Business

How to write your own business contracts: 10 key elements

Everyone knows that the best practice in business is to put agreements in writing. But many small business owners don’t. In my experience, a combination of factors contributes to this error. Business people often don’t want to add a layer of expense to the business deal by involving “the lawyers.” In addition, business agreements are often urgent, and as a result, people often believe that they do not have time to consult an attorney. Here are ten elements of any good contract. Follow these steps and you can do it yourself.

1. Put it in writing

Verbal agreements are often legal and binding; however, they are generally more expensive and more difficult to enforce in court (in some situations, they cannot be enforced at all). Most agreements must be in writing. And this is where the problem begins. I have had clients who have used business agreement contracts in a second different situation with disastrous results. A written agreement is less risky than a verbal agreement, but only if you have a document that clearly spells out the rights and obligations of each party in the event of a disagreement. Using partnership agreements or vendor contracts online can be just as bad as reusing old agreements without carefully reviewing them. In one case, I represented a partner in a partnership dispute. The parties had purchased a partnership agreement online and the agreement specifically allowed individual partners to compete with the partnership. While that clause is contrary to common sense, neither party read the agreement and got it. Therefore, it was enforceable to the great surprise of one of the partners.

2. Keep your deal clear.

Contrary to what many lawyers think, it doesn’t take a lot of legal buzz to make a contract enforceable. Instead, what is required is short, clear sentences with a simple and logical heading system that provides the reader with a roadmap to what is in the paragraph. And yes, you can write your own contract if you put a little effort into it.. Just like you could change the oil in a modern car or work on your bathroom tiles. You have to weigh the cost on time for the benefit of hiring an attorney. An experienced attorney should be able to quote you a flat fee, up front with no obligation, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

3. Deal with the person you can hire on behalf of the company.

Don’t waste time negotiating a business deal with a minor who has to approve everything with someone above him (or her) in the business. If you’re not sure who has the authority to link a business, ask.

4. Describe the parts accurately.

Include the correct legal names of the parties to the contract. Clarify who is responsible for doing what.

5. Include the details in the written agreement.

The agreement must establish the rights and obligations of each party. Most attorneys include language in a contract that states that the written agreement is the entire agreement between the parties.

6. Specify the payment obligations.

Obviously, most contracts arise from agreements in which one party provides goods or services and the other countries provide them. Specify when payments must be made and the conditions for making them. If you are paying in installments or only when the work is completed to your satisfaction, say so and list the dates, times, and requirements. Consider including the payment method as well: check, cashier’s check, or credit card.

7. Agree on the circumstances that terminate the contract.

It makes sense to establish the circumstances under which the parties can terminate the contract. For example, if one party misses too many important deadlines, the other party should have the right to terminate the contract without being legally hooked for breaching (violating) the agreement.

8. Specify how disputes will be resolved and whether the winning party will receive attorneys’ fees and costs.

Write in your agreement what you and the other party will do if something goes wrong. I’m not a fan of refereeing. Particularly in California it is a very expensive proposition with retired judges acting as arbitrators demanding hefty fees. Many judges openly admit that they dropped out of court to earn more money as arbitrators. You also want to carefully consider whether the winning party in a legal dispute will receive attorneys’ fees and lawsuit costs, such as filing fees, deposition fees, and the like. This can be a good idea if you have to fight for a modest amount like $ 100,000.00 (I know, I know … Right now you’re thinking that I have an unusual idea of ​​modesty!) The reality is that without an attorney’s fee clause, you could have a victory in name only as arbitrations and trials are expensive. On the other hand, if you are more likely to breach the contract than the other, you may not want an attorney’s fee / cost clause.

9. Choose a state law that governs the contract.

If you and the other party are in different states, you should choose only one of your state’s laws to apply to the contract to avoid complicated legal disputes later, and I can’t think of any reason why you would agree to litigate under the laws. from a state other than California as I write this. In addition, you want to specify where you will mediate, arbitrate, or take legal action under the contract. This is an important thing to keep in mind when another party presents you with a contract. For example, if you want to become a franchisee and end up having a legal dispute, you may have to pursue it thousands of miles away based on state laws that differ greatly from California laws.

10. Keep it confidential.

Often times when one company hires another to perform a service, the other company will have access to confidential business information. Your agreement should contain mutual promises that each party will maintain the confidentiality of any business information it obtains during the performance of the contract. This clause is very different from a non-compete clause. California’s laws on non-compete clauses are unique and the subject of another post.

Relationship

Healthy smoothie recipes for a healthy lifestyle

Since committing to eating healthier with the Weight Watchers program, I’ve been looking for ways to get more vegetables, fruits, and fiber into my diet, and one of my favorite ways is with healthy shake recipes. Smoothies take a few minutes to prepare if you have the ingredients on hand and are a healthy, high-fiber snack that curbs my craving for something sweet (like when I crave a bowl of ice cream at night).

A simple fruit and soy milk shake is a great low-calorie snack that fits in well with the Weight Watchers program. If I have a shake instead of a meal like breakfast or lunch, I like to eat a serving of raw almonds along with it or sometimes I mix a scoop of whey protein powder into the shake. Not only is whey protein powder great for weight loss, it will also help you stay full until your next meal or snack. You can find whey protein powder in many supermarkets and drug stores near nutritional or weight loss products.

Blenders are fine for making smoothies, but I prefer to use a personal-size mixer. That way I won’t have to take out my big blender. There are several different personal size smoothie makers on the market that often come with a base and two cups of smoothie. They are especially nice because you always have one on hand in case the other is in the dishwasher.

Some recipes call for adding ice to your smoothie, but you won’t need ice if you have some frozen strawberries and blueberries on hand in the freezer. For bananas, be sure to slice them before freezing in freezer-safe containers.

Both healthy smoothie recipes serve one serving and are under 200 calories. Calories are approximate depending on the type of milk you use. If you add whey protein, the calories will come up to about 270 calories, depending on which brand you use (if you add whey protein, the shake recipe will go up to about 5 Weight Watchers points, which is a good low-point lunch).

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 frozen banana, cut into chunks

1 cup skim, soy, or almond milk

1 teaspoon of honey (optional)

1 scoop of whey protein (optional)

Combine ingredients in a blender or magic bullet and blend until smooth.

Serves 1

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 frozen banana cut into pieces

1 skim, soy, or almond milk

1 teaspoon of honey (optional)

1 scoop of whey protein (optional)

Combine ingredients in a blender or mixer and blend until smooth.

Serves 1

Gaming

The Power of Visual Content in Your Content Marketing Strategy

The pen may be more powerful than the sword, but the images are even more mighty than words!

Images excel in certain types of communication, but are not as effective for other types. Still, it’s important to understand which visual content works better than verbal content so that you can choose the best medium for your message.

Here are 3 secrets to help you unlock the power of visual images in your content marketing.

SECRET # 1: The human brain is designed to process images.

Leonardo da Vinci said: “All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.”

Humans have five main sensory pathways, but most people rely heavily on their visual sense. Scientists estimate that about 90% of the sensory information that enters our brain does so through our eyes!

It is estimated that 50% of all the resources of the human brain are dedicated to seeing and interpreting what we see. About 30% of our gray matter contains neurons for vision, compared to just 3% for hearing. Of all the nerves that connect to the brain, 40% of the nerves come from the retina of the eyes.

Obviously, our brains are set up to prioritize visual information over other types of sensory information. Vision is clearly the primary pathway for sensory information for most people.

The brain can process visual information 60,000 times faster than it does textual information. Additionally, researchers have found that visual aids can increase learning by up to 400% compared to teaching with verbal methods alone.

What is all this visual information that our brains are so busy processing? Much of it is processed by our subconscious brain and used for countless instant decisions to keep us safe.

SECRET # 2: Written content is not mainly visual.

The role of written content is often misunderstood; we think it is visual because we use our eyes to read. But reading is more correctly classified as a verbal task than a visual one.

Consider for a moment that not everyone uses their eyes to read. Visually impaired people can learn to read perfectly well by using Braille processed writing with their fingertips, not their eyes.

Reading is a unique task that involves multiple parts of the brain. But one thing is final: Reading is a high-level abstract reasoning skill. performed primarily by the conscious brain. Reading is a very different brain process from the subconscious visual information described above.

Although most people use their eyes to see a printed page or screen, that is not the most important part of the reading process. We must use the verbal processing part of our conscious (logical) brain to translate those lines and squiggles into thoughts and ideas.

The visual part of the reading task is useless in itself; the verbal part of the task determines the meaning of what we read. It is the coordination of those 2 brain functions that makes reading such a complex skill.

In short, it is more accurate to classify written text as verbal content than visual content, regardless of whether those written words appear in a book or on a PowerPoint slide or on a video screen. Sharing text written on the screen is verbal content, NOT visual!

SECRET # 3: Sharing visual content offers unique benefits.

Traditionally, we have assumed that pictorial information can be translated into words and vice versa, leading to expressions such as: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

But cognitive research has found that these two modes of representing knowledge are qualitatively different and the same information cannot be easily converted from one mode to another.

Dual code, or dual channel, learning theory states that humans use separate channels for mental processing of verbal and pictorial information.

Active learning requires both time and mental space to process information. Working memory, with its limited capacity, is where this active processing occurs and involves the integration of input from verbal and visual / pictorial channels.

When a student mentally integrates spoken or printed verbal information from one channel with visual / pictorial information from the other channel, this active processing achieves the most successful learning outcomes..

According to Walt Disney, “Of all our inventions for mass communication, images still speak the most universally understood language.”

Educational researchers have documented that we learn and remember better through images, not through written or spoken words.

Images are the language of the subconscious. Visual communication reaches the subconscious mind regardless of your clients and prospects, the specific medium, form or platform of exchange.

The images are concrete and are closer to reality. Our eyes and our brain perceive all parts of an object simultaneously as a whole. Rather, reading involves scanning different letters in a linear sequence to recognize individual letters as a word.

There is a whole category of information that is visually processed without some thought involved. Thesis “attributes of prior attention”like color, direction, and pattern, they can transmit a wealth of information visually at blazingly fast speeds – in 250 milliseconds!

An example would be the use of color to make certain elements of written content stand out from the rest. The effect is instantaneous! Preventive processing is one of the ways that our visual system can process far more inputs than all the other senses combined.

Much of the sensory information we process is completely subconscious and, as noted above, 90% of that information is visual. That subconscious flow of visual information forms an impression on the mind of your audience. This is extremely powerful and has been used by many politicians and world leaders, for better or for worse.

IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT that you haven’t been creating and sharing more visual content.

If our brains are optimized to handle visual information, why do so many people rely on a preponderance of text-based verbal information to convey their message to the intended audience?

The subconscious part of the brain is busy processing sensory input, while the conscious brain concentrates primarily on processing internal information. The conscious brain focuses on its own thoughts, using activities such as planning, abstract thinking, reasoning, and analysis. These thinking tasks are often completely independent of external sensory input.

While our subconscious brain processes all that sensory information, we are not aware of all that activity … because it is happening on a subconscious level. Most of us rarely think about what our subconscious brain is doing, much less how we could improve the efficiency of our brain by providing information in a more desirable format.

If we are not aware of these issues in relation to our own self mental processing, then it is not very likely that we will think about the same problems when communicating with others, as in the marketing messages that we deliver to our clients and prospects.

So my dear reader, you should be commended for understanding the importance of the knowledge in this article and for considering changing the way you deliver your educational marketing or content marketing, or even changing your communications in general.

Health Fitness

Six best tricks to lose weight

Like everything else in life, there are also certain tricks that can be very useful to lose weight in addition to your hard work and effort.

If you want to lose weight, you have probably tried many different things that may not produce the results you expected. Do not give up! In this article we give you some tips to lose weight, with almost immediate results.

The best tricks to lose weight

Have you been hungry and followed bland diets that guarantee you’ll lose weight but don’t live up to your expectations? If you do not want to deny yourself a good piece of cake but still know that you will have to lose a few kilos, then we recommend that you look at the following tips to lose weight.

1. Eat more often

Yes, you read that right. Your body needs to eat more often, but not all at once. In other words, eat more often, but reduce your portions. You will have to eat at least six times a day.

Keep in mind that your body burns calories by digesting your food. If your body receives less food than it burns, you will lose weight. This is one of the tricks to lose weight that not many people know, and the best thing is that you can avoid hunger.

2. Do cardiovascular exercises

You don’t need to go to the gym every day, lift weights, or run on the treadmill for two hours. There are many types of cardio that you can use to achieve your goals by training for just 15-20 minutes.

We are talking about high intensity interval training or Tabata here. These are two very effective routines that shorten the time you need to train, but still provide excellent results. They have almost no rest intervals and then you will break, but they are very practical.

3. Eat foods that burn fat

We are not talking about a wonderful diet here, because, as they say, no pain, no gain. However, it is a trick to lose weight that you can use to complement your usual diet.

On an empty stomach, eat certain foods that are known for their fat-burning properties, especially the fats that have accumulated around your stomach. This refers to (citrus) fruits such as the following:

  • lemon

  • pink grapefruit

  • pineapple

For example, you can combine them into a delicious smoothie, which you can drink in the morning!

4. Breakfast as emperor

You probably know the saying: “breakfast like an emperor, lunch like a king, and dinner like a beggar.” Metaphors aside, it’s certainly an excellent weight loss idea.

In the morning your body needs a lot of energy, since it has not eaten for hours (and therefore it has not received any fuel). In addition, it is the calories from breakfast that you burn the fastest, since you will exercise more than at night after dinner. If you eat too much at night and then go to bed, it all adds up.

Therefore, we recommend that you eat as much breakfast as possible, with naturally healthy foods such as the following:

  • juice or fresh fruit

  • skimmed milk

  • healthy proteins

  • healthy fats

  • whole grain cereals

5. Don’t deny yourself everything

One of the main reasons we sometimes fail to lose weight is because we stay away from the things we love too much. Then we binge and all our effort has been in vain.

If you are at a party, eat a small piece of cake. If you go out with friends, have a beer. If you like French fries in the restaurant, order a portion. This way you can better control your cravings and prevent overeating.

6. Drink lots of water

You have probably heard or read that you should drink at least two liters of water a day. This is not an arbitrary amount, it is exactly what the body needs to prevent dehydration and successfully fulfill all bodily functions.

In addition, water also has other advantages, such as the following:

  1. Water regulates body temperature.

  2. Releases waste and fat in the urine.

  3. Fill your stomach.

We often think we are hungry, while that feeling is actually thirsty. If it’s hot or if you exercise, be sure to drink three liters of water a day.

As you can see, these weight loss tricks are not at all difficult to pull off. All it takes is a little dedication, and this way you’ll see results before you know it!

Lifestyle Fashion

Jealousy and envy: differences and similarities

Jealousy and envy are often used interchangeably as if they have the same meaning or are synonymous. Of course, this is wrong, since jealousy is markedly different from envy.

Jealousy basically involves at least three parts, and in fact most of the time no more. Envy at its basic level involves only two parties or two entities. Here are the characteristics that differentiate jealousy from envy.

* Jealousy refers to someone who perceives a threat from a third party to a relationship in which they are involved with another party. There is the jealous partner, the loved partner, and the threatening party.

* Envy is basically wanting something that someone else has or not approving of someone having something.

* Jealousy is usually driven by fear and insecurity on the part of one of the members of a relationship.

* Envy is normally driven by greed, resentment, and greed.

* Jealousy tends to seek reassurance in safety and once this is addressed, the jealousy subsides or disappears.

* Envy can sometimes seek the fall or decline of another and is more focused on competing with a rival. In a sense, envy can produce a positive outcome for the person who is envious, as this can provide some motivation to achieve something that would probably not be achieved under different circumstances.

Obviously, there is a big difference between jealousy and envy, but there are also some similarities. One similarity is how each affects relationships. Both have the ability to damage relationships.

Jealousy, especially the intense kind, has the potential to separate partners and create a lot of suspicion and mistrust. In fact, these are some of these characteristics that form the basis of intense jealousy.

Envy can make relationships very strained and dysfunctional to the point where personal performance suffers. For example, in the workplace, where there can be a lot of envy of co-workers for things like promotions, promotions, and positions, this can affect employee morale and job performance.

Coping with envy and jealousy

There are differences and similarities between facing envy and facing jealousy. Both require a great deal of reflection on the origin of the problem or the emotions. However, while the person who is envious does not seek answers other than himself, the jealous person may have to associate with another party, that is, the loved one, to get to the bottom of what is causing the jealousy.

In either case, both require introspection on the part of the person harboring the feelings of jealousy or envy.