Author: Jeff Cassman

Square Payroll Review – What Makes Square Payroll Great and Where Square Payroll Falls Short

Square has been a leader in digital payment services for years, helping online and brick-and-mortar businesses collect payments, access funds, and create rewarding loyalty programs. 

Square Payroll provides convenient payroll and tax services, adding to Square’s all-in-one merchant-focused solution. Small businesses, especially, can benefit from using a payroll service like Square Payroll to pay their teams, deduct taxes, review sales, and more. 

Learn how Square Payroll can ease payroll management for your team.

Square brand logo.Square brand logo.

Square Payroll Compared

Square Payroll did not make our top list of online payroll services. Our top pick, Gusto, is an excellent alternative to Square Payroll for most businesses, including new companies without a dedicated payroll team. Try Gusto free for 30 days.

  • Gusto — Best for dispersed workforces
  • Paychex — Best for experienced payroll teams
  • OnPay — Best for simplifying all things payroll
  • QuickBooksPayroll — Best for solopreneurs and small teams
  • ADP — Best for never outgrowing your payroll provider

Read more about the best online payroll services.

About Square Payroll

Although Square Payroll didn’t make our top list for online payroll services, it still offers plenty for small businesses. The company helps small business owners without payroll experience pay employees and contractors, track paid time off, and withhold multistate taxes.

Square Payroll also combines other key employee management services, like time tracking, invoicing, workers’ compensation, and benefits package management. Business owners can choose between contractor-only plans or plans covering payments for contractors and employees.

Square Payroll Health and Stability

Although Square was founded back in 2009, Square Payroll is a more recent offering from the digital commerce…

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The Personality Trait Linked To Low IQ Scores

One trait is linked to a worse score in intelligence tests.

People with unstable emotions tend to get lower scores on IQ tests, studies find.

This may, though, be down to nervousness while taking the test.

In fact, people who are neurotic may have higher IQs than the standard test reveals.

Neuroticism, one of the five major personality traits, encompasses unstable emotions, anxiety, self-consciousness and irritability.

People who are higher in neuroticism may also sleep poorly, the study’s authors explain:

“High scorers tend to be sensitive, emotional, worrying, moody, frequently depressed, often sleep badly and may suffer from various psychosomatic disorders.

Low scorers tend to be secure, hardy and generally relaxed even under stressful conditions.”

The conclusions come from two studies, the first of which was conducted on 646 Dutch twins.

The results showed that people higher in neuroticism got lower scores on an IQ test.

The link is down to genetics, the researchers concluded.

However, a second study gave IQ tests to 213 people and split them into two groups depending on how anxious they were.

The results of this study showed that the more nervous people were, the lower their IQ scores.

By statistically removing the effects of anxiety, though, the researchers were able to show that highly neurotic people are just as intelligent.

The authors conclude:

“Neurotics become more anxious under testing conditions, and this anxiety affects their performance on the IQ tests.

It is therefore proposed that Neuroticism is not related to intelligence per se, but to intelligence test performance, which has been proposed in the past (Eysenck, 1971).

This suggestion implies that IQ tests may underestimate the true intelligence of Neurotic individuals.”

The studies were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Bartels et al., 2012; Moutafi et al., 2006).

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5 Digital Marketing Options for Your Business

Now that online marketing is the dominant way to advertise one’s business, it’s important to learn about digital marketing channels. All businesses should consider using the internet to promote their business. Here is how you can decide what digital marketing channels are best for your business.

Awareness

Before you research digital marketing channels, you need to be aware of the ins and outs of your brand. This means understanding how your businesses relate to certain means of advertising styles. Depending on the type of business, certain types of digital marketing channels may not make sense to use. Here are 5 digital marketing options that you can consider using in your business.

1. Social Media Marketing

Practically every business can benefit from social media marketing. Realistically, more people pay attention to social media advertisements than other means of marketing. This is because many advertisements on these platforms are promoted in a style to mimic normal content.

This then tricks one’s mind into interacting with the post/content source more often. Some common social media websites include: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube.

Whether it be videos, pictures, and other content, it’s important to regularly post on social media to capitalize on this type of digital marketing channel. 

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Become a Certified Social Media Specialist and learn the newest strategies (by social platform) to draw organic traffic to your social media sites.

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2. Websites

Building a nicely constructed website for business operations is one of the most necessary parts of advertising. Websites are the center of information that people use to gain information on your company. Your website allows you to generate traffic from all sorts of places online.

Social media, SEO, direct traffic, and email marketing can all be used to direct customers to your website. When you have a website, consumers can be better informed and confident in your brand. “Ensure that you list all relevant resources on the website.

This will satisfy those looking into supporting your brand,” informs Dee Stephenson, marketing blogger at Write My X and 1day2write.

3. Email Marketing

This type of digital marketing channel can be redundant, but is quite effective. While getting a boring old email won’t excite anyone, businesses can still utilize email marketing. Emails are the perfect way to create channels online.

Essentially, email marketing allows you to direct a customer to a plethora of channels. These other channels include social media, deal adverts, a website homepage and more. There are endless possibilities when it comes to email marketing. You can also get someone in your company to send out personalized messages to clients or customers to gain loyalty.

Emailing marketing is a wonderful way to push out advertisements and connect with consumers.

4. SEO

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a…

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Oasis PEO Review – What Makes Oasis PEO Great and Where Oasis PEO Falls Short

Outsourcing payroll or using multiple software to manage human resources isn’t always enough to efficiently handle all your administrative tasks. That’s where PEO (professional employer organization) service providers come in. In the past few years, outsourcing several managerial and administrative functions to trusted PEOs has become quite common.

Oasis PEO is one of the many excellent PEO service providers available in the market today. It has a service-focused approach and provides various services like risk management, payroll, technology benefits, employee solutions, and much more.

Paychex brand logoPaychex brand logo

Oasis PEO Compared

Oasis PEO made our top list for several reasons. While it’s a great option, the best PEO service provider for most readers is Resourcing Edge because it provides customized solutions to clients. Moreover, it offers advanced technology and a single point of contact. Find out how you can empower your business with a free consultation with Resourcing Edge.

  • Resourcing Edge — Best fully customized PEO services
  • Paychex Oasis — Best industry-specific PEO solutions for startups
  • Amplify PEO — Best HR technology suite with PEO services
  • Insperity — Best support for small businesses with simple health plan needs
  • Paychex — Best for outsourcing payroll and tax compliance
  • ADP TotalSource — Best 401(k) plans for midsize organizations
  • Justworks — Best for businesses hiring at scale
  • PapayaGlobal — Best global PEO company
  • VensureHR — Best for businesses with less than 50 employees
  • TriNet — Best health benefit options for SMBs

You can read the in-depth analysis of these platforms here. 

About Oasis PEO

Oasis PEO offers a range of professional employee organization services…

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Episode 1927 Scott Adams PART2: Are We Headed Toward The Most Entertaining Election Outcome? Maybe Yes

Episode 1927 Scott Adams PART2: Are We Headed Toward The Most Entertaining Election Outcome? Maybe Yes

Content:

  • A conversation with your AI aged self
  • Busted with 20,000 Fentanyl pills
  • WEF’s government penetration
  • Elon Musk vs Senator Ed Markey
  • Dave Chappelle on SNL
  • Checking if you voted
  • If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Social Media Lead Generation: How to Gain More Customers Online

Image sourced from Startup Bonsai

You already know how powerful social media and social media platforms are. After all, there are billions of people using them, around 4.59 billion in 2022 and that number is expected to grow to 5.85 billion by 2027. That’s the majority of the world’s population within reach of any and all of your marketing efforts. 

Your customers read your social media posts, and they also read posts and reviews that discuss your brand and your products. But how do you turn those connections into actual leads? How do you use social media as an efficient lead generation tool? We look at some tips so you can maximize the leads that come to you from social media platforms. 

Is social media important to your business? 

Image sourced from Smart Insights

The simple answer to that is ‘yes’. Even a small B2B business might look to LinkedIn to connect with existing customers and to generate leads. A bigger organization would probably be using a multi-channel approach and focusing on the platforms where most of their demographic targets would be found. 

In fact, there are very few businesses who don’t recognize the importance of social media and use it to connect with people. There are many benefits from using social media, from developing your brand to carrying out market research. But what you really want to achieve when setting goals for marketing is more customers, more sales, and of course, more profit. 

Social media leads are when potential customers either contact you via social media or provide contact details that indicate they want you to provide them with more info and to contact them. Which platform can supply the best leads will depend on your business type and model, but the most popular tend to be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

You can even use an Instagram hashtag generator to extend your reach on social media.

8 tips to increasing your leads and customers via social media

So, you know the power of social media graphics and you have already identified which platforms best suit you and are likely to provide genuine leads that your sales and marketing staff can nurture and guide through your sales funnel. How do you ensure that your social media efforts are at the top of their game and attracting as many new customers as possible?

1. Create great (and clickable) content 

 Free to use image sourced from Pixabay 

Your content needs to be compelling and engaging and it needs to stand out from your competitors. If people find your content engaging, then it’s more likely they…

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30 Delightful Inconveniences for Thanksgiving

30 Delightful Inconveniences for Thanksgiving – Leadership Freak {const n=e.match(d);return!(!n||!new RegExp(n[1],n[2]).test(navigator.userAgent))||navigator.userAgent.includes(e)})))return;e.g.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,(()=>{const e=document.getElementById(“amp-mobile-version-switcher”);if(!e)return;e.hidden=!1;const n=e.querySelector(“a[href]”);n&&n.addEventListener(“click”,(()=>{sessionStorage.removeItem(a)}))}));const g=o&&[“paired-browsing-non-amp”,”paired-browsing-amp”].includes(window.name);if(sessionStorage.getItem(a)||r||g)return;const m=new URL(location.href),h=new URL(t);h.hash=m.hash,m.searchParams.has(s)&&i===m.searchParams.get(s)?sessionStorage.setItem(a,”1″):h.href!==m.href&&(window.stop(),location.replace(h.href))}({“ampUrl”:”https://leadershipfreak.blog/2022/11/24/30-random-delightful-inconveniences/?amp=1″,”noampQueryVarName”:”noamp”,”noampQueryVarValue”:”mobile”,”disabledStorageKey”:”amp_mobile_redirect_disabled”,”mobileUserAgents”:[“Mobile”,”Android”,”Silk/”,”Kindle”,”BlackBerry”,”Opera Mini”,”Opera Mobi”],”regexRegex”:”^\/((?:.|n)+)\/([i]*)$”,”isCustomizePreview”:false,”isAmpDevMode”:false})}(); ]]>

30 Delightful Inconveniences for Thanksgiving

ThanksgivingThanksgiving
  1. Struggling to find my glasses in a dark bedroom.
  2. Choosing the right pillow so I won’t have a crick in my neck when I get up.
  3. Wrapping up in the Minky Couture blanket my wife gave me for Christmas a few years back. I wouldn’t need it if it was warm outside.
  4. Waiting for coffee.
  5. Choosing between vanilla or chocolate.
  6. Trying to figure out if you want a single or double Bourbon Bacon Burger at Wendy’s.
  7. Construction vehicles.
  8. Taking medicine.
  9. An internet outage.
  10. Tripping over toys.
  11. Making room at the table.
  12. Eating too much.
  13. Needing to lose weight.
  14. Needing a favor from a friend.
  15. Hearing the same story about grandma’s first date with grandpa.
  16. Hiding sappy-movie-tears. I cry when I watch coffee commercials during the holidays.
  17. An electric bill.
  18. Taking the car for service.
  19. Turning on the heated seats in my wife’s car.
  20. Complaining that my no-frills Toyota Pickup doesn’t have a hood scoop.
  21. Waiting for a new Lazy Boy recliner to be manufactured and delivered. The salesperson winked when he said, “They tell me 6 to 8 weeks.”
  22. Saying, “We’re trying to simplify our lives.”
  23. Selling stuff you don’t want anymore.
  24. Friends. Sometimes I brag, “I’m my own favorite company.” But that’s only half true.
  25. Not liking things about the people who are close to you.
  26. An old person who needs someone to talk to.
  27. A young person who thinks you’re too old to know anything.
  28. An old person who asks a young person to explain technology.
  29. The morning sun glaring on my laptop screen while I’m wrapped up in your Minky Couture.
  30. Unwrapping from my blanky to refresh my coffee.

Happy Thanksgiving

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How to Sell Your Landscaping Business in 6 Simple Steps

Want to sell your landscaping business? Use the services of the best business broker, Business Exits, to sell it without a hassle. Sell your business in only 180 days and get the best deal.

Selling a landscaping business is no easy feat. If you are an existing business owner and want to sell your company, consider taking the services of a business broker to make the process efficient and quick. Hiring a business broker also ensures you have the best possible experience throughout the transaction and don’t risk running into legal pitfalls.  

Moreover, busy entrepreneurs in the landscaping industry have no time to manage the intricacies of selling their company. Therefore, investing in a business broker can help save time and money. Business brokers work all the details, like business negotiations and valuations, ensuring confidentiality and guaranteeing that all standards are followed during the sale.

Quicksprout.com - How to sell your landscaping business in 6 simple steps.Quicksprout.com - How to sell your landscaping business in 6 simple steps.

The 7 Best Business Brokers for Selling Your Landscaping Business

Our team has extensively researched the best business brokers available in the market and came up with the top seven options. See our in-depth reviews to see which suits your company’s needs best.

Sell Your Landscaping Business in 6 Easy Steps 

With an experienced and reliable business broker, it’s never been easier to sell your landscaping business at a reasonable price within a limited time frame. Here’s how: 

  1. Evaluate your landscaping business
  2. Choose the right time to sell
  3. Identify the ideal buyers and interested stakeholders
  4. Prepare your landscaping business for sale
  5. Market your selling strategy
  6. Negotiate the deal and accept an appropriate offer

I…

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Episode 1928 Scott Adams: It’s A Super Newsy Day So Today’s Show Will Be Extraordinary. Join Us!

Episode 1928 Scott Adams: It’s A Super Newsy Day So Today’s Show Will Be Extraordinary. Join Us!

Content:

  • Kari Lake lost to the person counting the votes?
  • Accept the result, question the credibility
  • FTX loop?
  • People who could stop Trump from running
  • Fentanyl war options
  • If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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How (and Why) Include Your Whole Company in Digital Marketing

Have you been looking for ways to breathe a new life into your marketing strategy?

Have you been desperately trying to get your marketing strategy to deliver better results?

Here’s what you need to do: Get help from your whole company.

Why involve non-marketing employees into your marketing activities?

Depending on how this marketing collaboration is going to work for you, you are likely to discover many more ways it benefts your company. In my experience, it’s always these three:

Identify internal talent

When it comes to digital marketing, organizations tend to look for skills and talents from outside. This makes sense because those new hires bring their experience, so there’s no training required.

But think about this: Your current employees know your product best. Many of them have direct experience talking to your clients. Including them into your marketing means working with people who can relate to your client best, people who care because they love your company.

If there’s one thing in digital marketing that can win over big budgets, that’s customer centricity. If you want your promotion to work, focus on your customers. And no one can do that better than those people who genuinely care about your customers.

Motivate your team

Feeling included can do wonders to your employees’ morale. In fact, being able to exchange ideas, work on projects and see results will probably motivate your employees like nothing else.

Motivation fosters inspiration and creativity, and those will boost the performance of your digital campaigns, provided you are going to be open to (often crazy) ideas and experiments.

Get fresh insight: Foster trust and innovation

When it comes to new ideas and experimentation, those are key in our marketing industry because nothing is actually evolving at such a fast pace as digital marketing does.

Social media platforms come and go, yesterday’s popular SEO tasks can get your site in trouble today, there are new tools popping up monthly, and their old trusted tools losing relevance.

Digital marketing landscape fuctuates and unless you keep bringing in new tactics and technology, your today’s tactics may stop working tomorrow and you will have nothing to replace them.

New ideas are born in collaboration, and that’s how your digital marketing strategy will keep innovating.

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How to involve your employees in marketing activities?

When it comes to involving more people into any project, there’s always one problem to resolve: Time.

Your employees’ time is being paid by you, and once they start spending that paid time elsewhere, this is an additional expense.

On top of that, all people are different. Some…

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