your personality is going to shine through if you write what you feel is how you would talk to your friends in person, the more quirky and fun you are the more people will read what you have to say. No one likes to read the paper, well unless you are old, have nothing better to do or your job depends on it. There is a reason why most of the people like reading the gossip section because it is more up close and personal and lets be honest fun to read. That is how you should present your content; Just be your natural self.

8. ALT Tags

Another thing which helps with rankings are ALT tags, these are basically tags that you give the images you post on your site. Name each and every picture you post which is relevant to the picture of course. This helps search engines find the post quicker

These are a few things you should keep in mind when you start up a blog and trust me it will be something you will never regret.

Hey there? Tired of scavenging through the internet trying to find answers to one simple question; How to make it big on YouTube?

I know it can be very exhausting, especially when all the articles you’ve read tell you the same thing over and over again and they are not getting you anywhere.

You’ve come to the right place, because I’ll keep it as real as possible for you.
There is no perfect recipe for making it big on YouTube, but if you are starting out from YouTube to grow yourself or whatever you are promoting then take a deep breath because at least there is one thing you are doing right, i.e; youtubing 

Now first things first, if you want people to watch your videos then make sure the videos are watchable. You can make amazing quality content even from your phone (just make sure its in landscape, or else you’ll have a awkward looking video)

Lighting, good audio quality are key in making a video look pretty and professional. Another important aspect of video sharing is editing it with he right tools, now there are many video editing software out there, choose one of your liking that fits your needs and just be creative with it.

Read article on top video editing software

Now that we have the basics covered it is time that your video hits the market, that is it goes online.

Now one of the most important thing is to show your personality through your videos, be as happy and positive as possible that is what makes people watch you and come back for more, one thing ive noticed that gets you subscribers is if you make people laugh. Now you don’t have to be super funny but a little bit of good old sarcasm will do just fine. People online like to connect with others so if you are relatable to a large audience im sure you’ll be getting subscribers out of them.

Now if you think you will discovered on YouTube just as Justin Bieber was discovered then it is time you get rid of that mindset, you need to go out there and throw yourself at people.

Video Titles

Keep engaging titles for your videos, this works extremely well in most cases, especially when the title of your video suggests something which is in and current at the moment. Its kind of like cheating but not really. Here is an example, ive clicked on many videos saying iPhone 6s in Rose Gold, and the video turned out to be a 15 minute vlog which only featured the phone for the last 5 mins of the video. I was outraged, Hell YES! But did I subscribe to that vlogger? HELL YES

This is for sure a gamble but it gets you the views, and if people end up liking your video then you have a new subscriber.

Keywords

Now when you upload a video on YouTube you will see the option to put in Tags, now these tags will help in making money for you, what you put in these tags will help YouTube ads to figure out what your video is about and then will tailor and customize the ads other people will see on their screens.
So next time when you upload a video say about clothes then leave in the brands for those clothes and the rest will be magic

Networking

Ever wonder why Zoe Sug a.k.a Zoella on YouTube and her gang of friends so famous, it is because they network the most of all the Youtubers ive seen, they have a shared fan base now, they have managed to make friends with other Youtubers and have made like a spider web of viewers from which they all benefit from.

You can also do this by engaging with other smaller youtubers, comment on their videos be polite and maybe make friends, feature on each others videos, the more you network the better it is for your online presence.

Create Links

Creating links means sharing your content on social media, take advantage of the apps you have already, share your stuff on Instagram, twitter, if you have your own website that just makes it better because you can promote your site and YouTube together. The more links you have connecting to a video the more chances of traffic coming in.

Promote your brand

When you have a Youtube channel, you are your own brand so market yourself. Leave links for your videos at the end of all your videos to encourage people to watch you more, ask for comments, likes and subscriptions, if you wont then who will?

Thumbnails

Thumbnails are the first thing that people see and that is what they judge you and your video by. They always teach you; Don’t judge a book by its cover, but the reality is we all do because we don’t like giving people the benefit of doubt, hence it is important that you enable the ‘upload custom thumbnail’ option in your account settings and create a custom thumbnail for all your videos. The thumbnail should be pretty enough to give the viewer an idea what to expect

For eg:

Look presentable

Now if you are someone who likes to slack around in pjs, that great you’re a laid back kind of a person but if you think that will make people watch your videos then you my friend are wrong. People on the Internet are bullies and if you wear something questionable or if you don’t look your best chances are you will have that one commenter saying ‘eww you’re ugly’. If you wish to avoid that then bring in you’re A game when it comes to presenting yourself

Playlist Urls

This feature was added to YouTube in 2012, so YouTube rates videos depending on their watch time and average duration viewed by people, in order to rank higher in YouTube search then make sure you maximize the YouTube experience for your viewers, make playlists and endorse them, encourage people to view more videos by you, talk about them in your videos.

These are a few tricks that you can follow, they are not a guaranteed success, but if you keep consistent with your videos and quality and incorporate these few but important points, you’re going to make it, It will be a slow process, so patience is key, but I promise you, you will make it 