Cryptocurrencies are all the rage these days.

If you’re socially active, you should know at least one person who wouldn’t stop talking about Bitcoin. And whether you like it or not, they’re not entirely to blame.

Thanks to Bitcoin’s expectations-shattering streak these past few months, people are jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

Plenty of them doesn’t even bother to understand how cryptocurrencies work and why they have value. But hey — as long as it makes them money, what’s there to ask, right?

Of course, cryptocurrencies also see their fair share of skepticism, especially from people who believe that they have absolutely no backing. However, most of these critics overlook the single factor that can impact something’s value: sentiment.

Put simply; a cryptocurrency will always have value as long as people want it. Some may consider it as an investment vehicle, while others are interested in the transactions they can make with it.

And, by golly, there are tons of amazing, amusing, and straight up weird things you can do with cryptocurrency nowadays. Here are 18 examples:

1. Purchase a Property – Real estate developers in places like Dubai and Miami now accept payments in Bitcoin.

2. Pay for Parking – A handful of malls, airports, and other public locations around the globe are also embracing BTC-based transactions.

3. Settle Your Parking Fines –  If you learned about point #2 a little too late, don’t worry — you can easily settle your NYC parking fines with Bitcoin.

4. Purchase Airline Tickets – Still related to point #2, you can also use services like CheapAir to book flights with cryptocurrency.

5. Get a College Degree – Not only are universities offering degrees in digital currencies, some of them even accept tuition fees made in Bitcoin.

6. Watch/Do Crazy Stunts – Eristica, a “FunTech” startup, now allows you to win cryptocurrency via challenges that must be recorded on video.

7. Eat at a Restaurant – As the name suggests, bitcoinrestaurants.net can help you look for dining spots that accept Bitcoin payments.

8. Buy Stocks – Cryptocurrency investments are so revolutionary, you can convert them into stocks in certain online brokerages.

9. Charge Your Electric Car – Thanks to cryptocurrency, blockchain-powered charging stations for electric cars are slowly making their way into more countries.

10. Buy a Car – If you don’t have an electric car to charge, you can now purchase one with cryptocurrency — just like what Mason Borda didfor a Tesla Model 3.

11. Rent an Uber Car – If you’d rather use Uber than purchase your car, you can pay for your ride with a cryptocurrency debit card.

12. Get a Bitcoin Debit Card – About the example above, you can get your Bitcoin debit card from companies like Shift.

13. Crowdsource Electricity – A lot of people aren’t aware of it yet, but in some places, you can transact electricity through “MicroGrids” using cryptocurrency.

14. Authenticate Sneakers – Sneaker manufacturer, Mache Customs, is the first to use blockchain technology to discourage knockoffs.

15. Participate in a Marketplace – If you’re already a Bitcoin users, there’s a good chance you already know about free marketplaces like OpenBazaar.

16. Buy Pizza – Pizza for Coins— enough said.

17. Vote – In recent years, entities like NASDAQ and the government of Moscow tested the feasibility of blockchains for elections — an endeavor that can kick off the “e-voting” industry.

18. Buy a Casket – If you need caskets (hopefully, for decorative purposes), then Crescent Tide in St. Paul, Minnesota is willing to sell you some for Bitcoins.

Conclusion

The more innovators attempt to leverage cryptocurrencies or the underlying blockchain technology; the more optimistic people become with Bitcoin. With the examples above, there’s more than enough reason to believe that it’ll stick around for a long while.

Originally posted on December 20, 2017 @ 7:47 am

Every business’s goal is to gain customers, maintain good relationships with them, and build brand loyalty. Still, these things are easier to say than do and is what companies face on a regular basis. This is where online tools and free management systems become the best buddies of business owners or sales staff.

With the vast need for keeping customers, several companies have created helpful business tools. These software systems let you record buyers’ information and purchase status. Some even have additional functions like chat features, checklists, and inventory spaces. All these other amazing features may come in a bundle or single package depending on budget, of course. Still, it’s a good reference to know the options that are money-wise.

So to give you a head start and save up on the research, here are some of the best and free work tools you can try out:

Hubspot CRM

This CRM software is rightful to be the first mention on this list. It is effortless to use and removes all the technical knowledge required from users. With its clean layout, you can quickly see who are the sales agents that won deals or not. You can also merge your emails and even create direct email templates to your list of customer contacts. If at one point you are already an expert with Hubspot, worry not for the software has added features. Explore all the different functions with this simple and reliable CRM tool.

JustReachOut.io

Being able to do PR for your own business is an efficient way of getting the message out there. But one of the things that can hinder this is the budgeting. Good thing JustReachOut.io is available around the corner. This tool leads you right to the writers, press people, online sites that you can reach out to for media presence, all without the hit on your buck. It even has a direct email platform where you can quickly draft that email for press and send it. Now that’s contacting press in a jiffy!

Zendesk

To keep a steady relationship with your customers, every concern must be adequately addressed. If you wish to set up a proper customer service platform, Zendesk is just around the corner. This customer management tool assists businesses to set up a ticketing system. It also has a customizable dashboard and tagging option that allows you to maximize your reports. Build up a better customer support with Zendesk’s helpful features.

SurveyMonkey

Most of the time you need to know what your customers are thinking. It is also important to gain their feedback for improvement. With SurveyMonkey, you will be able to build survey forms that can benefit your business. Create an online form quickly with its easy-to-use platform and get statistics for the feedback. Never miss out what the customer wants to say.

Moosend

Once you’ve started gaining customers and recording their contacts, it’s best to keep in touch once in a while. Send them marketing offers, ask them how did the product go. Communicate actively by using Moosend’s email marketing tool. Create impressive email templates, add your enticing offer, and let your customers click that action button. All these and more are yours to try with Moosend.

I now have the tools. What’s next?

Now we’ve already laid out the top five free business tools that every company can try out. The decision-making process might take some time though if you wish to try out all options. Still, this is the best way to make sure you end up with the right process tool. Just make sure once you have chosen, you remember to do the right things when using these systems. Some of these are the following:

• Putting enough customer details for follow up on your CRM tool.
• Recording the proper social media trackers with social software.
• Adding proper email signatures to your email marketing campaigns.
• Organizing the tasks and deals to ensure proper sales reports.
• Check the report charts and give credit to the right employees.

Remember that the primary goal of having a software is to see how your customer relationships are growing. It’s best not to forget to also check on the growth of your business and what might be missing. With the right work tool, you can quickly see where you’re headed or what needs to be changed. This is even a better avenue for you to connect not just with customers, but with your team too. So get back on your seat now and start trying out the best tool for your needs. Who knows, you might just end up with the right software in the next minutes, right?

Originally posted on November 16, 2017 @ 9:25 pm

In a world where technology and information flow all around us, we can’t help but understand the reality that we need to take advantage of these things. For it’s in using these that we can further improve our careers, processes, or whatever it may be. This fact applies to everyone, especially to medical professionals.

In this article, we’re going to tell you the best ways to market your medical services online. For sure, this will improve your professional reputation and make your income skyrocket!

Build your own website

Probably the best way to make your medical expertise known online is by making a website. It’ll be where you’re going to advertise your practice, experience, and services, as well as the information on how your potential patients can contact you.

Gone were the days when you have to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year just to maintain a site. Now, it’s just a piece of cake to make one.

Even a simple one such as this Boulder Sports Massage website opens your business up with more opportunities to generate more leads and sales!

All you need to have is a web developer, hosting service, and content writer. Or if you’re a jack-of-all-trades and you know how to do those, then great! You’ve got no excuses to have your own site.

Take “real” pictures

What we mean by this is that you shouldn’t rely on stock photos for your website or social media accounts. These make you feel generic and cheap.

To make your customers trust you more, it’s best if you take actual photos of your team. Take pictures of your office and clinic. It’s through this that you’ll give your patients a glimpse as to how effective your medical practice is.

Try email marketing

When it comes to customer retention, you need to make sure that you’re making constant contact with them. The best way to foster that patient-doctor relationship is by emailing them. Though there are a lot of ways to contact them, nothing beats the professional feel of emails. Notify your patients if they need a diagnosis or ask an update from them regarding their health.

Make use of Facebook

Facebook is now being used by 80% of Americans, and that statistic is growing by the day. With this, it makes perfect sense for you to create an official Facebook page for your medical services. Post high-quality photos updates on your services, and connect with people who might be potential patients.

You can also take a queue from David B. Reath MD’s Facebook page where he held a weekly quiz called “Truth-O-Meter” to engage with his fans. He posts a question every Tuesday and draws a winner who will be announced on his Youtube channel to receive awesome freebies.

Understand the importance of keywords

People type in certain keywords when they search for medical services online. Because of this, you want to make the content you post on your website or social media accounts to be “searchable” or rich in keywords.

Make a list of popular keywords such as your specialty, treatments offered, and the location of your clinic. You’ll surely appear at the top of Google’s search engine when you do this.

Advertise on Google

Google Ads is one of the best ways to advertise your medical service as it reaches a lot of potential patients. When people search for a doctor or something medically-related, your medical practice is most likely to appear on a site a person has opened. It’s a great way of advertising.

Advertise on Bing

Bing is the second largest search engine next to Google, so you might also want to advertise your medical services there. The same process applied to Google Ads. But what’s different here is that you’re doubling the coverage of the ads, thus also doubling the possible new patients you can get.

Originally posted on August 6, 2017 @ 9:37 pm