Your Next Pitch: 5 Pitch Deck Slides To Hook Potential Investors [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Turn Your Home Into a SmartHome. Without Breaking the Bank

Turning your home into a smart home is a fun but daunting task. Many of the concerns people have when starting their smart home journey stem from how expensive it is to outfit or retrofit your home for everything from automation to voice control. But starting to venture into the land of Alexa and scheduled lighting doesn’t have to break the bank. Get started building your smart home ecosystem with these ideas for a low-budget, high-tech home.

Smart-Home Hub

The key to getting all of your smart devices to communicate is a smart-home hub. The Amazon Echo Dot ($49.99) and the Wink Connected Home Hub ($69) are great lower budget options.

Smart Plugs

Give the appliances you already own and intelligence boost with smart plugs like these from TP-Link ($29.99). These smart plugs make anything a smart device when connected to the TP-Link app, Google Home, Amazon Echo, or Echo Dot.

Smart Bulbs

Smart Bulbs can be expensive and some, like the Phillips Hue, require a hub separate from the voice control system. However, you can purchase less expensive options that also have great feature sets. GE’s C-Life Smart LED bulbs ($13 each) are controlled via Bluetooth and when paired with the C-Reach bridge ($49.99) can be controlled with WiFi and pair with Amazon Echo or Google Home, and TP-Link’s Smart LED bulbs ($19.99) are controlled via WiFi and can connect to your voice assistant without a bridge.

Smart Thermostat

At just under $250, a Nest thermostat isn’t exactly budget friendly, but if you are looking to really control every aspect of your home, there are other budget-conscious smart thermostats out there. Take for example the Ecobee 3 Lite ($169), which can pair with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Echo, and other smart services.

Smart Light Switch

For hands-free or app-controlled lighting beyond the bulbs, the Belkin WeMo light switch ($50) can respond to voice commands and schedule your lighting.

Smart Garage Door

Don’t panic about whether you left the garage door open ever again when you upgrade your garage door controller. The Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Hub ($99) works with many garage door opener brands, and the MyQ app allows you to control your garage door from anywhere.

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MONEY MISTAKES TO AVOID PART 1

Managing money can often times have just as large, if not a larger impact on your life than the amount of money you make. Here are some money mistakes to avoid in order to keep your finances on track.

NEVER NEGOTIATING SALARY

Salary.com reports that 62% of people rarely or never negotiate their salary. The numbers get higher when you look at factors like race, gender, age and income level as well. The largest fears being the lack of negotiating skills, fear of losing a job offer and general unpleasantness of asking for more money. It’s daunting. Great times to bring up salary are during the hiring process, and then at annual reviews. But this salary will set the salary bar for all future negotiations. It is that serious. It’s never too late to start negotiating.

LIVING WITHOUT A BUDGET

Americans don’t get hip to the idea of a budget until later on in the life when it comes time to save up for something important, like a house, wedding, trip to Europe. etc. Many millennials also forgo budgeting because a record number of them are still living at home with mom and dad who are footing a large amount of the bills. Budgets are important for staying on track with your spending so that you’re A. only spending on what fulfills you most and B. contributing to your financial goals. No budget = higher susceptibility for making further financial mistakes… like more debt, and less money for retirement.

NOT CONTRIBUTING TO RETIREMENT

This is tough. I hesitate to call it a financial mistake and instead prefer to refer to it as a financial circumstance. Retirement saving is often seen as a luxury by multiple age groups. Millennials often are drowning in student loans, while Boomers have mortgages and other obligations. In this survey conducted by the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council in March and April of 2015, 37% percent have no money set aside, and those who do save have little, with 18% having less than $5k in the accounts. The earlier you start the higher the impact on future saving. Do what you can, when you can. Start small, and make sure to utilize any and all retirement benefits your employer gives.

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5 Types of Side Hustles to Make You More Money

If you’re looking for a way to make money outside of your everyday job, getting started with a side hustle is an obvious first step. But the decision of what your side hustle could be may not be so obvious to you. From using your professional skills, to just helping out around the neighborhood, the options available to increase your income are limitless!

Freelance Work

Use the skills in your professional repertoire and work doing UI/UX design, writing, developing various sorts of web pages or apps, all types of creative work (photography, voice acting, animation or illustration, video editing/production), data mining, and consulting for multiple business needs (HR, legal, finance, internet security). Or if you have a great idea and an entrepreneurial spirit, creating your own startup company.

Hobby Work

If you’re a pro at makeup, cooking and baking, music, or have any hobby you could make into a lucrative business, you can use that skill to make money while having fun at the same time.  Successful YouTube personalities can become millionaires, and just about any hobby can be shared via online content. Sell baked goods or handmade products at local farmers markets, craft fairs or online. With the right mindset, you can make any hobby a profitable side project.

Home Care

Lawn care businesses aren’t just for kids. Find jobs that you can do around your neighborhood. Yard work, gutter cleaning and interior work like house cleaning or holiday decorating, even moving services and odd jobs like baby/pet/house sitting are all options.

Investing

If you aren’t afraid to take risks and are good with money and numbers, investing might be for you. Getting involved with real estate, penny stocks, peer to peer lending or even using an investment app like Robinhood, Betterment, or Ellevest (specifically for women) can all be used to make money by trading, buying and selling.

Renting/ Sharing Economy

The sharing economy has started to take over as a means to make money, especially in the millennial demographic. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb really kickstarted the movement, but now you can rent out other belongings including your camera, bike, car or even boats. Keep your eyes open for sharing resources that work for you!

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Small Business vs. Startup

When starting a new venture or running an existing business, with the immense amount of financial and personal investment that requires, semantics is the last thing one thinks about. Words like entrepreneur, business owner and CEO get thrown around pretty often, and with the rockstar allure that shows like Shark Tank have brought, their definitions are now practically common knowledge. The new buzzword, floating around the business world is startup, not to be confused with a small business … And so you don’t make that mistake, here is a breakdown!

Startup

Definition: A startup is an entrepreneurial venture which is typically a newly emerged, fast-growing business that aims to meet a marketplace need by developing or offering an innovative product, process or service.

Major Keys:

• Rapid Growth
• Passion
• Innovation
• Market disruption

Small business

Definition: The definition of a small business is an independently owned and operated company that is limited in size and in revenue depending on the industry.

Major Keys:

• Profit
• Existing
• Longevity
• Market share

Startup vs Small business

A small business can have products or services that have been around for millennia, creating for itself a space in the current market. Small business’ hope to grow quickly, but more important than growth is first revenue and then profit, versus a startup’s main priority being explosive and exponential growth. A startup would put a new spin on an old product or service, or better yet, create something brand new. Startups aren’t concerned with gaining market share, they are here to to turn the existing market on its head. As you can see, although startups and small business’ have similarities, there are some fundamental differences in structure and purpose.

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