Career

Unless you operate as an online selling business, counting money is integral to every business. It is vital to have a skilled cashier to make sure no mistakes occur. However, that does not mean not hiring beginners.

Proper training is inevitable if your new cashier is inexperienced or you do not have a cashier at the moment. Here’s how to count money as a cashier without making any mistakes.

Understanding the Need for Training

Counting cash comes naturally to all of us. Yet, keeping a cash drawer for a business is different from counting money in your pocket. You must tell your employees why they need to be trained before managing huge amounts of cash. The need for human interference does not go away even when you have cash registers and counters. Learning to count money as a cashier will come to the rescue in case of a power failure. It also allows easy rechecking of money count.

Verifying Registers

The first step in training new employees is training them to verify the drawer balance. Do not forget to tell them to verify the balance before starting their shifts. It is better to do the verification process under the supervision of a manager or a supervisor. It will help reduce the chances of mistakes when they add money to this account. The cashier must know that they are responsible for the cash drawer. No other employee except the manager can access the cash register beside them. Counting the cash in the cash register is critical before you add more money to it.

Making Change

Many people might think that it’s an easy job to make a change. However, you may not be aware that major blunders often happen in giving change to the customers. Most customers usually do not pay the exact amount. Instead, they would pay a round-off figure, and you have to give them their change.

Train your employees to make changes for the customers correctly. The best way is to use the count-up method. It involves adding the amount to the total purchases, bringing it to the amount paid by the customer. The cashier takes the amount of cash from the customer and sets it on the register. Next, they count up to obtain the nearest round figure, then to the total paid by the customer. For example, a customer pays you $100 for a $76.60 product. You firstly add coins to make it $80 and then add bills to make it $100. It is an easy method of counting money with fewer chances of error.

Counting Back

While the chances of mistakes are less with the count-up method, they are still possible. The next step is to count the money again while giving the money back to the customer. You may also count it verbally and place each piece of currency in the customer’s hand gradually.

Balancing the Drawer

Just like verifying the balance at the beginning of the shift, the cashier has to balance the drawer before winding the shift. The cashier must count the total amount in the register and non-cash (ATM card/ Credit card) transactions. The ending balance should be accurate according to the opening balance and daily transactions. All the data must be added to a spreadsheet or other computer software.

Train for Cash Devices

Training your cashiers to use cash devices saves their time and allows rechecking the amounts. You may add a cash counter or coin and note recycler to count money as a cashier error-free. It is a vital addition for efficient cash counting.

How to Count Money Fast?

The ability to count money fast is one of the essential skills for a cashier. No one wants to stay in the line for a long time. Your cashier should count money fast without errors to avoid damage to the company. Here are a few tricks to count money faster:

• Firstly organize your denominations into different groups.
• Then make reasonable stacks if you have a particular amount to work with.
• Improve your speed by practicing in your spare time. 
• Always double-check the counted money before you are sure you are a pro.
• Use a money counting machine when you are low on time. You may also use it to recheck the amount after counting.

What to do When Someone Asks for Change?

You may sometimes come across situations when people come to ask for change for a particular bill. The best approach is to ask them about their needs and use your techniques to count money as a cashier. Lay it down on top of the cash drawer and count the change in bills as required. Hand over the cash to the customer, verbally counting it to them. If it’s a large amount, it’s better to give some bigger bills and a few smaller ones.

Methew Harbor

Matthew is a Co-Founder at BusinessFinanceArticles.org. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. He lost his job after the pandemic and took initiative to make a team and start the project.

Today, most companies hire candidates who specialize in a particular field. This allows the organization to put that person to the best use for the company’s progress. Job specialization is not a new concept. People have always been working in their field of expertise. However, now companies invest in grooming and specializing the employees to the fullest in a particular area.

Though job specialization helps organizations to grow, there are various advantages and disadvantages of job specialization. We have put them together in this article to help make the right decision.

Let’s have a look at them.

What is Job Specialization?

Monash defines job specialization as the process of focusing one’s occupational concentration on a specific area of expertise.

Job specialization refers to improving your expertise and skills in a particular domain. It allows the employees to become masters of their craft and provides more skilled workers to the company. Specialized employees working in a department can handle tasks more efficiently and conveniently than others.

Job specialization requires training and experience. Though, the workers become adept at their tasks eventually. It reduces the period of resolving a complicated task and gives you a mastered force. Whereas, sometimes, the work can be monotonous and tiring for the workers. The pros and cons of job specialization are as follows.

Advantages of Job Specialization

Boosts Productivity

One of the most significant advantages of job specialization is improved productivity. Dividing the jobs between workers according to their specialization allows them to work fast. A professional understanding a particular subject in detail can find a better way of performing the task than others.

For example, an unspecialized person will need to research the problem from scratch to find a solution. On the other hand, a specialized person already understands the issue. It enables them to solve the problem steadily.

Lesser Risks

When a person performs the same task repeatedly for an extended period, they are less likely to make mistakes. They may also assess risks beforehand to avoid loss of resources. One example of this advantage of job specialization is someone who manages accounts. Someone who has taken education in finance and has been working in the department for years would be better at it. Conversely, a person with a degree in marketing might not be the best fit for the job.

Saves Time

Doing something every day makes employees good at their job, and they take less time to perform the function. At the same time, the non-specialized workforce will take more time to understand the task and act accordingly. That is why companies invest in workshops to improve the skills of their workers. They help improve production in less time.

Less Supervision Need

When a set of experienced experts in the same domain work together, the company trusts them more. They do not require extensive direction and supervision. Choosing the right person for the right task through job specialization gives them the liberty to work independently.

Reduced Costs

Lesser risks and improved productivity eventually reduce the cost. It helps minimize wastage and diminishes the costs of covering mistakes. Job specialization helps you in the long run by recruiting the right people for the task that proves beneficial for the company.

While specialization proves favorable to the organization, both the advantages and disadvantages of job specialization are crucial. Let’s talk about the disadvantages of job specialization.

Disadvantages of Job Specialization

Monotony

Performing the same tasks every day can become monotonous, and the workers might feel drained. While job specialization improves productivity, sometimes monotony may decrease it. Tedious work for a long period tires mentally and physically.

Dependency

When employees of a particular department are adept at one kind of job only, they are more dependent on others. They cannot sort out other issues that do not fall in your domain. Thus, some tasks may face a delay in the absence of workers with a different specialty.

Inflexibility

Specialized professionals are also inflexible and may not sometimes prove beneficial for a company. Let’s say that a company focuses on job specialization. They might face difficulties when they have to cut down the number of employees as specialized employees cannot fit well in other departments.

Less Job Satisfaction

The same environment and tasks regularly can be quite boring. The workers may sometimes need a break from their daily tasks, or it can lead to less job dissatisfaction. If they continue to work for a long time without a break, they might think about shifting to another job.

Isolation

Employees in an office like a harmonious environment and interact with other people. Sometimes, specialized jobs restrict you to an area away from other workers and disconnect from the rest of the process. Isolation also causes an increase in frustration among employees.

Increases Cost

Job dissatisfaction may lead to a higher turnover rate, increasing the demand for more recruitments. When recruiting specialized persons, you may also have to pay them higher for their expertise. Moreover, arranging interactive activities for isolated employees adds to the organizational budget.

The Bottom Line

Job specialization is being widely adopted in organizations to have the experts on board. However, the advantages and disadvantages of job specialization go hand in hand. While it improves productivity, it may also tire the workers mentally and physically. On the one hand, it reduces the need for supervision. On the other hand, job specialization may isolate some of the employees. It often reduces costs owing to enhanced production. Yet, it may sometimes increase the costs of recruitment.

Methew Harbor

Matthew is a Co-Founder at BusinessFinanceArticles.org. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. He lost his job after the pandemic and took initiative to make a team and start the project.

Today, many people find it difficult to depend solely on their salary to meet their personal and family needs. With the current cost of living, relying on only one source of income makes you feel like you’re not making any headway.

Aside from that, you may have debts to pay, and a percentage of what you earn is deducted to cater for those loans. For that reason, you’d want to bring in some extra income by starting an online side hustle.

Having a profitable side hustle can assure you of financial security and eliminate the constant fear of job loss. With a bit of creativity and commitment, you’re sure to have additional cash to supplement your current budget. That said, have a look at some of the tips to get started:

1. Choose A Suitable Online Hustle

For starters, there’s a long list of online side hustles and you need to pick one that suits your line of interest. Have time for self-reflection to establish your outstanding skills or even a hobby. 

For instance, if you like reviewing products, you can spend your free time filling out online paid surveys. Luckily, it’s not difficult to get one since you only need to register and have a profile and portfolio on a reliable platform. Afterward, the operators contact you the moment they find a survey that suits your profile.

Here are some of the benefits of doing paid surveys as a side hustle:

• They’re entirely free to take part.
• You can work from the comfort of your home.
• They pay very well.
• You have a choice of selecting the type of surveys you prefer.
• Your opinions count since businesses take them into consideration.

2. Determine Your Start-up Capital

All online hustles have a start-up cost. Thus, it’s wise to draft your budget early enough to get ample time to build up enough savings.

That said, here’s a list of items and expenses to include in your budget:

• Data or reliable Wi-Fi for internet connection
• Accounting software for bookkeeping
• A smartphone and laptop
• Office equipment, if needed
• Advertising costs
• A payroll structure if you require workers to assist you with your hustle

To be safe, try to cut your costs to conserve your starting capital as you grow. For more insight, consider seeking advice from friends running similar gigs. Alternatively, you can get ideas by listening to podcasts, attending online events, and visiting reliable professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn.

2. Plan Your Schedule

Most workers are under pressure in their workplace and might find it challenging to manage a side gig. However, it’d not make sense to have a side hustle that you can’t make time for. Aside from your daily job routine, you have to keep in mind that you have other commitments to attend to.

For that reason, consider having a to-do list and allocate your non-working time to each task. Having such a healthy schedule helps you plan ahead of time and balance the workload. Nevertheless, you’ll prevent unnecessary burnout if you make time for self-care.

4. Know Your Trade

Understanding your market is your best chance of achieving customer satisfaction. People have different tastes and preferences, which is one of the primary things that drives them to settle for a particular item or service. Clearly, you can’t sell a commodity without first finding out your customers’ likes and dislikes. 

For instance, suppose your online side hustle involves website development. Your potential clients typically have some features they want to be integrated into their online platforms. Be sure you know exactly what your client wants before you accept the job.

Besides, if you go ahead and fail to meet their specifications, this might cost you an important client. In addition, you’ll receive negative reviews, which is very bad for business. Therefore, make a point of learning more about your trade to improve your service. 

On top of that, you should communicate constantly and make relevant inquiries to help you identify if something is missing and what needs improvement. This way, you can address your current shortcomings and establish a long-term relationship.

5. Set Practical Goals

Every business person must work hard to attain their daily or weekly objectives. Starting an online side hustle requires commitment for you to earn some extra money aside from your full-time job. Therefore, you should generate a reasonable amount of revenue to cater to your expenses and, at the same time, earn considerable profit. 

For a start, don’t put too much pressure on yourself by targeting a figure so high that you can’t hit it. On the other hand, don’t aim at making a small profit because it may not be feasible in the long run. In other words, you should be smart in setting your goals. 

Aside from the cash aspect, you also need to set goals regarding your work output. For instance, if you’re into proofreading, you can have a work goal of two articles a day. If you stick to your plan, you’ll make handsome profits with time.

7. Make Time For Training

Depending on the nature of the online hustle you intend to take, you may have to consider some formal training to acquire the requisite knowledge.

For instance, if you want to offer online bookkeeping services for clients, you must have a basic knowledge of using accounting software like QuickBooks. Therefore, you can consider enrolling in relevant courses if you’re dealing with such technical side hustle.

Remember, it isn’t mandatory to go for paid courses. Right now, there are dozens of free online tutorials you can take advantage of. This helps you get equipped with relevant skills, experience, and wide-ranging content about your particular industry.

But if your choice of side hustle is a bit complex and there are no free tutorials, make a point of attending a comprehensive online course to get the best training. With a good background and a willingness to grasp new content, you’ll undoubtedly experience quick results.

7. Decide Where To Work From

Online side hustle comes in two categories. You can opt for a passive income remote gig or choose one that offers an active income. The good thing about having a side gig that generates passive income is that it only requires a few hours of your time.

Most people do it for fun and generate some income out of it. On that note, if you prefer this, you shouldn’t be worked up about setting up a workstation. For instance, bloggers, YouTubers, and Instagram influencers can work from the comfort of their homes.

However, online jobs that generate active income are very demanding and might require you to hire a team of professional workers. For this reason, you’ll need to have an office setting to manage your operations effectively. They include:

• An E-commerce store
• Animation and video making
• Web designing

8. Market Yourself

Marketing is an essential aspect of the business world. If you can’t reach your target audience, you may not do any meaningful business. Since you’re dealing with online activities, you’d want to use online marketing to promote your gig. This way, customers can easily find you and consider your product or service.

Below is a breakdown of ways to market your online hustle:

• Create a website.
• Embark on search engine optimization (SEO) for readers to quickly find your site on search engine results pages.
• Post your product or service on popular social media channels.
• Develop a good portfolio.
• Request your current clients for reviews and referrals.
• Start a blog.

9. Differentiate Yourself

Competition is unavoidable in the business world. Indeed, you’re not the only provider of a product or service in the market. You’ll be positioning your online hustle against a pool of established competitors in the industry.

Nevertheless, most of these players will make a move to try to outmatch your performance. This is common as most existing businesses view entry into the market as a threat. On the other hand, customers always demand the best, and you’ll need to give them a reason to choose your services.

Therefore, to avoid such market frustrations, make a point of having a competitive advantage. Make sure you’re excellent at what you do to provide something unique and outstanding. Here’s an outline of some of the differentiating factors:

• Pricing Strategy: Charge reasonable prices depending on your market evaluation. Also, don’t reject low-priced contracts because they initially help you get experience.
• Remarkable Customer Service: Keep your customers coming back by fully satisfying their needs.

10. Prepare For A Challenging Opening Period

Successful businesses don’t take a month or two to build from scratch. The owners most likely invest their resources and time in laying a good foundation. In that regard, it’d be good to be emotionally prepared for such challenges initially.

An online hustle has its share of challenges, especially at the initial stages. Problems are meant to be solved, and like any other businessperson, you need to step up to the task and find a way out of it. You have no reason to quit the moment things take a rough turn.

However, it might take a while before you get your first contract or the right traffic for your channel.  Consider consulting the experts in your field or using the internet to help you find the answers.

Furthermore, be patient enough and give your hustle a growth period for consistent long-term performance. This could potentially be your full-time job in the future.

Conclusion

An online side hustle could be the solution to your limited budget. This is a stepping stone to being your own boss, gaining additional experience, and achieving ultimate financial freedom.

Getting started on one shouldn’t be a complicated process. Make sure to take into consideration the above tips and others to have your online side gig up and running. Besides, make a point of selecting a side hustle that matches your interests and skills.

Ifama

Hi! This is Ifama. I am a student and giving my services in SEO. I have a lot of experience in digital marketing. Travelling is my hobby and I love visiting different hilly areas and doing adventures.

Do you want to secure your dream job easily? Then it’s worth knowing what to expect from your job interview. The interview is your opportunity to sell yourself to your prospective employer. Furthermore, asides from your qualification, your performance at the job interview is a major determinant of whether you’re getting the job or not.

So many questions will be thrown at you, which might get you befuddled. Imagine being asked: do you want to tell us anything else about you? That’s a simple question, but one that can make you lose balance. In this article, we will be considering 5 common questions that you should expect at an interview and how to answer them well.

5 interview questions and how to answer them

1.    What makes you want to work for us?

When an employer or an interviewer throws this question at you, they want to know what your motivations for the job are. They use this question to fish out candidates with bogus motives who are just looking to experiment with the job. The best way to answer this question is by shifting your focus from what you want to what your employer needs.

When answering this question, mention something unique about them that caught your interest. It makes your interviewer believe that you have an idea of what you want to do – a bonus point for you. Don’t talk about your last employer, last job, or your salary benefits. Lastly, never sound like you’re desperate for the job, no matter what.

2.    Tell me more about yourself?

This isn’t just any question to ramble about your childhood, parents, family, or educational background. You should expect this question as one of the first questions from your interviewer. Discuss some fun facts and advertise some good sides of your personality. It makes the interviewer more interested in you and the interview more interesting.

When asked this question, the experiences you should share should relate directly to the job. Share some key things, such as what motivates you; you can talk about a favorite hobby, some experiences that have shaped your career preference, and the likes. Make sure you sound as simple as possible, don’t talk too much.

3.    Why did you leave your last job?

This is one of the points where many people blow it at an interview and may end up losing the job. The interviewer wants to know why you left your past job and want to work with them. Try to sound as honest as possible. Share the circumstances and the shortcomings that led to your quitting your last job.

Whatever you share, sound positive. Don’t paint your last employer in dark colors. Give direct responses and keep your responses as factual as they can be. Make them believe that you got over your experience and your enthusiasm about the future.

4.    How do you respond to stress and pressure?

The interviewer wants to know how you respond to workplace stress. How do you handle difficult situations and occasions when things don’t go as planned? How do you cope in high-stress situations? Be honest with your response, and make sure you don’t sell yourself short while being honest.

Don’t claim to have never experienced stress or that you hardly encounter stressful situations. Instead, make your answer show that you acknowledge the stress that can come with jobs and some past experiences. You can share how you have used stressful conditions to your advantage.

5.    What are your views about your salary?

This has been a pitfall for many. You don’t want to sell yourself too cheap, and you don’t want to make yourself overpriced for the job. Such questions like this can be very difficult to come up with a good answer to. They might not ask you how much you got paid in your last job, but you’re most likely to be asked your salary expectations.

You can help yourself through this by researching before going for the interview. It will help you to use some salary calculators online. They’ll suggest reasonable salary ranges that best fit your job title, skills, experience, employer, and location.

Conclusion

Job interviews are not all about just going to explain the content of your CV as most people think. It gives you a chance to speak better than your CV. Make sure you give direct and honest answers. Don’t talk too much or too little.

More importantly, always keep a smile. It makes the interview more fun and may earn you your interviewer’s fondness. Make your interviewer believe you don’t want just any job but theirs, but don’t sound too desperate for the job.

Ayesha Saeed

Ayesha completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and started her career as a College Lecturer in 2013. Today, she’s a happy mom of 2 Kids in the field of digital marketing. She loves reading books, spending time with her family, and making delicious food for her husband.

Like millions of other hard-working Americans who’ve been toiling in the workforce for decades, you’re probably looking forward to that day you turn 62 and can finally retire. You’re not just retiring from your long-time job, mind you, but from the exhausting rat race. Now you can relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can travel!

But despite the best intentions, too many people were so busy working and raising families that they forgot to save enough money for retirement. When this happens, you’re usually looking at two choices. Either stay at your old job (until they politely ask you to leave) or find another job altogether. While neither of these options feels appealing to you, there is one fully legitimate financial option for making up for a less than stellar retirement account.

It’s called a reverse mortgage. If you’ve owned your family home for decades and have religiously paid your monthly mortgage payments, a reverse mortgage will allow you to tap into all that equity you’ve been building up for years.

You can take your proceeds in one lump sum, or you can take monthly disbursements. The best part is you never need to pay another mortgage payment again. You can see how much you’ll be able to qualify for by using a reverse mortgage calculator: https://reverse.mortgage/calculator.

But what if you haven’t lived in your home for very long or have been living in an apartment? While getting another full or part-time job outside the home is a non-starter, you might want to take a look at freelance writing.

It turns out that many retired people who have a knack for putting words, sentences, and paragraphs together are not only turning to freelance writing as a part-time and even full-time gig, they are making good money from it. What’s more, they can do it from anywhere in the world. 

If you’ve been dreaming of becoming a freelance writer, your retirement years could be the perfect time to begin. If you happen to be new to freelance life, however, you might have a whole bunch of questions about how professional writing works. Here are the top 5 questions you need to ask yourself before you type your first word. 

Am I a Good Enough Writer?

Whether or not you are a good enough writer to get paid for your words is the most “common question” newbie freelance writers ask. The answer is said to lie in improvement. In other words, as long as you are willing to learn and improve your craft, there’s no reason why you can’t expect to be a professional.

Even Hemingway (a one-time freelance reporter) wasn’t born a great writer, and neither were you. You just have to be willing to learn.

What Kinds of Jobs Should I go After?

You should plan on writing whatever you like. That said, if you’re new to the writing game, you might want to stick to topics you’re knowledgeable about. If you were a construction project manager in a previous career, you might want to write about building and design topics for a while.

Sooner than later, you will want to learn how to write about new topics. Eventually, you should possess the talent to write about anything, no matter how dull. The trick is making a mundane object, such as a teabag, appear interesting with your words.

How Often Will I Be Writing?

If you plan on being a serious writer in retirement, you can expect to write every day. Full stop. Writing is a craft that must be learned. You only get better with practice. Even if you haven’t been handed an assignment, you should be developing your own story ideas.

The best idea is to get up in the morning, sit down at your laptop with a cup of coffee, and “put in the word count.” 

How do I get Noticed?

When you’re a newbie, you will all too often feel that nobody is giving your work a chance, much less paying attention to it. But there are online tools out there to help you gain much-needed visibility.

For instance, you can start a WordPress blog or a Medium account and write free content on a daily basis. After a time, your work will be good enough that you will gain a decent-sized following. You can share your content via social media links like Facebook and Twitter.

But keep in mind, you’re in this to make money. That means writing for free will eventually become just one of the tools in your freelance writer’s toolbox for marketing yourself and your writing.

Set up a profile and take advantage of online platforms like LinkedIn to show off your talents and land paying gigs. If you’re planning on writing fiction, you can take advantage of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Platform. You can even make a lot of money writing erotica if you so choose. Which begs the question.

How Much Money Will I Make?

In a word, it depends. A few factors come into play such as how much experience you have, the kind of writing you are doing, plus the amount of time (and energy) you’re willing to put into it.

Experts say that when you’re just starting out, you will want to consider freelance writing as a way to supplement your retirement account. However, as you progress and get more experience under your belt, you will begin to see lucrative paydays. This is especially true if you expand your talents to writing journalism, nonfiction, and fiction.

You might make small amounts with each publication, but by the end of the month, those small amounts add up to a very nice payday. What’s more, you can write from any destination in the world, be it a sandy beach in Tulum, or at a coffeehouse in Istanbul. 

Jason Obrien

Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.

Do you work at home and you just don’t know how to organize your day? Do you love working in pajamas and getting up at whatever time you want, eating whenever you are hungry, and staying awake with the help of coffee or caffeine pills?

We don’t know a lot about the effects of working at home because the work model “home office” has only become slightly more popular in the last few years. For decades, the individuals working in an office among us have gotten up between 6 and 7, started work between 8 and 9, and finished their day between 4 and 5. We have breakfast at home, lunch at the office, and dinner at home with our families. What happens if all of a sudden we are obliged to work from home and provide buy research papers online? Great, most of us think, my dream has become reality; this is what I always wanted.

But be careful, what seems like paradise might soon turn into a nightmare. Suddenly you don’t have to set your alarm clock anymore, you determine your working hours and it feels like you have all day to start working.

Dress Appropriately

Get out of your pajamas and dress appropriately, just as if you were to leave to go to the office. The first couple of days or even weeks it might be a great feeling wearing your PJs or a sweatsuit while working but you are setting yourself a trap. Pretty soon you will forget to brush your hair, stop wearing makeup or forget to shave and just run around in the same clothing day and night. It sounds absurd but it will happen if you don’t control your habits.

Set Yourself Fixed Working Hours

Don’t start working at a different time every day. You can make exceptions but these kinds of exceptions should not become the rule. You will lose your rhythm and be more stressed than before. Why more stressed? Well, think about it this way. Our body gets used to getting up at a certain time so if you get up at 9 am on one day and at 2 pm on the other day, your body will become confused.

Apart from that, our body will neither be able to produce sufficient amounts of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is stimulated by outdoor light and is significantly responsible for our health and well-being nor will it be capable of synthesizing enough melatonin, a hormone that is produced at night through which you become inactive and tired. These two hormones have a great influence on our mood and energy levels and if their production and hence our day-night cycle is disrupted or changed frequently, the risk for feeling depressive symptoms rises.

Don’t Forget Your Social Life

When you work at home, you will be communicating non-stop by email, through social networks, via Skype, or other instant-messaging tools. Don’t forget to pick up the phone to talk to your friends and colleagues. It can become unbearable if you don’t hear a human voice all day long and the beeping noises of your instant messaging tools will soon haunt you in your sleep.

Spend Time Outside

Spend at least 30 minutes outside in daylight. Don’t lock yourself inside and make your computer become your best friend. The world is happening outside and sunlight should be your best friend. Sunlight stimulates the production of serotonin and thus leads to happiness. 2 hours a day is the dosage required for your body to produce sufficient amounts of serotonin to get you through the winter. In the winter, when there is a lack of sunlight, your body produces less serotonin which is why many people feel depressive symptoms in the winter. So don’t forget to spend some quality time outside.

Avoid Artificial Light at Night

Try to avoid using your computer at night. The artificial light will hinder your body’s production of melatonin and will disrupt your sleeping and waking cycle. According to scientific studies, using artificial light at night, such as by watching television, writing narrative essays, and using the computer can lead to depression, and all of that is because you are confusing your sleeping hormone. If you are receiving work late at night and if you are not pushed by a strict deadline, leave your job until the next day. You will feel energized by new serotonin being produced, triggered by sunlight, and you will be more concentrated, deliver better results and work more efficiently.

Remain Physically Active

Don’t forget to remain physically active. Physical activities will have several benefits for freelancers. As freelancers, we are often condemned to sitting in front of our screens all day long. This makes it more difficult to manage our weight and our health. It also reduces the risks of high blood pressure by boosting high-density lipoprotein and decreasing unhealthy triglycerides. Your blood is able to move more smoothly and the risk of cardiovascular diseases can be lowered. And here we come across serotonin again. There is a connection between serotonin and physical activities. For one thing, exercise increases the rate and frequency at which serotonin is synthesized and produced. Secondly, the level of tryptophan which is an amino acid that produces serotonin is increased. Practice your favorite outdoor sports or just put on your rollerblades and skate around a bit while you recharge your batteries and stock up on serotonin.

Watch Your Nutrition

Eat healthy, regularly, and at fixed times during the day. Most of all, pay attention to the kinds of foods you eat. There are certain kinds of foods that trigger the production of serotonin such as foods high in B-vitamins (eggs, brown rice, chicken, corn, green leaves, legumes, peas, sunflower seeds, and nuts), calcium (green leaves, almonds, and cruciferous vegetables, fish with bones, tofu, and sesame seeds), magnesium (green leaves, brown rice, sesame seeds, shrimp, salmon) and tryptophan (turkey, peanuts, soy foods, almonds). The Omega 3’s are fatty acids necessary for serotonin production. These can be found in fish oils such as mackerel, salmon, sardine, and tuna. Omega 6’s is equally important. These are contained in chicken, eggs, sunflower oil, and turkey.

Reduce Your Stress

Reduce your stress. There may be different stimulators. If you experience stress on a long-term basis, your serotonin levels will be depleted and you will find yourself with a lack of the “happiness”-hormone. Stress on a short-term basis actually increases serotonin but if this happens too much, you risk experiencing burn-out syndrome and it will be extremely difficult for your body to produce sufficient serotonin levels. Try to listen to relaxing music. It will soothe your mind, calm your nerves and take your mind off of troubling thoughts.

When your mind starts relaxing, this relaxation will go over to other parts of the body. It was found that a continuous rhythm of 60 BPM has a relaxing effect on your body as your heart rate will harmonize with the music’s rhythm.

Avoid Stimulants

Don’t take stimulants because they reduce your serotonin levels significantly. Avoid coffee or pills containing caffeine, refined carbohydrates, chocolate with a high quantity of sugar (dark chocolate was discovered to have positive effects on your heart), alcohol, drugs cigarettes, or any other form of tobacco.

Try following this advice and you will see your serotonin levels soaring up. Your mood will change for the better and you will have energy in ways never seen before. Teach your co-workers and supervisors the importance of organizing their day working from home and the magic of serotonin and they will soon become much more pleasant to work with too.

Methew Harbor

Matthew is a Co-Founder at BusinessFinanceArticles.org. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. He lost his job after the pandemic and took initiative to make a team and start the project.

More often than not, most careers are geared towards a specific direction. Job seeking, company selection and the overall work environment that one chooses are correlated in one way or the other to the career path you choose.

While making money is crucial to being able to afford daily essential amenities, another aspect of choosing a career path is driven by our overall desire to be in that particular field. So, what drives your career path and how have your goals influenced the choices you make in relation to the same? If you are curious, keep reading to know more and get tips on how to re-evaluate your career goals.

Understand What Makes You Happy

Of course, we are not saying that loving money is bad. The main goal here is to understand what has driven your career so far. If you have been chasing money in your career path, then that is what has fuelled your decisions.

When it comes to offering solutions, it means that you are not only open to giving the services you are equipped with, but you are giving yourself a chance to learn. Call it passion! It fuels you every desire to be better in the field. For instance, if you handle throttling ball valves in the production section, you’ll want to learn how to minimize the costs while increasing the quality and durability of the output.

Alternatively, you may be placed in charge of servicing the food packaging machine in the firm, you will ensure that you give a special touch to each accessible element and ensure that it functions better. Or maybe you have been given an opportunity to work for medium voltage switchgear manufacturers, your desire to offer solutions will open the willingness to go the extra mile without being pushed into anything.

Point is, while it’s good to ensure that you get a good “thank you” for your services when you do it with the desire to offer more solutions, you are able to achieve your career goals faster.

Look into the Growth Spectrum

Goals re-evaluation is not just about taking up a pen and changing your previously written ones. When you re-evaluate your career goals, you look at the attributes and aspects that put you in that particular goal and weigh both the privileges and outcomes.

Looking into the growth spectrum is an essential way to know whether you are heading towards the right outcome or you are simply moving with the flow.

If you check and find that you are not getting the growth that you expected, you can easily change your plan and see if you get a better outcome.

Moreover, the goals that you made at the beginning of the year or your career path will change along the way as you navigate the industry and gain more experience. So, as part of your re-evaluation, cancel out goals that you have already accomplished so that you can pave the way to new ones.

Have a Good Breakdown Strategy

Making goals, quite easy! Achieving them is another story altogether. In the re-evaluation, the point, as mentioned earlier, is to know which goals will be achievable in the short-term and long term.

This is where a good breakdown strategy comes in handy. Whether short-term or long-term, you need a way to discern which ones will be achievable in a simpler way and which ones are going to need much more time and a sophisticated plan.

When you are able to critically elaborate what each goal means to your accomplishments and what each plan needs to be accomplished, you need to go ahead and get a good strategy to break each one. This helps to make the accomplishment easier and small celebrations after each accomplishment can go a long way for you.

The breakdown also helps you to understand more where your motivation lies.

Have a Now and Future Comparison

Career goals re-evaluation need to give a better view of what you want in the long run. Now, have a current and future analysis of the goals you have presently. What do the now and future reflect? Is the barrier big or small? What does all this mean to you? Does the future look promising with the prevalent conditions or are your goals unattainable in a way?

Being honest with yourself saves you from frustrations and avoidable stress.

The Bottom Line

We can never tell you to choose between money and offering solutions in creating your career goals. We can, however, advise you to follow what makes you happy, it gives you a balance of both. Keep in mind that skills and knowledge have a better futuristic return. Good luck!

Ayesha Saeed

Ayesha completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and started her career as a College Lecturer in 2013. Today, she’s a happy mom of 2 Kids in the field of digital marketing. She loves reading books, spending time with her family, and making delicious food for her husband.