The world as we know it is currently going through a seismic shift. Many of us are learning to adapt to the new normal. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the country, the numbers clearly show many people are continuing to work entirely from home.
According to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report, in the month of May around 35.2% employed folk and an astounding 71.7% of U.S. workers – worked from home as compared to just 8.2% in February.
While some are staying home for safety and convenience others are required by their employer or the state or local government to remain at home. Many big companies are offering work-from-home option until the end of the year, there is a lot to be deciphered on a personal or a tax policy level.
In these confusing times, here are few practical tips on tax aspects of work from home
Understand The Legalities Of Your Employment Situation
During these times, the lines between an employees and freelancers are overlapping. Understand that you are not self-employed just because you are working from home. If you are receiving a paycheck from an employer and those earnings will be reported to you and to the Internal Revenue Service on a W-2, then clearly you are an employee.
Working from home is not the only criteria to make you an independent contractor receiving a1099. And while you certainly may receive a Form W-2 and a Form 1099 in the same tax year, you should not receive a Form W-2 and a Form 1099 for the same type of work from the same employer.
Primarily due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) for the tax years 2018 through 2025, you cannot deduct home office expenses if you are an employee. Notably, there is no hardship exemption or coronavirus waiver. In fact, the Act highlights that employees who work from home can no longer claim the home office deduction. The reason you are working from home does not matter to the IRS. But if you are self-employed you can continue to deduct qualifying home office expenses.
If You Cannot Deduct Expenses Then Find Out What You Can Take From The Office Instead
Certain office equipment can help you improve your productivity, so find out from your employer if you are allowed to take it home. The TCJA rules apply to all unreimbursed job expenses for employees, not just to your physical home office. If your employer doesn’t reimburse costs then whatever you spend out of your pocket are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. But if your employer has already spent the money to buy the office supplies or equipment for you, then simply relocating them to your house is a win- win for all.
Connect With A Tax Professional
It is not just the home office deduction that is creating confusion among those working from home. But another big dilemma facing employees who normally work in an office in one state but now live and work from another is additional tax-filing complications.
There is currently no national standard for the withholding, filing and payment of state income taxes for employees who work in more than one state or work in one state and live in another. That means you may have tax requirements where you typically work as well as where you live, it’s just a lot less stressful to hire a professional. But a piece of advice here, you should still be aware of the basic rules in your state to make sure you don’t get a horrid shock next April.
Keep Logging In Those Work Entries And Check Your With Holding
Maintain a record to keep track of your day by day working locations for tax reasons. Plus, keeping a log could keep you from becoming a victim to the habit of working seven days a week.
Also, find out how much is being with held by your employer for the state where you live (and now work) and whether that will be enough to avoid a tax bill. If you normally work exclusively from an office in another state, work from home might increase your home state liability for 2020. There’s a silver lining though, if your home state has a lower tax rate than the rate where your office is located then working at home for much of 2020 could actually save you taxes.
Be Mindful Of Security
It’s advisable to secure remote locations by using a virtual private network (VPN) to protect against cyber intruders. A VPN provides a secure, encrypted tunnel to transmit data via the internet between a remote user and the company network and are critical to protecting and securing internet connections.
Don’t Jump On The Self-Employed Bandwagon Just Yet
The loss of the home office deduction for employees has many taxpayers wondering whether it makes sense to quit their day jobs and become self-employed. That’s a purely personal decision, but the numbers still don’t support that kind of shift. What if you really are self-employed—meaning you get a 1099 and not aW-2. Then you would report the home office deduction on federal form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home, which is filed along with your Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Your Business, on your 1040
Create A Comfortable Home Office Space
Making practical and necessary expenses for your office space at work still makes sense. The TCJA did not change the home office expense rules for self-employed persons and independent contractors. Those expenses are deductible so long as they otherwise meet the home office deduction criteria. It is essential to create your workspace and make people around mindful about your work hours and that they shouldn’t be disturbing you during that time. For the self-employed with a home office deduction angle in mind, it’s mandatory to claim a federal income tax deduction for a home office so you must use a specific area of your home exclusively for your trade or business.
Set Working Hours And Make Human Connections When Possible
Many folks are working the same hours even if it’s a work from home scene. But it’s important to keep a tab on your working hours. Even if you work from home most of the year, it’s still important to create opportunities to meet up with colleagues and acquaintances, even if its only virtually. Keep a look out for online seminars and webinars in your arena. Socializing is healthy, and you can learn a lot from your fellow workers who are going through the same thing. Its imperative to compare notes while we all are learning each day as we go!
Choosing a hearing aid can sometimes be a hassle particularly because there are a lot of different models with various features which come in different styles. It is therefore important to have a proper knowledge on the
important features and elements that you must look for in a hearing aid.
Consulting with an ear specialist to carry out a proper ear evaluation to help you identify the cause of hearing loss and determine a solution is a good place to start when choosing a hearing aid, but having a certain amount of knowledge about how these aids work and their features
before your consultation would not hurt, this will aid you in identifying the elements that are best suited for you in terms of prices, quality, features making the process a lot easier.
The entire essence of obtaining a hearing aid is to enable you to hear better thereby improving your quality of life. Obtaining a hearing aid with just the right components will enable achieve this objective.
IMPORTANT FEATURES OF A HEARING AID:
1. Directional microphones: The directional microphones enables the hearing aid reduce noise in noisy environments. In more advanced hearing aids they usually come in pairs, one in front and one behind, while in other hearing aids they are controlled using a button on the hearing aid or a remote.
2. Digital noise reduction: The digital noise reduction is a major improvement in the modern day hearing aids. As the name implies, its function is to screen noise from the environment to ensure that hearing is
efficient and uninterrupted.
3. Telephone adaptation: Another important improvement of hearing aids is the fact that they are now adapted to detect phone signals and these sounds can be clearly heard with the hearing aids. This is made possible by the presence of the telecoil which picks up electromagnetic waves.
4. Wireless/Bluetooth connectivity: This is a new and improved technology that enables the hearing aid to receive from a blue tooth transmitter or a wireless device such as the cell phone, and laptop.
5. Automatic programming: This feature although commonly present in more advanced hearing aid has made the entire hearing aid experience more convenient. This technology consists of a program which studies your hearing environment, and makes automatic adjustments.
6. Remote controls: This is a very common feature of many hearing aids. Aids come with remote controls with which you can make adjustments and input programs easily.
Having stated earlier that there are different models and styles of hearing aids with variations in sizes, colours, and weight, these hearing aids are continuously being improved to increase the efficiency of these devices. You
must also consider:
1. Price: When it comes to purchasing a hearing aid you must not compromise but you also must consider the price you can afford. You need to evaluate the price and quality of hearing aid you wish to obtain to ensure it gives you the best hearing experience.
2. Proper fitting: You need to ensure that the hearing aids fit properly and securely. Some brands offer custom made hearing aids where you can order the hearing aid beforehand and it is made to replicate the shape of your ear. But there are others which are not custom made but would also provide proper fitting. It is important for a hearing aid to be very comfortable because it is worn for long hours of the day.
3. Additional accessories and applications: Hearing aids come with additional accessories and apps which help to make the experience a lot more convenient and helps you adapt easily. One popular accessory is the remote control. It also comes with applications and features which enables the aid to connect with other wireless devices. It’s important to ensure that these are available in the hearing aid of your choice.
4. Return policies: The return policy is important in situations where the hearing aid may not function as expected or may be uncomfortable. You must inquire about the return policy and warranty the brand you wish to obtain from has.
Now let us look at the various models available in the market and the unique elements which will aid you in deciding which is best suited for you.
1. Behind The Ear(BTE): This is the most common hearing aid available and its the best for mild to extreme ear loss. The hearing component is usually rested at the back of the ear.
2. Receiver In Canal(RIC): The RIC is smaller than the BTE because the receiver is usually inserted in the ear canal. It usually contains more features than many other styles but may be easily damaged by moisture and ear wax.
3. In-The-Ear: These types of ear aids are usually custom made and are fitted in the ear canal, the hearing components resting outside the ear. They
are usually available in colors that blend with the skin.
4. Invisible in the canal (IIC): These are the smallest type of hearing aids available and because of their sizes do not have manual controls. The IIC is placed deeply in the ear and are practically invisible. While these are very discreet, they are usually easily susceptible to moisture and ear wax damage.
5. Low profile hearing aids: These hearing aids usually come in larger sizes than other hearing aids making them easier to insert and remove, it also has more features. But it may become very uncomfortable because of its large size.
If you work within Ecommerce, listen up. You will know technology is everchanging and moving quickly. Some of these software providers have outgrown their niche and are now operating in saturated markets. Marketing platforms are in the thousands, but Monevert solves a specific problem that many retailers and brands are trying to solve; How can you lower your cost per acquisition, but increase online sales at the same time?
A quick way to do this, is to recover abandoned shopping carts on your site.
On average, 70% of customers that visit your site, and enter into a shopping cart will abandon it. These are customers that have shown a specific interest in purchasing from you, but for whatever reason, a doorbell, shipping costs, or your favourite show starts, you abandon it and close your screen.
Remarketing, now more than ever, is absolutely crucial for ecommerce retailers, maybe even more so than for any other type of online business or advertiser. If you’re not remarketing to people who came close to crossing the line, you’re effectively restricting yourself to having just one shot at getting visitors to convert, and that would be in a single session – an almost inconceivable feat in today’s multi-device and online environment.
Who Are Monevert
Based in the UK, Monevert is a humble tech start and marketing company with employees that are experts in their industries. They provide a fully managed service, which was great to hear.They can collaborate and advise on best practice for retargetingyour customers during the consultation and implementation phase.Imagine it as an outsourced specialist team, working hard to earn your business more revenue.
The software platform itself has been developed by their internal technical team. It is a multi-lingual marketing tool, specifically used to increase online sales by up to 30%, this is done through live data capture on your website, and then using Email and SMS messaging to bring customers back to their abandoned carts and compete their purchase.
Contact Us Now to See How We Can Add to Your Bottom Line
How Do They Retarget Your Customers?
Monevert is smart solution with many features that empower teams to create targeted, effective communications. The software integrates with leading Ecommerce platforms and their optimized funnels quickly kick into action upon a customer generating an online shopping cart.
Retailers’ target audience can vary widely to the point where a unified message would never work.By using Monevert’s powerful segmentation and playbook features, you are able to deliver more targeted messages to your prospective and current customers in order to drive more revenue and build a stronger brand connection with them.
Contact Us Now to See How We Can Add to Your Bottom Line
What Are The Key Features?
Data Capture
The tech team at Monevert have managed to create a software that captures data live when customers are entering key fields on their shopping cart. This can then be used almost immediately to retarget. Competitors can retarget via email if they have logged in but failing to offer a guest checkout option is one of the leading causes of shopping cart abandonment. Approximately 14% of online shoppers indicated that forcing them to log in to complete a purchase was sufficient reason for them to abandon the process, however Monevert can still retarget these customers.
Global SMS & Email Coverage
Their marketing is conducted via Email and SMS which is available globally. It integrates with SMS and email providers and the SMS rates are even included in their contract! All messages can be tailored and highly optimised with your products and brands in mind.
It’s Multilingual
Okay, so one of the things I think separates Monevert from any competitorin the market is the use of multilingual tech. All communications can be translated by their native speaking support team for your target audience. When a user visits your online store, they can detect the country and send communications in their own language. It’s proven to increase conversion and I’m unsure if there is any other solution that has this capability.
Bespoke Playbooks
This is where the product and service prove their worth. Intelligent segmenting means you can literally create hundreds of bespoke playbooks to fit everything from customer profile, order value and even specific product SKU codes.
Reporting
With their reporting and analytics module, merchants can assess which campaigns and playbooks are the most effective for your companies’ goals. Each communication carries performance metrics to enhance your customer’s experience and provide invaluable insights. Monevert provides these monthly and then can make suggestions on improvements based on the market and their experiences across the board.
Contact Us Now to See How We Can Add to Your Bottom Line
Who Whould Benefit From Using Monevert?
I would say that if you have an ecommerce store that is generating over £1m in revenue annually, it’s definitely worth speaking to them. On the assumption that your cart abandonment rate is the industry standard (70%), you could be losing out on £2.3m that left without buying. Monevert can recover upwards of 20%. There are many reasons customers abandon carts, but by using Monevert playbooks you can combat almost all of them.
If you are using WooCommerce, Shopify or Magento 2 it’s an added bonus as their software can plug and play almost immediately meaning carts can be recovered straight away.
Pro’s
1. Monevert has an inhouse team that take of everything
2. They can capture data faster than competitors
3. Their results are much higher than the industry standard
4. It’s completely bespoke so you can tailor communications and constantly improve
5. They integrate with leading ecommerce platforms so it’s easy to implement
6. The pricing model is commission based, so they work hard for you
Cons
1. It can be more expensive than off the shelf solutions like Klayvio or MailChimp
2. They currently integrate fully with WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento 2, but any others they would have to build an integration which may take time
3. As they design the playbooks, you have to dedicate some time to work with them and develop your email design and SMS templates
My Verdict
I like the fact it’s a manged service. Having someone who specialises in something is a great bonus rather than buying a plug-in or off the shelf solution. Their pricing is a CPA model, so they take a percentage of what they recover, this is good to hear as it means I feel they will work harder for an ecommerce business as it’s in their best interest.
When speaking to my connections in the Ecommerce sector and spoke about other players in the market, they were surprised at Monevert’s proven results, and the larger retailers were excited about the multilingual and global functionality.
Treat them as a consultancy that will make you a substantial return on investment and definitely increase revenue from day one.
Contact Us Now to See How We Can Add to Your Bottom Line
Client Testimonial
Med One Solution Ltd
Christian Tremmel -> Marketing Director
“We have been using the Monevert application since November 2019. When Monevert approached us, we were already using an abandon cart solution so we were skeptical that it would add much value to our business. We ran with it on a trial basis. We literally did not need to lift a finger other than install a plugin on our WordPress sites and add in our credentials. The Monevert team designed our Email, SMS and Call Center playbooks and integrated with their call center services. We have never looked back. We are averaging 17% conversion across 6 websites. With the previous marketing solution we were averaging 8% conversion. In financial terms that’s an extra 73K EUR of revenue per month compared to our previous solution. Overall we are averaging 143K EUR in additional revenue if there was no solution in place at all. The user interface could be a little more refined but our business manager is super responsive and always able to answer any questions we have. He is a pleasure to work with.”
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Motivational Quotes from Sven Platte – Founder and CEO of Digistore24, Serial IT Entrepreneur.
“When things are going bad there’s going to be some good that comes from it.” – Jocko Willink
With a third of the world’s population indoors, it is a tough period for businesses, schools, marketers, and people in general. Many describe the current situation by saying “The world is currently on pause.” While this is true to an extent, it is also important to note that this pandemic is a catalyst for social change. The world is going through a massive disruption.
As a digital marketer, this is the time to fine-tune your message. Your approach to business should be better than ever. This is the time to readjust.
Free from school, work, and daily routines, people are now more present online. There are more online conversations, more posts, more engagements, more content, and generally, more buzz. People are on the look for what will keep them engaged. They need that creative content. As a digital marketer, there are more demands in your market and you need to stay on top of the situation.
However, the period is very sensitive, you need to be careful about how you execute your digital marketing campaigns. Since January, Google had been “broadly blocking” ads with mentions of COVID-19 in a bid to protect users. Google intended to prevent people from capitalizing on short-term events such as natural disasters. It was recently that Google began to allow mentions of COVID-19 in ads. Still, ads are being thoroughly monitored.
Here are ways to execute your digital marketing strategies during COVID-19:
Engage With a Supportive Tone
This is a trying time for everybody. Through your email marketing or any other channel that you employ, let your audience know that your brand is with them in this. This is a time when more emails will be opened. Start off with encouragement and a show of support.
In a bid to support, you can give discounts and coupons on products. This is a period when a lot of brands are giving discounts as a show of support. Vogue has offered three months free access to all its digital titles as a means of supporting people indoors.
This may not bring high ROI now, but it holds the promise of a high ROI as you’re getting customers hooked on your brand. After the pandemic, your products will be a part of their lives they can’t just throw away.
Take Advantage of the Current Social Media Buzz
With a lot of businesses down, the costs of some social media ads have reduced. You can take advantage of this to spread your brand’s message because the internet doesn’t quarantine.
The engagement level on social is high at the moment, execute your digital marketing through these platforms. TikTok has been noted to be the social media platform of the future. It is currently experiencing a very high engagement level amongst the young demographic. You can create short and interesting videos that can pass your brand’s message across.
Utilizing interactive marketing will be useful at the moment. You can create a challenge where customers can win items by posting pictures and generating likes and comments. This will increase your social media presence while providing engagement for customers.
Create Engaging Content
The pandemic is instilling fear and boredom in people. They are looking for what will take their minds off the worries. This is an opportunity for you to plug in.
This is the time when your content has to be more interesting. Put in more work to get people hooked. Content is king at the moment. However, people are still critical of uninteresting content.
See which channels are proper for your brand and tailor your content to fit within these channels. Be consistent with the content and leverage on the lower cost of social media ads.
According to the Socialbakers’ State of Social Media Report, there is a lower demand for paid ads on Facebook and there is an increased performance of organic content. It reports that Facebook CPC has decreased. For brands overall, Facebook CPC is down to $0.089.
If you have some budget for social media, you can make use of this opportunity.
Pay Attention to Evolving Customer Behavior
Panic is a major factor at the moment. It is influencing purchase decisions and consumer choices. With a lot of factors in the minds of consumers, their behavior may not be easily predictable. This is why you need to pay attention to every trend.
Elderly persons have been noted to be more susceptible to the virus. Young people are getting out of jobs. School kids are out of school and grounded indoors. These different groups are reacting differently as their concerns are different. Pay attention to these reactions.
Knowing how your customers think will help you create campaigns that are well suited to them. It may take some effort to fine-tune the buyer persona, but you need to get this right.
Focus on Excellent Customer Service
This is when your customer service needs to be topnotch. A lot of people are on the edge and they could come off as being irritable. Your customer support staff has to understand this. It is time to develop some emotional resilience.
There shouldn’t be a reduction in your approach to customer service. Your business should move as if it is not affected. People need to know that everything is not totally down yet. Your brand may be facing some difficulties, still keep a strong resolve with your audience.
Being able to strongly navigate the troubled waters will help your brand stand out and also help you build a loyal customer base.
Don’t keep your customers on the line for long. Answer their questions in the comment sections on social media as soon as possible. Provide information to inquires with a comforting and assuring tone.
Avoid Appearing as Profiting From the situation
You need to make profits to pay your staff and keep your digital marketing campaigns on. Nevertheless, don’t make it obvious. This a period where a lot of consumers are going through financial issues. The panic of running out of essentials is everywhere. Thus, the atmosphere is highly sensitive.
A lot of digital marketing moves are being made to prevent people from profiting from the situation. Thus, any indication of profiteering may affect your campaigns negatively.
Many tech companies have rolled out new features to identify and screen content about COVID-19 and gauge the content’s level of severity. They want to ensure that the information that gets passed around is a very important one. One recently announced is that by adtech firm MediaMath.
Thus, your digital marketing strategy should be supportive and indicative of the problem your product solves.
Final words…
The world is on the internet at the moment and everyone is looking for engagement. As a digital marketer, it falls on you to provide this engagement. Brands who are strong at this point have the opportunity of building a loyal customer base they can rely upon after the pandemic.
Express your support and produce creative content. Build a strong brand voice with excellent customer service. Take advantage of the low cost of ads and run campaigns. Even if your product is one that cannot be enjoyed now, like flights or vacations, design your strategy to make consumers feel like they can start planning the future today.
These are tough times we are living through, something we could never have imagined. To ease the burden and pain, here is a collection of inspirational quotes that you will love. There are a ton of great quotes out there that could have easily been in this list – it would take forever to get every single potentially inspirational quote on one page – however. If you have any quotes you would have added, feel free to share in the comments section!
“You will truly never be good enough for anyone else if you are not good enough for yourself first.”
“The mind is everything. What you think, you become.”
“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and think of what could go right.”
“A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.”
“Be someone’s strength. Be someone’s inspiration. Be someone’s reason to never give up.”
“No one can determine your value except you. Stop focusing on self-limiting beliefs. Embrace your self-worth.”
“When you know your worth, no one can make you feel worthless.”
“Quit hanging on to the handrails. Let go. Surrender. Go for the ride of your life. Do it every day.”
“Life isn’t about having what you want, it’s about wanting what you already have. Be grateful!”
“Instead of wishing you were someone else, be proud of who you are. You never know who was looking at you wishing they were you.”
“Quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait.”
“Life’s struggles are necessary for growth.”
“Struggles not only make us into stronger, better and wiser people, they also let us learn more about ourselves and our purpose in life.”
“Don’t fill life with struggles—fill life with joy. A flower always struggles to survive, but it never forgets to bloom with joy.”
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”
“Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
“We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.”
Motivational quotes from Francis Wolff, CEO Digistore24 US
“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Motivational quotes from Anna Gita – CEO of Maxweb
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind”