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pantherangel-blog1 · 4 years

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Best home security systems of 2020

Our top picks for the best home security gadgets have had a significant purge since a year ago. We've seen such a large number of organizations update their hardware or include new shrewd home highlights that we needed to investigate the security gadgets out there.

SimpliSafe

SimpliSafe is a perfectly created home security stage, including a jar formed base station, incorporated alarm, and a large number of supporting sensors accessible to spread around your home. They're intended to distinguish development in the home, section from entryways and windows, just as floods and flames. The "simpli" some portion of the system? It's snappy and simple to introduce and a snap to extend, with a far reaching scope of sensors, discretionary security cameras, and even day in and day out proficient observing. Outfitting and incapacitating the system is simple for the entire family, with a battery-controlled keypad and key dandy plan. The best part is that gratitude to an organization with plan masters IDEO, SimpliSafe is one of the slinkiest security bundles around.

Simplisafe keeps on getting stronger, more brilliant, and increasingly secure, updating their equipment and including new items like the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro and SimpliSafe Smart Lock for your front entryway, supporting HD video observing and two-path talk in addition to remote bolting and customized PIN codes for advantageous access. The two gadgets reinforce a previously convincing keen home security stage. Energetically prescribed.

Vivint Smart Home

Pros

First rate gear

Huge amounts of brilliant home gadgets

Simple portable control

Cons

Forceful way to-entryway deals (call)

Costly gear

Why we picked Vivint

Vivint is the top notch parlor of our best home security systems list. It makes top of the line hardware, it offers a lot of savvy home gadgets, and it's on top of things with regards to imaginative highlights.

You know your neighbor who consistently has the best in class of everything? No doubt, they have a Vivint system.

Vivint Smart Home plans and valuing

Plans Price Mobile application access Smart home support Learn more

Savvy Security $29.99/mo. Yes No View Plans

Savvy Home $39.99/mo. Yes Yes View Plans

Savvy Home + Video $44.99/mo. Yes Yes View Plans

Information compelling 12/6/2019. Offers subject to change.

Top of the line hardware

For all its extravagant new tech, Vivint is a truly customary security supplier. It offers just expert establishment and its hardware isn't some lightweight keypad you pull out of a crate. Vivint's control board and sensors are durable, and once they're in your home, it's going to remain there for a little while.

Apologies, leaseholders; on the off chance that you move a ton, at that point Vivint probably won't be the most effortless decision for you, yet there are some overly convenient security alternatives out there. In any case, on the off chance that you need a home security highlight that will stay, Vivint's a simple pick.

Savvy home joining

On the off chance that you need to control everything—from your lights to your indoor regulator and your carport entryway—all from your telephone, at that point Vivint's keen home mixes will work well for you.

Vivint lets you mechanize nearly anything you need to. You can even mood killer your hair curler from your telephone with one of Vivint's brilliant outlets. Additionally, Vivint's systems work with Amazon Alexa and Nest, so you don't need to dump your preferred shrewd indoor regulator.

The drawback: expensive gear

The primary drawback with Vivint is cost. Less its month to month designs—those are comparable to different organizations—yet Vivint doesn't offer a huge amount of gear limits. Also, in the event that you need to back your sensors and hardware, you'll need to sign a 3-or 5-year contract.

Get ready to dish out about $600 for a starter pack of Vivint gear (or be eager to back that cost after some time). On the off chance that you'd lean toward an organization that offers hardware limits on the reg, look down to look at Frontpoint, Abode, SimpliSafe, and Protect America.

ADT Home Security Systems

Dependable systems upheld by remarkable assistance. It's no big surprise ADT is an easily recognized name with 7 million clients and tallying. At the point when you're prepared for the serious weapons in home security, you go with ADT.

ADT is an outstanding easily recognized name, yet what makes it a standout amongst other home security systems? It's the administration and accessibility, alongside the unwavering quality it gives. There are numerous places for observing ADT cautions everywhere throughout the nation, so the possibility of a blackout is exceptionally low. There's additionally 140 years of experience backing the organization, so you realize it has been around sufficiently long to realize how to furnish clients with what they need and need. Telephone and email support are given on a day in and day out premise, and it's conceivable to get an establishment finished around the same time. You can likewise expect $500 off your protection deductible in the event that you get broken into while you have ADT observing introduced. Here's a speedy outline of their advantages and disadvantages:

PROS

Aggressive Monthly Rate

Remote or Hardwired

Cell and Landline Connections

Indoor Cameras

Gadgets Work at Home and Away

Home Automation

ADT 6 Month Money-Back Guarantee (certain limitations apply)

CONS

Long haul Contract

Specialist Visits Your Home

Client care Varies

ADT is customarily only somewhat more costly than different choices, however a great many people who have the system can hope to pay somewhere in the range of $29 and $60, contingent upon what plan and hardware they pick, alongside some different components. In any case, that doesn't mean it's awful worth, on the grounds that the organization has a ton to offer. For example, the actuation charge is as meager as $25. That can help individuals who truly need an ADT observing system to get what they're searching for without burning up all available resources.

You can control your carport entryway, lights, locks, and all the more directly through your mobile phone. There's no migration choice on the off chance that you have to move, so ADT works best for built up property holders who will be at a similar area for a more drawn out timeframe. The establishment idea of ADT can likewise imply that you'll discover a to some degree conflicting degree of client care and backing relying on where you are based, and that can be disappointing when you are accustomed to accepting great help, yet move elsewhere, and unexpectedly have poor assistance. In general, however, most ADT establishments are awesome with clients, and are focused on giving a significant level of value and incentive for everybody who contracts with them.

As the country's most well known supplier, it certainly makes the rundown of our best home security organizations, yet it is anything but an ideal answer for everybody. Remember that all individuals are extraordinary, and what's ideal for one probably won't be the best for another. In light of that, purchasers love ADT generally.

Verges Home Security

Best for a huge determination of sensors with home robotization, alongside a DIY choice

Verges Home Security Pros and Cons: With Brinks, you'll get gear that costs not as much as that offered by some different organizations, alongside a respectable home security firm that has an entrenched system of observing focuses.

A significant differentiation among Brinks and different organizations is that Brinks doesn't really send a counselor to your home. This can be masterminded by means of a nearby approved vendor, however no doubt the organization will have a telephone meeting with you to figure out which hardware you need and whether you can introduce it yourself. As per Zwirn, this isn't the best methodology. "The most significant thing is ensuring the system is sufficient with regards to nature," he says. "Attempting to do that on the telephone is second rate compared to someone that turns out and studies the site. They ask the clients what they need as opposed to revealing to them dependent on a security review and a procedure. The client at that point settles on a choice that is visually impaired."

In any case, on the off chance that you feel great with doing the exploration and anticipating your own, and afterward having an expert land at your home just because to introduce the hardware, at that point Brinks could be the correct decision for you.

Edges Home Security Costs

Base Price: When you pursue the $29 per month Brinks Home Complete arrangement, you'll pay $499 for a starter pack that incorporates one control board, three entryway/window sensors and one movement indicator. On the off chance that you pick the $599 Brinks Home Complete With Video plan for $39 per month, Brinks includes an indoor camera and a video doorbell. The two plans incorporate proficient observing. Edges says that its approved sellers may charge various costs for different bundles.

Edges utilizes hardware from Alarm.com, a significant provider to a few organizations, as opposed to its own exclusive gear. Be that as it may, some security specialists state there are just minor qualifications between custom apparatus, for example, that made by Vivint and the outsider gear that Brinks employments. "Alert gear is caution hardware," says Lee Walters, a previous FBI security master. "Dislike [Brinks'] hardware is any better or more regrettable."

Month to month Fees: Brinks Home Complete expenses $29 every month. It incorporates cell phone control, LiveVoice Assist (two-route correspondences with the observing focus), home computerization highlights, and insurance against a gatecrasher entering your home and rapidly devastating or impairing the control board. With the Brinks Home Complete With Video plan, for $39 every month, you include an indoor camera and capacity of up to 1,000 clasps for every month from numerous cameras.

Different Details About Brinks Home Security

Plan Lock-in: Three years.

Gear Warranty: Two years.

Merchandise exchange: 30 days.

Ensure America Security Packages and Smart Home Equipment

Ensure America Security Equipment

Ensure America's hardware and plans revolve around basic and moderate home security systems, with upgradeable abilities that incorporate savvy home robotization, video administration and smoke and fire checking. It doesn't offer indistinguishable assortment of shrewd home gadgets from some other top suppliers, yet it offers basics like application control, savvy lighting and bolts

Secure America Monitoring Services

Secure America subcontracts its checking administrations to COPS Monitoring, an honor winning, UL-ensured organization with six across the country observing stations and a 16.2-second normal need alert reaction time. It likewise offers diverse checking plans dependent on the ideal network – landline, broadband or cell.

DIY Installation

Ensure America doesn't offer proficient establishment. Clients must set up their own gear (no devices required, as indicated by the supplier) with the assistance of the online Quick Install Guide, or solicitation help by telephone through the client care line

Secure America Pricing and Value

As we would see it, Protect America's greatest drawback is its three-year least agreement. Be that as it may, there's an or more side: Once you enter the agreement, Protect America gives the fundamental home security gear for nothing without extra forthright expenses. You're answerable for the month to month checking expense and any discretionary updates. There's likewise a value coordinate assurance.

Abode Iota

While the first-generation Abode security starter kit didn’t wow us on quality, we found it to be a solid budget pick, with a versatile assortment of sensors, extensive third-party device support, and simple controls. Abode Iota is the company’s latest starter kit, boasting sleek lines and smart device control. This time around, the boxy base station has been replaced by an altogether groovier design, packing a 1080p security camera, motion sensor, and 93-decibel siren. A mini door/window sensor and key fob controller are included in the kit, with a plethora of additional sensors and cameras available to build out your system.

Unlike competitors that focus purely on security, Abode Iota also serves as a smart home controller. Device support is extensive, with Abode’s proprietary SecureRF radio, Zigbee PRO, Z-Wave, and Wi-Fi onboard for connecting up to 160 devices, while partnerships with Yale, Kwikset, Hue, Ecobee, Philips Hue, and others increase its credibility as a smart home hub.

While it lacks the premium polish of systems like Nest Secure, at just $229, Abode Iota is a capable, versatile and good-value choice for securing your smart home.

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makingmoneyonlinemethod · 3 years

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How to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month (25 Ways That Actually Work)

When I was in college, I felt like having an extra $1,000 a month would basically make me rich.

It seems silly now, but when you’re in college, $1,000 a month can go a long way.

You could use it to:

· Pay down your student loans

· Cover your room and board

· Start investing early

· Buy a heck of a lot of video games, pizza, or ramen

By my last couple of months in college, I finally hit that $1,000 a month income goal. But looking back, I realize I could have hit that number a lot sooner if I had known what I know now. That’s why I’ve put together this guide.

Below, I’ll show you 25 ways to actually earn a $1,000 a month. No questionable methods, no b.s., and no get rich quick schemes. Just ways that, with a little hard work, will pay off quickly.

The Right Mindset for Making Extra Money

Before I get to the methods, you need to understand the right mindset to have when looking for ways to earn extra money. I include this section because, as a college student, I made the mistake of spending way too much money on courses that claimed they would help me make extra money.

I’m not saying that the courses were giving bad advice, but rather that I made the mistake of falling for the allure of extra income without wanting to put in the work required to get it. Certainly, there are courses out there that can help you boost your income. But you don’t need any of those to get started.

To make extra money, you just need 3 things:

1. Be able to do something people will pay for.

2. Get people to pay you for it.

3. Keep doing #2 till you’ve hit your income goal.

The above advice applies whether you want to make an extra $1,000 or $10,000. Of course, there are details to iron out such as what you’ll do and how you’ll find people to pay you for it. That’s what the rest of this guide is for.

25 Ways to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month

Ready to stop dreaming and start earning? Below, you’ll find 25 ways you can actually make an extra $1,000 per month. None of these require expensive equipment, high startup costs, or even a degree. What they do require is hard work, creativity, and the willingness to try new things or learn new skills.

Freelance Writing

I’m going to start with a method that’s near and dear to my heart. Freelance writing was the first way I started making serious money when I was in college, and I still think it’s a great thing to try if you have writing skills.

There are a ton of companies out there that need written content, including blog posts, video scripts, website copy, and more. They’re willing to pay, too; a starting writer can easily charge $50 for an article.

More experienced writers can charge $150/article or more, depending on the length and subject matter. Work your way up to that level, and writing just two articles a week could net you $1,200 a month.

To get started freelance writing, you have a couple of options. The first is to check out freelance job boards like Upwork, Fiverr, and ProBlogger. Alternatively, you can reach out directly to blogs who accept guest contributions. Both methods can work, though I had more success with direct outreach when I was starting out – and in this realm, I had the most success when I worked to build relationships instead of doing cold outreach.

You’ll also want to build a portfolio to showcase your writing. Check out our guide to building an online portfolio to get started on that.

If you want further guidance, including tips on how to pitch articles and get your first clients, check out this freelance writing course my friends Kristin and Alex created.

Graphic Design

A few examples of our graphic designer’s work for the CIG Podcast.

Companies aren’t just hungry for written content; they’re also constantly in need of graphics, illustrations, logos, custom slide decks, and other graphic design assets. If you’re artistic or enjoy design, this can be a great way to make money.

The steps for getting started with freelance graphic design are fairly similar to freelance writing. You can search on Upwork, Fiverr, or even 99designs for gigs. Alternatively, you can ask around campus to see if anyone needs design help. Making business cards and logos for people can be an especially fruitful place to start.

If you want to learn graphic design, there are a ton of avenues out there. I’ll note that it’s important to learn both the fundamentals of design (composition, type, white space, etc.) and the technical skills, such as how to use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. Here are a few courses to start with:

· Graphic Design Basics – Core Principles for Visual Design

· Master the Basics of Adobe Illustrator

Web Development

Having a website is a must these days, yet so many businesses and individuals still don’t have one. This is a great opportunity for anyone with web development skills to make some serious money.

But what if I don’t know how to make a website? Just read our guide, and now you have no excuses. Combine that with a few web development tutorials on Skillshare, and you’ll have all the skills you need to build beautiful, functional websites for just about anyone.

Our web developer, Martin, was able to charge $1,000 for a basic website when he was freelancing. And those development skills eventually led him to a full-time career working for College Info Geek. So whether you want to make some extra money on the side or enter an in-demand, well-paying field, web development is worth learning.

If you’re serious about learning web development quickly, I recommend these resources:

· The Top Web Development Courses on Skillshare — These are all classes taught by experts and will get you up to speed even if you have no prior knowledge. The link will also get you a 2-week free trial, plenty of time to get through the courses.

· Treehouse — Treehouse is a website dedicated to teaching you how to code, and they have a large library of web development courses.

Audio Transcription

Voice recognition technology is getting better every day, but it still isn’t great at transcribing real human speech. For this reason, there’s a demand for skilled audio transcriptionists.

Audio-what-tionists? When transcribing audio, all you do is listen to a recording and turn it into a word document. All kinds of companies and people need this service, and they’re willing to pay. While you can do this on your own, it’s generally better to work for an audio transcription company. This way, you don’t have to find clients.

I recommend looking into Rev — pay starts at $0.36 per minute of audio, which means you need to transcribe around 50 hours of audio per month (12.5 per week) to hit the $1,000 mark. Plus, you can do this job from the comfort of your home, making it great for fitting around your busy schedule.

Helping People with Computers

Using a computer may seem second-nature to you, you darn millennial-Gen-XYZ whippersnapper. But for many people who aren’t “digital natives,” it’s not so easy. Instead of making fun of your grandpa for not knowing how to use his iPad, why not see if you can turn your knowledge into some extra cash?

The possibilities here are only limited by your creativity and what people will pay for. Just a few ideas:

· Make PowerPoints for your less than tech-savvy professors (a former professor reached out to me about this just the other day)

· Give a class on computer basics at a local retirement home or community center

· Start your own IT business that makes house calls (a friend of mine made one contact in college who paid him around $200/month for very basic computer help. The guy was pretty wealthy, but knew nothing about computers.)

You can choose to charge per hour or per project — whichever makes more sense.

Bonus Tip: If you’re willing to take some time and spend a bit of money to get an A+ Certification, you may be able to charge even more. If you choose to go this route, you should get Mike Meyers’ (no, not that Mike Meyers) excellent CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, which is updated every year.

Investing Your Money

I’ll state this up front: Compared to every other method on this list, investing will take by far the longest amount of time to make you an extra $1,000 a month. Still, you should seriously consider investing as early as you possibly can.

Here’s why: Investing means putting your money to work for you. Every other method here requires you to essentially trade hours for dollars; investing allows you to sit back as the money you have invested grows due to compound interest. And the sooner you get started, the more that compound interest will benefit you.

Here’s a simple calculation: If you’re 25 now and you invest just $200 a month for the next 30 years at a 7% rate of return (which is reasonable to expect over the long term), by the time you’re 55 you’ll have a bit over $228,000 – even though you only invested a total of $72,000 of your hard-earned money.

That means that you gained a whopping $156,000 while you slept. And that’s assuming you never increase your monthly investment as you get further into your career; do that (as most smart investors do) – and get started as early as possible to reap the benefits of compound interest year after year – and you can retire with millions.

Here’s another calculation, this time looking at what it would take to be able to pull $1,000 a month out of your retirement savings every month for 30 years:

Again, assuming you never increase your contribution (which is unlikely), you still only need to save $316 a month assuming you start when you’re 25. (You can use this Bankrate calculator to play with the numbers.)

How to get started: The main three things you need to know are:

1. Tax-advantaged retirement accounts are your friends. A Roth IRA is a great place to start.

2. Index funds are your friends. These passively follow the entire stock market, providing a good rate of return without too much risk.

3. High fees are your enemy. Even a fee of 1% on a fund can eat a huge portion of your earnings. And funds that charge these fees almost never outperform lower-cost funds.

While you can learn and optimize later, these three rules are really all you need to get started.

As for where to start, Betterment is a great option; their fees are low, there’s no minimum starting investment (you could throw in $50 now and set up a $25 monthly auto-investment to start), and they adjust your investments based on your goals.

For even more information, check out our beginner’s guide to investing.

Selling Your Old Stuff

Your closet, garage, or attic is probably full of perfectly good things that you just don’t use anymore. Instead of letting them sit there collecting dust and getting in your way, why not sell them for some extra cash?

Depending on how much stuff you have, you could certainly earn an extra $1,000 doing this. This is especially true if your parents or grandparents will let you comb through their old stuff and sell it as well.

That being said, this probably isn’t the best way to consistently make extra money. To do that, you need to branch beyond selling your stuff and into selling other people’s.

Retail Arbitrage

Retail-what? So it’s a fancy business term, but all it means is going to stores like Wal-Mart, Target, or even a thrift store and finding items that you can re-sell online for a profit.

Generally, people use either Amazon or eBay to do this, though you could also look into a more specialized platform such as Poshmark or Etsy if you’re focusing on clothing or vintage goods.

Now, be warned — if you do this wrong, you can lose a bunch of money and waste a lot of time. You have to be smart about what you buy, which generally means using a tool like the Amazon Seller app (Android | iOS) to calculate your potential profit. But if you do it right, this can be an effective way to make money in your free time.

Fixing & Flipping Cars (or Other Vehicles)

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see an old car or bike for sale in someone’s yard. While I don’t have the time or mechanical skills to do it, I know lots of people who make good money buying old vehicles, fixing them up, and re-selling them.

This is definitely an area where you need to know what you’re doing, and you’ll also need the appropriate tools and space. But provided you have those things, it’s easy enough to get started. Even if you spend a few months fixing up a car and manage to sell it for a $5,000 profit, that’s easily an extra $1,000 a month.

Babysitting or Nannying

People have kids, and they need a responsible adult to watch them. There’s good money to be made here, particularly if you have the time to do a more involved job such as nannying.

You can either go through a site such as Care.com or build up your own business through word of mouth. I have a few friends that were easily able to charge $20 per hour for this sort of work, which means you would only need to work an extra 12.5 hours per week to reach $1,000 a month.

Yardwork

This category covers everything that people don’t want to do in their yards. People tend to associate yardwork with warm-weather activities such as lawn mowing, but it can also include things like shoveling snow and picking up dog poop. With these activities, you can stay busy earning money all year round.

Pro-tip: When I was a teenager, I stood out from the other teenage lawn-mowing businesses by BUNDLING dog poop pick-up and lawn mowing. Differentiating yourself is key!

How you price this work is up to you — you can charge a flat rate based on the size of the yard (this works well for mowing or snow shoveling) or an hourly rate (which is best if you don’t know how long the work will take). As long as you charge enough, you can hit your extra income goals with only a few hours of work per week.

Cleaning Houses

Cleaning is something that has to be done, but many people don’t have the time or desire to do it. This is where you come in — with just some simple cleaning supplies and a few hours per week, you can earn great money.

To maximize your earnings, we recommend doing this gig solo. You’ll get to keep all the money you earn, and you can often charge a more competitive rate than a bigger cleaning company. Getting started is as simple as asking around, and it’s easy to charge $100 for a small house or apartment. Do that 10x per month, and there’s your extra $1,000.

Home Repairs

In a similar vein to cleaning houses, things around the house tend to break. While some people know how to fix them, plenty of others will go running to a handyman (or woman) whenever they need to patch a small hole or fix a leaky faucet.

If you have some basic tools and a little bit of practice, you can earn good money helping friends, family, and anyone else with simple household repairs. People will pay more for this than you might think — my friend recently got paid $100 just to help a co-worker hang a curtain rod.

Note: Please don’t blow yourself up, chop off your hand, or get electrocuted. Leave any major work to licensed professional contractors. But for small fixes, go for it!

Tutoring

Many parents will do anything to help their kids succeed, even if it means spending lots of money. Tutoring is a prime example of this. After all, how is your neighbor’s kid going to get into Harvard at age 15 if they can’t pass their first-grade algebra class?

Okay, this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but lots of parents freak out when their kid is struggling even a little bit in school. To fix this, they’ll often hire a tutor, and that tutor could easily be you. As long as you know more about a subject than a kid and are good at explaining things, you can be a tutor (though some parents may want you to have certain test scores or grades in certain courses).

Reading and math are definitely the most popular subjects, but you can tutor anything that kids’ parents are willing to pay for. To maximize your earnings, we recommend being a freelance tutor, but you can also earn decent money working for a tutoring company.

Teaching a Foreign Language

¿Habla español? Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parlez-vous français? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you might be able to earn extra money teaching a foreign language.

Now, this won’t work if you just took a few classes in high school or college — you need to be fluent in the language. But assuming you are, then you can earn good money helping other people learn a language. This is especially true if you can teach a high-demand language such as English, Mandarin, or Spanish.

To get started, we recommend iTalki, which is our favorite place to find online language teachers.

Note: While not required, having some kind of degree or certification in the language you want to teach will definitely help boost your earnings.

Bookkeeping

Think you need to be a CPA to do bookkeeping? Wrong. In fact, you don’t need any formal certifications or degrees to be a bookkeeper. All you need is an understanding of basic bookkeeping and accounting principles. My friend Thomas (this site’s founder) landed a part-time job in high school doing bookkeeping for a small business.

It can also be helpful to know your way around the accounting software that small businesses use – the most popular is Quickbooks, though Wave and Xero are also popular. If you know Quickbooks, though, you can quickly adapt to others. Here’s a very thorough Quickbooks class you can take on Skillshare (this link gets you a 2-week free trial, so you could take other bookkeeping classes there for free during that time).

Selling Handmade Goods on Etsy

Know how to knit? Make pottery? Craft jewelry? If you can make it with your hands, then you can probably sell it on Etsy. Etsy is fairly mainstream now, but in case you haven’t heard of it, it’s an online marketplace for selling handmade and vintage goods. You set your own prices, and Etsy takes a small commission each time you make a sale.

Now, you won’t start making extra money with Etsy overnight. You need to take good photos, write compelling descriptions, and get the word out about your store. But if you’re willing to take the time to do this, then you can certainly build up a business that makes an extra $1,000 per month.

Working as a Virtual Assistant

There are lots of busy professionals who have way more money than time. Therefore, they’re willing to pay to get some of their time back. This is the whole premise behind hiring a virtual assistant (VA) — you do the things that a busy person doesn’t have time to do.

Many people associate virtual assistants with outsourcing, but there’s actually a sizable market for native English-speaking VAs based in U.S. timezones.

If you’re organized, responsive, and don’t mind dealing with stressed out, sometimes demanding professionals, then this can be a great gig. Your job will generally consist of scheduling appointments, booking travel, answering calls and emails, and doing whatever else the person you’re assisting is too busy to do.

To learn how to get started as a VA, check out this course from our friend (and former CIG virtual assistant) Kayla Sloan.

Personal Chef

There are lots of people who need help with cooking. Some people are too busy to cook for themselves, while others are unable to cook due to age or disability. Whatever the case, if you know how to cook, then you can turn that skill into extra money.

According to Career Trend, the average hourly rate for a personal chef is between $35 and $50 per hour. Even if you can just charge $35 per hour, that means you can make $1,000 with just an extra 29 hours of work per month. Plus, you’ll meet lots of interesting people and have an amazing experience to put on your resume.

Note: Be sure to check local laws to make sure you don’t need any special licenses or food-handling certifications to be a personal chef.

Help People Move

If you’ve ever moved to a new house or apartment, you know how much of a pain it is. It’s time-consuming, laborious, and often frustrating. For this reason, most people who can afford it will hire movers.

If you’re organized, careful, and capable of lifting heavy things, then you can start your own moving business today. Having a truck or other large vehicle also helps, though it’s not strictly necessary.

You can easily charge $100 for a small moving job (often more), so this is an awesome gig to earn the extra cash you’re looking for.

Street Performer

I’ll never forget walking down Fremont Street in Las Vegas, seeing the street performers, and witnessing the unbelievable things people will do to make a buck. While I don’t advise that you copy the things the performers on Fremont do (the man dressed as a giant baby still gives me nightmares), street performing can be a solid way to earn extra money.

What you do is entirely up to you. Busking (playing music for donations) is a time-honored approach, but you could also tell fortunes, make art, or just dress up in a weird costume and charge for photos. I’ve never done this myself, but I bet you can definitely make $1,000 a month doing this part-time.

Note: Many cities require you to have a license in order to be a street performer (especially if you’re going to charge money or ask for tips). Check your local laws before you begin. And, obviously, don’t do anything that will get you arrested, fined, or kicked out of school.

Personal Trainer

Most people would like to be in better shape than they are. And when going to the gym won’t cut it, the people who can afford it will often hire a personal trainer. If you know how to get (and stay) in shape, then there’s no reason that personal trainer can’t be you.

According to PayScale, the average hourly rate for a personal trainer is $19. That means you only need to work around 13 hours a week to hit your $1,000 monthly target. As long as you can find enough clients, this is an easy gig to get started with.

Note: We strongly recommend that you get a personal trainer certification if you’re going to do this. Not only will it help you market yourself to potential clients, but it will also make sure that you and your clients stay safe.

DJ-ing

Can you play music off your computer? Then that’s really all you need to be a DJ. Having some more specialized equipment certainly helps, but DJ-ing really isn’t that hard to learn.

You probably won’t end up playing festivals for millions of dollars, but you can certainly earn $1,000 a month DJ-ing weddings or parties on the weekends.

Consulting

This might well be the holy grail of earning extra income. There’s a lot of b.s. in the consulting world, but it can be a perfectly legitimate field. As a consultant, you help businesses (or sometimes individuals) overcome a particular problem. Generally, the goal is to help a business make more money.

If that sounds insanely broad and generic, it is. But that’s the beauty of consulting. If you can help a business make more money, then you can basically charge whatever you want, provided it’s less than the amount of additional money you’ll help the business make.

Here are just a few things you could consult on:

· Bookkeeping

· Sales

· Marketing

· Website design

· Website copy

· Business processes

Junk Removal

People have all kinds of crap in their yards and houses that they need help getting rid of. If you have a strong back and a vehicle that can haul junk, then you can start your own junk removal business.

To get started with this, your best bet is to hit the streets. Walk around local neighborhoods and see if you can spot piles of brush, trash, or other items that people might need help getting rid of. Then, just knock on doors and see if anyone is interested. It can take some persistence, but you can easily charge enough for this to make at least an extra $1,000 in 30 days.

Hourly Jobs

This is a very broad category, but we wanted to include it because sometimes making extra money is as simple as getting a good ole fashioned part-time job.

Assuming you can work 20 hours per week, you just need to find a job that pays at least $12.50 an hour in order to hit the $1,000 per month target. It may not be the sexiest way to make extra money, but it’s proven to work.

#make money as an affiliate #how to makemoney #make money online #make money 2021 #makemoneyathome

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unixcommerce · 4 years

Text

Does Your eCommerce Site Accept Mobile Payments?

It wasn’t that long ago when mobile payments were considered a novelty. That’s quickly changed when you consider that by 2020 mobile payment transactions will exceed $314 billion. Even more promising, Vantiv has found that 46 percent of Millennials and 41 percent of Gen Xers already use mobile payments — with 22 percent of Millennials using mobile payments regularly to make purchases. Simply put, mobile payments aren’t going anywhere. As such, if you want to capture a piece of the mobile payment pie, it’s time to start accepting mobile payments on your eCommerce site. But, before you start accepting mobile payments, check out these eleven tips first.

1. Pay Attention to your Demographics

If your business is geared towards Millennials, then it’s a safe bet that they’ll embrace mobile payments — particularly peer-to-peer payments using wallets like Venmo. After all, they’re only the most tech-savvy demographic around. So, it just makes sense for your online business to embrace mobile payments.

At the same time, even if your demographics are older, there’s still an opportunity for you to accept mobile payments on your eCommerce site. The key is that you use the mobile payment option. For example, 22% of PayPal’s user base is aged 55 or older.

2. Align Yourself with the Right App or Software

This is probably the most important tip to keep in mind when accepting mobile payments.

Between our mobile wallet, PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Flint, Checkout by Amazon, PaySimple, and Dwolla, there’s no shortage of top-notch mobile payment options. To narrow down your search, start by looking for options that your customers are already using. This is because they already trust the payment option and don’t have to create a new account.

Additionally, you want to pay attention to factors like processing fees and ease-of-use.

3. Allow Payments without Requiring an Account

Piggybacking off the last point. Do your customers a favor and let them checkout as a guest. I mean do they really need to remember yet another username and password?

Also, since most people are iffy about the security of mobile payments, this reduces that fear.

Furthermore, since your customers are on a mobile device, filling out lengthy forms can be tedious since the screen and keyboard are smaller. Again, if you accept payments via Apple Pay, Amazon, or PayPal, your customers can make a purchase seamlessly.

If you do require additional information, keep it only to the essentials, such as an email address and payment method. Asking for too much information will result in abandoned carts.

4. Leverage Loyalty

“Whether you’re earning cash back, points, or getting offers and coupons from programs such as our Discover Deals platform, your mobile device is now the place to go to get additional value for your purchase,” said Brian Meier, Director of Strategic Merchant Relations at Discover. “Everything a consumer needs to lower transaction costs or speed up the checkout process is now right at their fingertips, and retailers enjoy the benefits of creating closer relationships with their customers.”

The good news is that this can be simple to implement. For example, for every dollar your customer spends at your store, they’ll earn multiple reward points that can put towards a future purchase. You could also make a game of it by giving your customers a chance to win an amazing prize, like a free product.

5. Accept Multiple Billing and Payment Options

According to the 2016 Annual Billing Household Survey, customers use an average of 3.6 different payment methods each month for their bills. What’s more, 42% of smartphone users reported that they’ve paid bills through their phone.

If you want to improve the customer experience, don’t limit your mobile payment options. Allow users to make a purchase using a mobile wallet, credit or debit card, eCheck, or eCash like bitcoin.

6. Pre-Fill Locations

Offering a pre-fill option, which 82% of the top grossing ecommerce sites already offer, will reduce errors and make the checkout precious less redundant. At the minimum, you should have an auto-fill where the address is automatically filled during the checkout process. It’s a simple way to keep your customers satisfied since it saves them a ton of time.

7. Design Mobile-Friendly Clear-to-Action Buttons

Another way to keep your customers happy is by designing mobile-friendly CTAs. This way they can easily and quickly complete the checkout process since they know exactly what to step-by-step.

Here’s a couple of ways to create more effective CTA buttons for your smartphone users:

Keep your messages short and to the point. No need to clutter their smartphone screens.

Use action words that tell what them what to do next and what will happen. This eliminates the guessing game.

Take into consideration “the thumb zone.”

Apple recommends touch screen conversions at 44 x 44 pixels.

Limit your CTAs to just one per given space.

“Stick” your CTAs to the bottom of the page.

Use colors wisely.

8. Make Security a Priority

As mentioned previously, security is one of the main reasons why people are hesitant to use mobile payments. You can reduce those fears by making security a priority.

We already discussed this in a previous Due post, but here’s a refresher on how you can secure mobile payments;

Encrypt all sensitive data.

Use a Virtual Private Network.

Only download files and apps from trusted sources.

No jailbreaking or rooting.

Don’t reveal your IMEI or MEID numbers.

Update your device’s software.

Download anti-virus software.

Don’t forget to verify each transaction by:

Requiring customers to enter their security code or CVV number.

Making sure that there’s an address verification match.

Monitoring customer purchasing patterns for abnormal purchases.

Requiring two-factor authentication.

9. Be Compliant

Speaking of security, if you process any payments online, then you’ll have to adhere to a set of security standards known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

To ensure that your eCommerce site is PCI compliant, visit the official site of the PCI Security Standards Council.

10. Train Your Staff

Whenever you start using new technology, you’ll have to not only train and educate yourself, but also your employees. Start by helping them understand the technology. For starters, when customers use Apple Pay and Android Pay they’re actually transmitting a “token” of data, instead of the customer’s actual credit card number. This is an added layer of security that prevents possible fraudulent activity since the card number isn’t seen.

Additionally, credit card numbers and transaction histories are never held on Apple or Android servers. It’s another security measure that prevents sensitive data from being revealed.

You also want to make sure that your team knows how mobile payments are processed. This way if a customer has a question or concern, your staff can quickly answer or address the question or concern.

11. Let the World Know

Finally, when you’re ready to start accepting mobile payments share the good news. Write a blog post that explains how users can make a mobile payment on your site. And don’t forget to display badges and logos of the mobile payment options you accept throughout your website.

Republished by permission. Original here

Image: Due.com

This article, “Does Your eCommerce Site Accept Mobile Payments?” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Does Your eCommerce Site Accept Mobile Payments? appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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readersforum · 5 years

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Patreon ups its revenue cut, but grandfathers in old creators

New Post has been published on http://www.readersforum.tk/patreon-ups-its-revenue-cut-but-grandfathers-in-old-creators/

Patreon ups its revenue cut, but grandfathers in old creators

Patreon couldn’t survive charging all creators just a 5 percent rake on the monthly subscriptions they earn from fans while building commerce tools like CRMs and merchandise to try to stay ahead of Twitch, YouTube and Google. But it also didn’t want to screw all its loyal early creators.

So today, Patreon is overhauling its pricing. Any creator can still get a 5 percent rate, but just for a Lite version without bonus tools or different fan tiers. All of Patreon’s extra features will now be in the Pro plan, with an 8 percent rate, but with existing creators grandfathered in at 5 percent. And the new Premium enterprise plan for 12 percent (9 percent for existing creators) will offer full-service merchandise sales, multi-user team accounts and dedicated customer support.

If you want the lower grandfathered rates, you’ll need to join Patreon in the next few weeks before the new rates go into effect in early May.

“With this change, Patreon is a long-term independent company that doesn’t need anyone else. That’s the move we’re making here,” says Patreon’s SVP of Product, Wyatt Jenkins. More sustainable pricing means creators won’t have to fear Patreon selling out in desperation to someone like Facebook that might neglect or exploit them.

Instead, Patreon CEO Jack Conte tells me he wants to balance powerful features with right-sized pricing for different creator types to become the platform-agnostic home for subscription patronage when tech giants are each trying to build their own. “To have a different membership for each distribution platform, that’s not going to work. You need a single place for the bottom of your distribution funnel,” Conte explains.

Balancing rates and resources

Patreon now has 3 million fans paying 100,000 creators more than half a billion dollars per year, and it will cross $1 billion in payouts in 2019 after six years in business. But Patreon was starving on its 5 percent rate, which some venture capitalists tell me is why they passed on its funding rounds totaling $105 million led by Thrive Capital and Index. Now it might make enough to keep the lights on, retain ownership and maybe even earn a profit one day.

Jenkins tells me Patreon spent a year talking to more than 1,000 creators to figure out how to re-price its offering. “People don’t like change. But I think in terms of change, we’re going to be able to invest in the different products in different ways. We can put a lot of horsepower into membership,” he explains. The company didn’t want to screw up like when it changed its payment processing rates a year ago, leading to creator backlash and some exodus. “We unilaterally did something that impacted creators’ patrons. That was the real landmine we stepped on.”

Patreon’s new rates

What Patreon discovered was some creators, especially individuals and hobbyists, didn’t care for bells and whistles. They wanted cheap and easy recurring payments so they can focus on their art, so Patreon made the 5 percent Lite plan that strips out the extra features but keeps the old rate.

More serious videographers, illustrators, comedians and pundits wanted to offer different price tiers for different levels of exclusive content. They need analytics, special offers, integrations with other productivity and commerce apps and priority customer support when things break. That’s what creators will get for 8 percent, unless they’re grandfathered in at 5 percent.

But Patreon also found there were whole media organizations with 50 employees built atop its patronage platform. They needed to be able to share accounts and get immediate support when necessary. Meanwhile, tons of creators see merchandise as a powerful way to lure in fans who want signed photos, stickers and other swag each month. “Eighty-five percent of our creators tell us we need merchandise. ‘We spend our days in the post office licking stamps. You can get great negotiation leverage since you have scale, so why aren’t you helping us with this?’ We can’t build that on 5 percent,” Jenkins tells me. They’ll all pay the 12 percent Premium plan price unless grandfathered in at 9 percent. Patreon will, in return, process, pack and ship all their merchandise.

Patreon is also changing its payment processing fees to make sure it doesn’t overpenalize smaller contributions, like creators’ popular $1 per month tiers. Now all transactions over $3 incur a 2.9 percent plus $0.30 fee similar to Stripe’s industry standard, while microtransactions under $3 cost 5 percent plus $0.10. Existing creators get the old rates, and people paying via PayPal from outside the U.S. get hit with an extra 1 percent fee.

The battle for fan subscriptions

Surprisingly, one of Patreon’s most popular creators told me they actually felt bad about being grandfathered in at a lower price, because why should they get special treatment compared to other artists who just might not be as tech savvy. That said, they weren’t going to voluntarily pay a higher rate. “I guess I’m not surprised,” Conte responds. “I’ve found that creators are really humble and selfless, always thinking about other people. I can imagine them saying ‘What about these people? Why am I paying less than them?”

If Patreon can power through the rate change without breaking momentum, it could have a bright future. It’s started a patronage trend, but leaked documents show Facebook plans to charge creators up to 30 percent like YouTube already does, and Twitch charges an astronomical 50 percent. But with far more restrictions on content and far more distrust accrued after years of forsaking creators and tense negotiations, Patreon’s neutral platform with the cheapest rate could remain the fan subscription leader at a time when ad revenue shares are proving inadequate to support turning one’s passion into their profession.

Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte

When TechCrunch broke the news that Facebook planned to charge up to 30 percent, Conte said, “Honestly, it was relieving but really disappointing in some way. I think competition is good. I hope there are many membership products. I hope they’re successful and [give creators a choice]. Right now, it’s not a choice. Facebook’s product is not usable. The folks that have used Facebook’s product have turned it off. From a competitor standpoint, it confirmed my thought that Facebook doesn’t understand creators.”

That’s also why he hopes that one day the tech giants might just integrate Patreon rather than compete, and they could each get a cut of subscription revenue.

Looking forward, he says the toughest challenge for Patreon will be building three different products for three distinct types of creators without the infinite wallets of its rivals. “I think Patreon will be raising for a long time,” Conte says. That will fund Patreon’s plans for eventual international operations, where 40 percent of patrons and 75 percent of creators live. Right now Patreon is offered only in English and supports U.S. dollars. But if it can spin up local languages, currencies and payment processors, Patreon could be where creators around the world go to share with their biggest fans.

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sheminecrafts · 5 years

Text

Patreon ups its revenue cut, but grandfathers in old creators

Patreon couldn’t survive charging all creators just a 5 percent rake on the monthly subscriptions they earn from fans while building commerce tools like CRMs and merchandise to stay ahead of Twitch, YouTube, and Google. But it also didn’t want to screw all its loyal early creators.

So today, Patreon is overhauling its pricing. Any creator can still get a 5 percent rate, but just for a Lite version without bonus tools or different fan tiers. All of Patreon’s extra features will now be in the Pro plan with an 8 percent rate, but with existing creators grandfathered in at 5 percent. And the new Premium enterprise plan for 12 percent (9 percent for existing creators) will offer full-service merchandise sales, multi-user team accounts, and dedicated customer support.

If you want the lower grandfathered rates, you’ll need to join Patreon in the next few weeks before the new rates go into effect in early May.

“With this change, Patreon is a long-term independent company that doesn’t need anyone else. That’s the move we’re making here” says Patreon’s SVP of Product Wyatt Jenkins. More sustainable pricing means creators won’t have to fear Patreon selling out in desperation to someone like Facebook that might neglect or exploit them.

Instead, Patreon CEO Jack Conte tells me he wants to balance powerful features with right-sized pricing for different creator types to become the platform agnostic home for subscription patronage when tech giants are each trying to build their own. “To have a different membership for each distribution platform, that’s not going to work. You need a single place for the bottom of your distribution funnel” Conte explains.

Balancing Rates And Resources

Patreon now has 3 million fans paying 100,000 creators over half a billion dollars per year, and it will cross $1 billion in payouts in 2019 after six years in business. But Patreon was starving on its 5 percent rate which some venture capitalists tell me is why they passed on its funding rounds totaling $105 million led by Thrive Capital and Index. Now it might make enough to keep the lights on, retain ownership, and maybe even earn a profit one day.

Jenkins tells me Patreon spent a year talking to over 1000 creators to figure out how to re-price its offering. “People don’t like change. But I think in terms of change, we’re going to be able to invest in the different products in different ways. We can put a lot of horsepower into membership” he explains. The company didn’t want to screw up like when it changed its payment processing rates a year ago, leading to creator backlash and some exodus. “We unilaterally did something that impacted creators’ patrons. That was the real landmine we stepped on.”

Patreon’s New Rates

More serious videographers, illustrators, comedians, and pundits wanted to offer different price tiers for different levels of exclusive content. They need analytics, special offers, integrations with other productivity and commerce apps, and priority customer support when things break. That’s what creators will get for 8 percent, unless they they’re grandfathered in at 5 percent.

But Patreon also found there were whole media organizations with 50 employees built atop its patronage platform. They needed to be able to share accounts and get immediate support when necessary. Meanwhile, tons of creators see merchandise as a powerful way to lure in fans who want signed photos, stickers, and other swag each month. “85 percent of our creators tell us we need merchandise. ‘We spend our days in the post office licking stamps. You can get great negotiation leverage since you have scale, so why aren’t you helping us with this?’ We can’t build that on 5 percent” Jenkins tells me. They’ll all pay the 12 percent Premium plan price unless grandfathered in at 9 percent. Patreon will in return process, pack, and ship all their merchandise.

Patreon is also changing its payment processing fees to make sure it doesn’t overpenalize smaller contributions like creators’ popular $1 per month tiers. Now all transactions over $5 incur a 2.9 percent and $0.30 fee similar to Stripe’s industry standard, while microtransactions under $5 cost 5 percent plus $0.10. Existing creators get the old rates, and people paying via PayPal from outside the US get hit with an extra 1 percent fee.

The Battle For Fan Subscriptions

Surprisingly, one of Patreon’s most popular creators told me they actually felt bad about being grandfathered in at a lower price, because why should they get special treatment compared to other artists who just might not be as tech savvy. That said, they weren’t going to voluntarily pay a higher rate. “I guess I’m not surprised” Conte responds. “I’ve found that creators are really humble and selfless, always thinking about other people. I can imagine them saying ‘what about these people? Why am I paying less than them?”

If Patreon can power through the rate change without breaking momentum, it could have a bright future. It’s started a patronage trend, but leaked documents show Facebook plans to charge creators up to 30 percent like YouTube already does, and Twitch charges an astronomical 50 percent. But with far more restrictions on content and far more distrust accrued after years of forsaking creators and tense negotiations, Patreon’s neutral platform with the cheapest rate could remain the fan subscription leader at a time when ad revenue shares are proving an inadequate to support turning ones passion into their profession.

Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte

When TechCrunch broke the news that Facebook planned to charge up to 30 percent, Conte says “Honestly, it was relieving but really disappointing in some way. I think competition is good. I hope there are many membership products. I hope they’re successful and [give creators a choice]. Right now, it’s not a choice. Facebook’s product is not usable. The folks that have used Facebook’s product have turned it off. From a competitor standpoint, it confirmed my thought that Facebook doesn’t understand creators.”

That’s also why he hopes that one day, the tech giants might just integrate Patreon rather than compete, and they could each get a cut of subscription revenue.

Looking forward, he says the toughest challenge for Patreon will be building three different products for three distinct types of creators without the infinite wallets of its rivals. “I think Patreon will be raising for a long time” Conte says. That will fund Patreon’s plans for eventual international operations where 40 percent of patrons and 75 percent of creators live. Right now Patreon is only in English and US dollars. But if it can spin up local languages, currencies, and payment processors, Patreon could be where creators around the world go to share with their biggest fans.

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#IFTTT #iraidajzsmmwtv

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technicalsolutions88 · 5 years

Link

So today, Patreon is overhauling its pricing. Any creator can still get a 5 percent rate, but just for a Lite version without bonus tools or different fan tiers. All of Patreon’s extra features will now be in the Pro plan with an 8 percent rate, but with existing creators grandfathered in at 5 percent. And the new Premium enterprise plan for 12 percent (9 percent for existing creators) will offer full-service merchandise sales, multi-user team accounts, and dedicated customer support.

If you want the lower grandfathered rates, you’ll need to join Patreon in the next few weeks before the new rates go into effect in early May.

Balancing Rates And Resources

Patreon’s New Rates

But Patreon also found there were whole media organizations with 50 employees built atop its patronage platform. They needed to be able to share accounts and get immediate support when necessary. Meanwhile, tons of creators see merchandise as a powerful way to lure in fans who want signed photos, stickers, and other swag each month. “85 percent of our creators tell us we need merchandise. ‘We spend our days in the post office licking stamps. You can get great negotiation leverage since you have scale, so why aren’t you helping us with this?’ We can’t build that on 5 percent” Jenkins tells me. They’ll all pay the 12 percent Premium plan price unless grandfathered in at 9 percent. Patreon will in return process, pack, and ship all their merchandise.

The Battle For Fan Subscriptions

Surprisingly, one of Patreon’s most popular creators told me they actually felt bad about being grandfathered in at a lower price, because why should they get special treatment compared to other artists who just might not be as tech savvy. That said, they weren’t going to voluntarily pay a higher rate. “I guess I’m not surprised” Conte responds. “I’ve found that creators are really humble and selfless, always thinking about other people. I can imagine them saying ‘what about these people? Why am I paying less than them?”

If Patreon can power through the rate change without breaking momentum, it could have a bright future. It’s started a patronage trend, but leaked documents show Facebook plans to charge creators up to 30 percent like YouTube already does, and Twitch charges an astronomical 50 percent. But with far more restrictions on content and far more distrust accrued after years of forsaking creators and tense negotiations, Patreon’s neutral platform with the cheapest rate could remain the fan subscription leader at a time when ad revenue shares are proving an inadequate to support turning ones passion into their profession.

Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte

That’s also why he hopes that one day, the tech giants might just integrate Patreon rather than compete, and they could each get a cut of subscription revenue.

Looking forward, he says the toughest challenge for Patreon will be building three different products for three distinct types of creators without the infinite wallets of its rivals. “I think Patreon will be raising for a long time” Conte says. That will fund Patreon’s plans for eventual international operations where 40 percent of patrons and 75 percent of creators live. Right now Patreon is only in English and US dollars. But if it can spin up local languages, currencies, and payment processors, Patreon could be where creators around the world go to share with their biggest fans.

from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2Og8DFA Original Content From: https://techcrunch.com

#Technical Solutions #SEO #Online Earning #Youtube Marketing #Android Developer

0 notes

toomanysinks · 5 years

Text

Patreon ups its revenue cut, but grandfathers in old creators

So today, Patreon is overhauling its pricing. Any creator can still get a 5 percent rate, but just for a Lite version without bonus tools or different fan tiers. All of Patreon’s extra features will now be in the Pro plan with an 8 percent rate, but with existing creators grandfathered in at 5 percent. And the new Premium enterprise plan for 12 percent (9 percent for existing creators) will offer full-service merchandise sales, multi-user team accounts, and dedicated customer support.

If you want the lower grandfathered rates, you’ll need to join Patreon in the next few weeks before the new rates go into effect in early May.

Balancing Rates And Resources

Patreon’s New Rates

But Patreon also found there were whole media organizations with 50 employees built atop its patronage platform. They needed to be able to share accounts and get immediate support when necessary. Meanwhile, tons of creators see merchandise as a powerful way to lure in fans who want signed photos, stickers, and other swag each month. “85 percent of our creators tell us we need merchandise. ‘We spend our days in the post office licking stamps. You can get great negotiation leverage since you have scale, so why aren’t you helping us with this?’ We can’t build that on 5 percent” Jenkins tells me. They’ll all pay the 12 percent Premium plan price unless grandfathered in at 9 percent. Patreon will in return process, pack, and ship all their merchandise.

The Battle For Fan Subscriptions

Surprisingly, one of Patreon’s most popular creators told me they actually felt bad about being grandfathered in at a lower price, because why should they get special treatment compared to other artists who just might not be as tech savvy. That said, they weren’t going to voluntarily pay a higher rate. “I guess I’m not surprised” Conte responds. “I’ve found that creators are really humble and selfless, always thinking about other people. I can imagine them saying ‘what about these people? Why am I paying less than them?”

If Patreon can power through the rate change without breaking momentum, it could have a bright future. It’s started a patronage trend, but leaked documents show Facebook plans to charge creators up to 30 percent like YouTube already does, and Twitch charges an astronomical 50 percent. But with far more restrictions on content and far more distrust accrued after years of forsaking creators and tense negotiations, Patreon’s neutral platform with the cheapest rate could remain the fan subscription leader at a time when ad revenue shares are proving an inadequate to support turning ones passion into their profession.

Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte

That’s also why he hopes that one day, the tech giants might just integrate Patreon rather than compete, and they could each get a cut of subscription revenue.

Looking forward, he says the toughest challenge for Patreon will be building three different products for three distinct types of creators without the infinite wallets of its rivals. “I think Patreon will be raising for a long time” Conte says. That will fund Patreon’s plans for eventual international operations where 40 percent of patrons and 75 percent of creators live. Right now Patreon is only in English and US dollars. But if it can spin up local languages, currencies, and payment processors, Patreon could be where creators around the world go to share with their biggest fans.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/19/patreon-ups-its-revenue-cut-but-grandfathers-in-old-creators/

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fmservers · 5 years

Text

Here are the 85+ startups that launched today at Y Combinator’s W19 Demo Day 1

Y Combinator’s incubator classes have gotten huge.

With over 200 companies, the Winter 2019 class is by far YC’s largest yet. Meanwhile, the incubator prepares to shift its headquarters from Mountain View to San Francisco.

It’s so large, in fact, it’s had to change up the way it does Demo Day. Rather than all pitches happening on one stage, they were split across two stages (the “Pioneer” and “Mission” stages) running in parallel. So even if you were in the building, you couldn’t see all the pitches in person.

We were there — and as we do with each class, we’ve brought back our notes on everything we saw. Here are the 85+ companies that pitched today. Come back tomorrow for Day 2!

Pioneer Stage:

Career Karma: Hundreds of millions of people will need to change jobs in the coming years. Career Karma gives them a placement quiz and gets them accepted at coding bootcamps and other training programs that pay the startup $1000 per student. With income sharing agreements growing in popularity, plenty of job skill providers will be willing to pay to enroll the highest potential students.

VanGo: An on-demand ride service for getting your kids and teens around. The founders say that, because “moms trust other moms”, 85% of drivers on their service are moms and all of them are women. They plan to expand into other verticals to help parents down the road.

Team Mobot: Simulated user interface testing doesn’t catch all the bugs and can be complex for less tech savvy companies to perform. Team Mobot offers a fleet of robots that physically test any app’s UI on real devices to perform QA testing and spot bugs. Team Mobot’s fleet learns over time to increase accuracy, and the startup plans to invade the Internet Of Things and medical device verticals next.

Bento Club: Cheaper lunch delivery for office workers. Customers pre-order food from a select set of restaurants, and Bento picks it up and brings all orders to a shared pickup spot within one block of the customer’s office. 38% of customers are coming from referrals.

Basilica: Most teams trying to build artificial intelligence systems don’t have enough data, and that data can be expensive to collect. Basilica says its transfer learning method allows businesses to create accurate AI with just 1000 data points instead of 1 million. Basilica generates network effect by using data from across its clients to improve efficiency for each vertical that teams will need to keep up with Google.

Keynua: In Latin America, signing documents requires tedious identity verifications. With Keynua you record a short video to verbally agree to a document, and they use existing records to verify your identity. This team’s previous product (Cinepapaya) was acquired by Fandango in 2016.

Lumos: Doctors use Google 40X more than professional tools for finding medical information, but Google is full of ads and results are meant for patients not doctors. Lumos offers a medical Q&A search engine for doctors who pay $15 per month. A trial at UPenn saw 50% of the med students using Lumos each day within weeks of launch. Lumos says it has more potential business opportunities based off understanding what studies and info doctors trust, and having access to them at critical decision points during treatment.

Traverse Technologies: Traverse uses software to identify potential sites for wind and hydro power generation. The company then buys and resells those sites. They estimate that a plot that they buy for $750k can be resold for $5M. The currently have about $50M worth of Letters of Intent.

Basement: A social network for your close friends. Feed broadcasting social networks feel impersonal, and inevitably bloat with distant acquaintances you’re shy about sharing with. Basement is designed for college students and grads to just add their best friends. It offers Instagram-style posting tools, but the intimacy leads to comment threads that feel more like WhatsApp chat. Basement will have to get users to break the social contract of courtesy so they don’t friend the wrong people, but has a chance to be where Facebook wants to go.

CosmicJS: A drop-in, easier to manage alternative to WordPress. The company says that KFC, MLB, and Dailymotion are already customers. Currently making roughly $10k in monthly recurring revenue, and they say that’s growing about 15% monthly.

Ravn: Looking around corners is one of the most dangerous parts of war for infantry. Ravn builds heads-up displays that let soldiers and law enforcement see around corners thanks to cameras on their gun, drones, or elsewhere. The ability to see the enemy while still being behind cover saves lives, and Ravn already has $490,000 in Navy and Air Force contracts. With a CEO who was a Navy Seal who went on to study computer science plus experts in augmented reality and selling hardware to the Department Of Defense, Ravn could deliver the inevitable future of soldier heads-up displays.

54gene: 54gene aims to be 23andMe for Africa. The company says that competitor data is limited because their users are mostly white. By focusing on Africa, the company can help detect and identify DNA markers that might otherwise go overlooked. Co-founder Abasi Ene-Obong has a PhD in cancer biology from the University of London.

Slapdash: Enterprise apps run slow and it can be tough to find files or messages across them. Slapdash creates a desktop software-speed container in which workers can run all their office software like Slack, Dropbox, Asana, Salesforce, and Google. Users can search across all their apps and be more productive, luring SaaS subscriptions from their employers.

YourChoice: Male contraceptive pill. With “two of the world’s leading sperm physiologists”, YourChoice says they’ve created a pill thats 100% effective with “no side effects” by targeting the ABHD2 and ANT4 proteins in sperm. They’re also working on a hormone-free contraceptive pill for women.

AccioJob: Only one-third of India’s college graduates get placed in jobs because their schools often only expose them to local recruiters. AccioJob charges colleges $10,000 per year to place their students in jobs, and charges employers per placement. Since it gains student contact info and grades, AccioJob can become the gateway to the best Indian college grads as more students from the country begin to enroll.

CentaurLabs: Hires doctors to label medical imagery datasets at scale, which can then be used to train AI. In the future, they’re aiming to build a diagnosis system to provide second opinions for doctors and patients.

Travelchime: Planning travel requires cobbling together Google Docs, maps, blogs, friend recommendations, inspiration apps, and booking sites. Travelchime combines travel planning tools into a Google Doc-style interface that automatically suggests contextual information and places popular amongst travel writing that it’s indexed. Users can then book from Travelchime, which hopes it can build a more helpful version of TripAdvisor.

Seawise Capital: Trade loans for exporters in India. The founders say they make 10% on every loan, and have taken on $550k in loans in the past 6 weeks. They plan to raise $5M in debt by Q3 2019, and $25M in debt by Q1 2020.

PerShop: Shopping online can be frustrating because you’re either hopping between individual brands without comparative pricing, seeing too many irrelevant products on aggregators, or can’t checkout on social apps. PerShop is a personalized shopping site that only recommends you items from your favorite brands, in your size, in your price range. Eventually it plans to sell personalized, targeted ecommerce ads. PerShop gets smarter as people use it to buy or just for entertainment.

Prometheus: Removes CO2 from the air to make gasoline. They say they can make gasoline for about $3.00 per gallon. Whereas past attempts required massive distillation columns, founder Rob McGinnis says he was working with carbon nanotube membranes when he discovered a cheaper way to do it with much less real estate.

Unicorn: Scooter companies that rent by the minute lose 2% of their fleet per day to damage and theft, and that means customers don’t have a safe scooter available when they want one. Unicorn rents scooters by the week or month and is already profitable. Vehicles aren’t left outside overnight and spend more time rented, while customers know there’s a scooter available for them without having to buy one outright. Unicorn’s founder started Tile and now he wants to build a better unit economics business than Lime and Bird.

Loonify Space: A bespoke launch system meant specifically for carrying small satellites into orbit. A balloon carries rocket to 35km and launches it mid-air. They have Letters of Intent for 155 satellite launches, worth a total of roughly $77M. They intend to have their first launch on May 9th.

Supernova: Programming apps based on design mockups can be tough internally, but expensive and hard to maintain if outsourced. Supernova converts designs into production-ready code that follows best practices so it’s easy to update. Supernova’s AI can understand a product’s purpose and distinguish between navigation elements, buttons, and more. As more businesses try to modernize with tech products, Supernova could let them focus on their utility rather than computer science.

Kovi: Provides rental cars for on-demand drivers in Latin America. They currently have around 300 cars on the street, with 3,000 rental requests this year. The company estimates that 70% of drivers in Latin America rent/lease their vehicles.

Deel: 20 million international contractors work with US companies but it’s difficult to onboard and train them. Deel handles the contracts, payments, and taxes in one interface to eliminate paperwork and wasted time. Deel charges businesses $10 per contractor per month and a 1% fee on payouts, which earns it an average of $560 per contractor per year. As the globalization megatrend continues, businesses need better remote HR tools.

COUTURME: Custom, AI-designed wedding/formal dresses. The customer inputs their preferences, the software generates options, and the dress is produced and shipped within 30 days. It went live in January, and has been growing at roughly 15% weekly since. Co-founder Yuliya Raquel previously founded plus-size designer fashion company IGIGI.

Instapath Inc: Cancer biopsies can take a week to get you your results. Instapath is building a fully-automated pathology lab that can test a tissue sample and provide a diagnosis within five minutes while you’re still at the doctor’s office. This eliminates agonizing waiting periods and can get users treated more quickly. Instapath charges $200 per procedure, has already processed 500 biopsies, and claims to be on the path to FDA clearance in 9 months.

Bensen: Bensen wants to replace the drive-thru window by allowing restaurants to receive orders via voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa in the car.. It’ll launch in two restaurant chains later this year, with Letters of Intent from companies with 800 locations. They’ll charge $3000 per year per location.

Socrates Intelligence: There’s huge demand for reading in China but just 1 library per 480,000 citizens. Socrates Intelligence is the Netflix-style mailing business for books in China. For $56 per year, users can rent up to 3 books and get them within 48 hours. The startup already has 10,000 subscribers and plans to go after ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines next to become the ‘rent everything store’ for China.

Overview: Many factories use massive robots to manufacture goods overnight, but there’s not always someone watching. If something goes wrong but goes undetected, the robots can physically destroy themselves. Overview uses cameras and AI to monitor manufacturing robots, shutting them down if something goes wrong.

Sunsama: A task manager that integrates with SaaS tools like Trello, JIRA and Asana to help workers identify and manage the tasks they should be working on on a specific day.

Kalshi: Instead of just betting on sports, Kalshi lets anyone bet on anything, like whether Brexit will happen by the end of the month or who will win an Oscar. Users bet against each other so it’s more like a futures market than gambling, and regulators like it since Kalshi doesn’t earn more when users lose. It already has 2 licenses making it legal in 200 countries and is in talks with US regulators to earn 7 percent transaction fees when people bet.

Volk Wireless: Volk is making an Android smartphone with a free data plan, no carrier required. The co-founders say they’re using long-range wireless hardware to share connections and build a network of phones. Co-Founder Greg Hazel was the Chief Architect at Bittorrent, while co-founder Straya Markovic was the lead engineer at mesh messaging platform Firechat.

Nowports: 50% of shipping containers are lost or delayed in part because of inefficient routing and tracking. Nowports is the Flexport for Latin America, a freight forwarding business that helps pallets of goods get from factory to truck to boat to warehouse to retailer. Started by a third generation freight forwarder, Nowports could succeed where US companies lack the required local understanding.

Flower Co.: Memberships for cheaper weed sales and delivery. They’re currently selling $200k in marijuana per month to 700 members. They charge $100 a year for membership, and take 10% on product sales.

Middesk: It’s difficult to know if a business’ partners have paid their taxes, filed for bankruptcy, or are involved in lawsuits. That leads businesses to write off $120 billion a year in uncollectable bad debt. Middesk does due diligence to sort out good businesses from the bad to provide assurance for B2B deals loans, investments, acquisitions, and more. By giving clients the confidence that they’ll be paid, Middesk could insert itself into a wide array of transactions.

Eclipse Foods: Makes dairy product from plants, which they say are “indistinguishable” from those made from animal products. In their tests, 70% of consumers couldn’t tell the difference between their product and a leading competitor. The co-founders were previously the Director of R&D of Hampton Creek and an innovation specialist at the Good Food Institute (a non-profit focusing on plant-based meat/dairy alternatives).

Enemy on Board: By combining the excitement of League Of Legends with the strategy of Mafia, Enemy On Board is a game built for the Twitch era. 5 players team up to complete a mission, but 2 of them secretly are trying to sabotage it. The game’s beta launch is scheduled for June, but testers are already averaging 61 minutes per day, and people have spent 2000 hours watching gameplay on Twitch. Through microtransactions, Enemy On Board’s CEO who worked on League Of Legends believes they can build the next blockbuster freemium game.

Modoo Technology: A wearable for monitoring fetal health, measuring heart rate and baby movements. It has been selling in China for $200 since 2017, with $3.4M in revenue in 2018. The company recently introduced a monthly subscription option for those who don’t want to buy outright.

Our World In Data: World leaders need easy-to-access, understandable data on issues like CO2 emissions or child mortality to make decisions. Our World In Data takes key findings from studies buried in paid journal articles and jargon, and put them on an open access website that has achieved top Google ranking for many queries. It already has 1 million users, and its team from University Of Oxford believes optimizing research data for the web could lead to better global policy.

Encarte: A browser extension bringing one-click checkout to any e-commerce store. Currently supports over 500,000 Shopify stores. It stores your data locally rather than in the cloud, and keeps track of all tracking numbers. They’re also building a “virtual e-commerce credit card” that will offer personalized promotions, amongst other things.

Atomic Alchemy: Radio cardiograms and PET/CT scans require nuclear medicine to visualize abnormalities. But five of the six reactors that generate this nuclear medicine are set to shut down in the next 10 years. Atomic Alchemy builds tiny, privately-owned reactors from off-the-shelf parts in order to generate nuclear medicine. The startup already has letters of intent it estimates are worth $50 million to $100 million, and hopes to be operational by 2024.

Jetpack Aviation: Jetpack is building a flying motorcycle. The company says its jet motorcycle is capable of getting from SF to Mountain View in ten minutes, and fits in a one-car garage. They estimate that their full-scale prototype should be done by the end of the year. They’ve received 9 pre-orders so far, worth about $4.1M in sales. The company’s founders previously built an FAA approved Jetpack called the JB10. We covered Jetpack Aviation on TechCrunch previously here.

Mission Stage:

Trexo Robotics: Trexo Robotics is developing a solution that gives those diagnosed with cerebral palsy a better solution than a wheelchair. The startup is focused on providing a robotics device for children with the disease, and the company’s first product will be available for $1,000 per month to families. The company says they currently have 5 units deployed and are approved for use in the U.S. and Canada.

Pachama: A verified marketplace for carbon credits focused on protecting and restoring the world’s forests. The startups uses machine learning, satellite imaging, drones and LIDAR to offset carbon emissions. Pachama connects carbon buyers — an organization seeking to offset their carbon emissions — to carbon projects.

Saratoga Energy: Over the course of six years, the company has developed and patented a production process to synthesize carbon nanotubes from CO2. The startup sells the carbon nanotubes, which are stronger and lighter than steel, at lower prices to aerospace, battery, concrete and other manufacturers. At the end of the week, the company will deliver their first batch for testing. Saratoga has raised $2 million in grant funding over the last two years.

�� Cherry: Cherry is an office perks solution for the modern startup. Rather than giving entire swaths of employees the same benefits, the co-founders want to let people choose their favorite internet services. People will be able to select services through a Slackbot interface and get things like ClassPass and HBO paid for by their company. The company says they have 24 companies in paid pilot programs. We previously covered Cherry on TechCrunch here.

CityFurnish: The provider of a furniture rental marketplace in India, CityFurnish delivers and installs furniture to customers in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore for a monthly rental fee, offering free relocation and free maintenance services. The company doesn’t require any contracts and says it’s a cheaper option than actually buying furniture. CityFurnish has 10,000 subscribers today, $3 million in ARR and has been profitable for 18 months.

NaturAll Club: NaturAll Club wants you to refrigerate your haircare products. The startup’s products are made from fruit and vegetable pulp. The team’s first product is made with fresh avocado and did $2 million in sales in 6 months, the company says. While these may sound like Juicero packs for your hair, organic products are the fastest growing product category in beauty.

FlockJay: Operates an online sales academy that teaches job seekers from underrepresented backgrounds the skills and training they need to pursue a career in tech sales. The 12-week long bootcamp offers trainees coaching and mentorship. The company has launched its debut cohort with 17 students, 100 percent of which are already in job interviews and 40 percent of which have already secured new careers in the tech industry.

Demodesk: Demodesk is making a screen sharing tool to help companies reshape sales by demoing products directly for customers. What’s unique is that it isn’t your desktop, it’s a virtual machine where your demo presentation can live without potential customers having to wait through lengthy downloads while still being able to collaborate and edit what’s happening in the software.

Ultralight: A cross-platform app development tool used for rendering HTML UI within games and desktop applications. The company’s goal is to replace Chromium by providing a GPU-accelerated proprietary renderer. Ultralight says it will be compatible with most programming languages.

Keeper: Keeper wants to stop 1099 employees from getting ripped off by minutiae of tax forms. The company says that the average contractor overpays $1,249 per year in taxes. Keeper uses machine learning to automatically find tax write-offs inside the bank statements of users. They’re targeting the 50 million contractors in the U.S. to find their market.

Taobotics: A manufacturer of autonomous robots for supermarkets in China to help brands promote and advertise their products in stores. The startup, which employs a team of robotics experts, says people are 7x more likely to purchase a product from a robot than in-store sales help. Taobotics recently secured a deal to pilot 1,000 robots for Coca Cola.

Releaf: Releaf is building machinery to help African food factories operate more efficiently. The startup says that 90 percent of food factories are running under capacity because they can’t pre-process raw materials quickly enough. The startup says their machines quickly pay off for the factories and are already in use.

Synova Life Sciences: Synova Life Sciences is building a medical device that makes it easier to harvest stem cells from a patient’s fat. The company boasts that its device, which uses “modified shock waves”, can get stem cells from fat 30 times faster than current solutions, while yielding twice as many cells. They’ve already done 45 procedures with 14 different doctors.

Dyneti Technologies: Has invented a credit card scanner SDK that uses a smartphone’s camera to help prevent fraud by over 50 percent and improve conversion for businesses by 5 percent. The business was started by a pair of former Uber employees including CEO Julia Zheng, who launched the fraud analytics teams for Account Security and UberEATS. Dyneti’s service is powered by deep learning and works on any card format. In the two months since it launched, the company has signed contracts with Rappi, Gametime and others.

PreFlight: PreFlight is trying to fully automate UI testing and eliminate the need for companies to hire specifically for QA. The company’s Chrome extension can help developers record user actions and run robust testing. After launching just two weeks ago, users have collectively run 55,000 tests with PreFlight.

AmpUp: The “Airbnb for electric vehicle chargers.” AmpUp, preparing for a world in which the majority of us drive EVs, operates a mobile app that connects a network of thousands of EV chargers and drivers. Using the app, an electric vehicle owner can quickly identify an available and compatible charger and EV charger owners can earn cash sharing their charger at their own price and their own schedule. The service is currently live in the Bay Area.

Docbot: An AI-enabled computer vision platform for gastroenterology practices to improve colonoscopy procedures. The service, which integrates with IT systems to make billing and documentation more efficient, tracks withdrawal time, intubation rate, bowel prep and adenoma detection rate. 20 million Americans get colonoscopies every year, though doctors aren’t always able to identify the colon polyps which can cause colon cancer. Docbot detects colon polyps in real-time. The service has been used in more than 2,000 procedures to date.

Edyst: Edyst is an online coding bootcamps geared towards college students in India hoping to find employment. The company guarantees that each student that graduates the course will get at least 5 job interviews. Right now, their course is paid for directly by colleges for students. Eventually, the co-founders believe that the bootcamp will be able to replace lower-tier universities in India.

Okteto: An application development platform for Kubernetes that helps developers to quickly iterate and improve their test decision time by 4x. The founders have decades of experience building application platforms for Docker and other businesses. Okteto’s goal is to become the standard way to develop cloud-based applications for Kubernetes.

Brew.com: A subscription-based podcasting app tackling the podcast monetization problem. Brew costs users $5 per month and helps creators of all levels earn money for their content by paying them on a per listen basis. The startup launched the app last week with exclusive shows from eight creators, including YouTubers Boogie2988 and Jack Vale, who each have millions of followers on YouTube. Brew currently has 200 creators on its waitlist. We previously covered Brew on TechCrunch here.

Sapling Intelligence: Sapling Intelligence wants to be a Grammarly for the enterprise. The company’s deep-learning writing assistant can help messaging stay on-brand with a uniform voice that can be tuned to approach different audiences. Their product is a browser extension that sits on top of products like Zendesk and Salesforce

Evo.Do: The developer of a codeless test automation tool for the gaming industry and other digital products. The company says its AI-enabled bots are as smart and flexible at identifying bugs in games as a human. The bots are able to find bugs in minutes with no human intervention; one bot works faster and more efficiently than one human tester.

Reelables: Reelables is looking to ensure that enterprise companies lose fewer of their products. The company is building ultra-thin flexible bluetooth trackers that are build into labels that can be affixed to products. The “Tile for enterprise” startup has already launched a pilot program with GE.

Docucharm: The platform, co-founded by former Uber product manager Minh Tri Pham, turns documents into structured data a computer can understand to accurately automate document processing workflows and to take away the need for human data entry. Docucharm’s API can understand various forms of documents (like paystubs, for example) and will extract the necessary information without error. Its customers include tax prep company Tributi and lending businesses Aspire.

Closer Sports: Closer Sports is creating a live-streaming platform for athletes to connect with fans. The co-founders want their product to fill in the shortcomings of ESPN and existing social media services. Unlike Instagram, the startup lets athletes charge for access to their live-streams. The company is kicking things off with UFC fighters and had 500 paid subscribers after launching recently.

Datamode: The startup identifies bugs in businesses’ data pipelines. Debugging is very expensive and time-consuming for data engineering teams. Datamode diagnoses the root cause of pipeline failure showing businesses exactly when it failed and what is broken instantly. Datamode was started by repeat founders, including a co-founder of Movity, which sold to Trulia in 2010.

Schoolable: There are 65 million students in Africa attending private schools, but tuition payments can be a major pain point for parents paying for their child’s education. That’s because tuition payments are often due upfront and it’s more difficult than it should be for schools to keep track of payments. Schoolable is creating an invoicing app that helps ensure parents make payments on time, while also using the app to save directly for tuition.

Vectordash: Dubbing itself the “Netflix for gamers”, Vectordash turns your Macbook Air or other underpowered rig into a formidable machine through their cloud gaming service. Vectordash’s platform allows gamers to play games without rendering them locally, instead utilizing peer-to-peer rendering power via host GPUs. The company is charging $28 per month for the service. We previously covered Vectordash on TechCrunch here.

Doorport: They’ve built a small device that can be added to existing apartment intercom systems, allowing residents to unlock the building’s front door for themselves, guests, and delivery people with an app. Doorport is currently being piloted in San Francisco, Oakland, and New York. The startup is still figuring out exactly how much their product will cost, and are testing different pricing models. We previously covered Doorport on TechCrunch here.

Intact Therapeutics: The makers of smart gels for local drug delivery for gastrointestinal diseases. The company’s gel was created for inflammatory bowel disease but can be used on several other diseases. Intact has already signed a deal with a large pharmaceutical gel maker to develop its products at scale.

Cuanto: Cuanto is building a payment product for Latin American businesses selling their goods on WhatsApp and Instagram, a sales pipeline that 80% of businesses there focus on. The company is planning to use the data they yield from sellers to facilitate loans to businesses in Latin America. The startup is already live in 5 countries.

Bottomless: Bottomless automatically restocks your coffee supply using an internet-connected scale which members place under their bag of coffee grounds. Tracking the weight of the bag, Bottomless’ scales determine when customers are low on grounds and ensure a new bag of previously selected freshly roasted coffee is on their doorstep before they run out. The service costs $36 per year. We previously covered Bottomless on TechCrunch here.

Heart Aerospace: The manufacturers of an electric regional airplane, the ES-19, expected to be certified for commercial flights by 2025. The airliners hold 19 passengers. The founder, Anders Forslund, has a Ph.D. in aircraft design and has already signed letters of intent with aerospace companies worth $1.6 billion.

Windsor: Windsor is building a platform that connects a company’s separate application data services. The company connects this data and builds timelines of runtime events, giving customers a closer eye into what is happening on their helping them answer more intimate questions about how their

CareerTu: A WeChat-based online digital marketing school targeting Chinese students living in the U.S. CareerTu wants to help those students who are lacking the necessary skills to succeed in U.S. jobs. In the year since it launched, the startup has brought in $700,000 in revenue from 160,000 users and is profitable. The company plans to expand to support Chinese students based in China.

Convictional: Convictional helps direct-to-consumer companies approach larger retailers more simply. It takes a lot of time for a supplier to build a relationship with a retailer and start selling their products. Convictional wants to speed things up by building a B2B self-service commerce platform that allows retailers to easily approach brands and make orders.

Dockup: Creates on-demand staging environments for engineering teams to save developers’ time. Large companies spend millions to scale staging, including Facebook and Google, while smaller startups are stuck with broken staging. Dockup, which launched this month with four paying customers, will reduce these staging headaches.

Thrive Agric: The company helps smallholder farmers in Nigeria access crowdfunded loans to help grow their crops, as well as help them sell their produce. The company has worked with 14,000 farmers to date, with plans to reach 1,000,000 farmers across Africa by 2022 in what it says is a $54 billion market opportunity.

Skill-lync: Skill-lync is another YC startup looking to approach the fact that Indian college students aren’t getting jobs in the fields they study. The startup is targeting mechanical engineering students with a set of online courses that can make up for outdated college curriculums. The team is already educating 2,800 students and earning $82,000 in monthly revenues.

Rebank: An automation tool for business banking that works with any bank and/or multiple banks at once. Rebank, which claims to have “hacked banking,” has 40 companies currently using the tool to save time. Rebank operates under a subscription model, charging its customers $50 per month for access to its platform.

AXDRAFT: The startup is building software that helps smaller companies automate documents that they’re having to fill out again and again, helping startups spend less time drafting and proofreading routine documents. The company is starting off with a solution for contracts that helps startups fill out the documents quickly and for free while charging $25 to review the contracts and ensure that everything is up to snuff.

Glide: There has been a pretty major trend towards services that make it easier to build web pages or mobile apps. Glide lets customers easily create well-designed mobile apps from Google Sheets pages. This not only makes it easy to build the pages, but simplifies the skills needed to keep information updated on the site.

Boundary Layer Technologies: High-speed container ships using hydrofoils. The tech-enabled ships allow transit time that is comparable to air travel but much more affordable. The company built its prototype in just 10 weeks at a cost of $150,000 and has a letter of intent from Flexport to build ships that will travel between Los Angeles and Shanghai.

Via Josh Constine https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

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zipgrowth · 5 years

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New Verizon Fees Could Cut Off Access for Millions of Remind Users

Can you hear me now? That’s what Remind and many of its users hope to get across as they protest Verizon’s new fees, which threaten to disrupt use of the messaging service millions of students and educators depend on.

Thousands of teachers have taken to Twitter this week to blast the telecommunications company and defend Remind, a school communication platform used for everything from announcing homework assignments to contacting parents when a student is sick.

One by one, educators using the hashtag #ReverseTheFee have described how Remind has become an integral part of their classroom culture—and how, without it, they’d lose a critical tool for reaching students and parents.

Founded in 2011, Remind now claims 31 million monthly active users, 30 million of whom reside in the U.S. and the other 1 million in Canada, CEO Brian Grey tells EdSurge. Of its U.S. users, 7 million are Verizon customers.

Messages on Remind can be sent through the company’s mobile app or directly to users’ phones as SMS messages. In the latter case, the company pays a small fee for each text sent. But as of Feb. 1, Verizon will enforce an additional fee on each message that is sent using Remind. According to Grey, it will cost Remind 11 times more per text message than it currently pays.

Up to this point, Remind has absorbed the fees that carriers like Verizon charge for text messages. It’s the San Francisco-based company’s way of fulfilling its commitment to keep a core part of the product free for schools, educators, students and parents, Grey explains.

With these new fees, however, shouldering the cost will be out of the question. “Given the large number of Verizon users that use our free service, we will not be able to sustain that financially,” he says.

As a result, in a couple of weeks, Verizon’s Remind users will no longer be able to receive text messages. That means teachers won’t be able to send homework assignments to students, alert parents that Picture Day is tomorrow or shout out good behavior in class. It means that administrators won’t be able to tell teachers that school is canceled the next day due to snow or incentivize student attendance with a surprise Pajama Day.

“I was devastated when I saw the news,” says Christie Knighton, an instructor at Highline College in Des Moines, Wash. “This program is so critical. If my students are working at home and they have a question, they can text me. It’s an amazing tool for students in particular.”

Other educators expressed similar distress.

“I honestly don’t have a backup plan. I don’t know what else to do,” says Claire Peterson, a 6th-grade English language arts teacher in San Antonio, Texas, who has been using Remind with her classes on a weekly basis for the last four years. The tool allows her to send reminders about upcoming projects, announce new test reviews or contact a parent directly without having to disclose her personal phone number. “It’s a great way to communicate right away,” she says.

Remind informed its users on Monday about the upcoming changes and asked that they spring into action. The company encouraged users to take up the issue on Twitter, using callouts like #ReverseTheFee and #NotSpam.

The latter hashtag is in play, Grey says, because Verizon is justifying these new fees as part of a larger effort to control spam. The problem, say Grey and several teachers EdSurge interviewed, is that they’re targeting the wrong company.

“I kind of like that philosophy—charging more for spam—but Remind is not spam,” Knighton says. “This is an educational tool that so far has been free to users.”

If enough educators express full-throated support for Remind and the educational purpose its platform serves, Grey hopes Verizon will walk back the new fee. “We’re asking and hoping they can exempt or keep our traffic out of [their spam-control efforts], because Remind is obviously not spam,” Grey says. “That’s part of what is maybe being confused by Verizon here.”

When reached by EdSurge, representatives at Verizon declined to comment. However, in a statement provided to the publication Ars Technica, Verizon explained that it is charging the new fee to Twilio, a bulk texting service used by many companies to send SMS messages, and Twilio is passing that fee on to Remind. Verizon added that Remind sends upwards of 1.6 billion texts each year on its network.

The quick math suggests that the additional fees, which according to Twilio will bring the price per SMS message to $0.0025, would increase Remind’s messaging fees from about $360,000 per year to as much as $4 million.

Verizon is not the only telecoms company that is levying spam fees for Remind. In late 2018, Grey received word from two Canadian carriers, Rogers and Bell, that they would soon begin charging a higher fee—about 25 times higher, Grey says—for its users to receive Remind messages. The company planned to take on the increased cost for as long as it could. But shortly after learning about Verizon’s fee hikes, Grey had reached a tipping point and decided that it was no longer sustainable to pay them. The company will stop service for Roger and Bell on Jan. 28.

“The massive amount of costs we’d be incurring with Verizon really forced our hand and made us have to make some hard decisions,” Grey says.

Workarounds That Don’t Work for Everyone

To prepare its Verizon users for the possible service interruption, Remind has offered several alternatives. Users can download the Remind mobile app and either turn push notifications on for their smartphones or elect to have messages sent to their emails. Another option is for schools affected by the new fees to upgrade to the paid plan Remind offers, since the company will be absorbing the increased Verizon fees for its premium users.

Educators say that while these workarounds will be a fine solution for some people, it won’t be enough to help many of their students.

“There are a lot of hiccups with that,” Peterson says. In the past, she’s tried getting her students to download apps and found that many of them can’t because they use prepaid phones or have limited storage.

Knighton, meanwhile, teaches a lot of adult learners, many of whom are not “tech-savvy," she says. "I would say at least half my students just do the text messaging. For them to even download an app, that’s an extra step” they may not take.

Remind’s Grey agrees. “Those are some workarounds that Verizon customers can follow, but obviously not everybody in the U.S. has a smartphone that supports apps, or a data plan that allows them to use the app all the time. It’s going to be challenging.”

Plus, he notes, less than 2 percent of Remind users have opted to purchase the premium service since it first became available in 2017, and many schools just aren’t in a position to foot that bill.

For school and district users in Canada, the paid plan isn’t even an option—at least not yet.

That means people like Diana Field have fewer options. Field is a 1st-grade teacher for the Thames Valley District School Board in Ontario, and she says she’s been using Remind for nearly eight years—almost as long as the company has been around.

“[Remind is] a vital part of our class culture,” Field says, “and the connections between home and school will diminish if the fees aren't reversed. Parents won't be as engaged, and that would be detrimental to the support and teamwork students need and deserve.”

New Verizon Fees Could Cut Off Access for Millions of Remind Users published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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emarkly-blog · 7 years

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How to Set Up a Beautiful Blog Today: Step by Step

The Way to Set Up a Beautiful Blog Today: Step by Step

Wish to make something purposeful? Why don't you begin a site? Creating this blog is one of the greatest decisions Ryan and I made. Afterall, our blog is how we earn a full time income. Additionally it is how we add value to some other people's lives.

So, let's say you've seriously considered starting a new site express your feelings and to communicate your thoughts. Now, let's say that you don't know the place to get started and you are overwhelmed by options. Sound about right? Good, that is exactly where we started--clueless, confused, and confused with options.

Since creating this blog we've gained an audience of more than 4 million subscribers, and we've heard a lot about blogging the way across. Probably the most important lesson learned was that starting a blog was substantially simpler than we ever thought. Thankfully, you should not be tech savvy (we certainly are not). That you don't have to know how to code or design (we still do. That you never need much money (it's possible to get your domain at no cost and host your site for only a few bucks per month). And also you don't need to devote a huge amount of time either (you can set up your site in under one hour).

Because we receive many questions we decided to supply a souptonuts guide for how to start a blog to our subscribers. This article is intended to function as a howto manual, helpful information that will illuminate the path toward establishing your blog, replete with instructions, screen shots, and even an instructional video.

Step by Step Instructions:How to Set Up a Blog

While there are free blogging programs on the market like Blogger.com and Tumblr.com, nearly every severe blogger utilizes a self-hosted WordPress site because of its creative flexibility and freedom. The Minimalists uses WordPress as it provides us greater control on the appearance and texture of the blog-- evenmore creative control than any other stage.

After much experimentation and experimentation, we discovered the very best way to establish our blog. These are the steps. If you comply with this sequence, you may set up a blog within just one hour.

Step 1. Preparation

You'll want two things before you Begin:

.A debit or credit card (to pay for hosting)

.30--60 minutes to set up everything

Step 2. Domain Name & Hosting

Your domain name can be an important part of one's blog. Your domain is your speech on the internet. By way of instance, our domain name is https://emarkly. .com. But before you invest in a domain and rush off, you'll first need to set up hosting for your own blog. We advocate Bluehost web hosting for Many reasons:

.We Utilize Bluehost. We personally use Bluehost to host The Minimalists. If an organization is recommended by you, you better be prepared to make use of their product your self.

.Superb Customer Care. Withhold times that average less than 30 seconds and 100% in house, on-site staff in their Utah offices, so you can rest assured that the person knows how to provide help. If you have some queries, then they'll assist you through the entire setup process.

.Amazing Pricing. TheMinimalists.com is a Bluehost affiliate partner, meaning in addition with their own service, we also receive a commission for referring new customers. To be fair, though, we'd still utilize Bluehost when we weren't a joint venture partner. Hence, we do not suggest Bluehost simply because we're an affiliate (every hosting company provides an affiliate app); we recommend Bluehost as they're the very best, most reliable alternative. Plus, because we're a partner, Bluehost provides a exceptional price for The Minimalists readers: just $3.49 monthly. That is a price that is phenomenal. Bluehost will provide you a domain name , which allows you to prevent the upfront and recurring fees associated with purchasing a domain when you sign up for hosting. If you've already purchased your own domain name, don't stress; it's still possible to use your domain names with Bluehost (it's just one extra measure). Bluehost's facilities are worldclass. They have their very own datacenter plus so they build our own servers. Their headquarters includes over 50,000 square feet of office space, a custom-built data center that is 20,000-square-foot, along with enough generators to power a town. Bluehost delivers a 30day money-back guarantee, therefore in the event that you change the brain, there's no risk.

.Friends & Household. Many of our family and friends use Bluehost to sponsor their own blogs..

The first thing we did was move to Bluehost and also click the "Subscribe Now" button. This may take you to a screen with two options:

In the event that you still will need to register a domain, you are going to use the left box followed with your desired extension (e.g., . com, . net, . org). If you're having trouble considering a fantastic domain name, try Wordoid, a wonderful naming tool that may give you a lot of great options (just make certain to don't get the domain name from them, as Bluehost will provide you one free of charge).

If you already purchased your domain somewhere else like GoDaddy.com, do not worry, because Bluehost will give you the information you'll require for easily transferring your own domainname.

On another screen, you'll need to fill out your information and then choose your web hosting package:

You'll see that prices range between $5 to $1 monthly, based on whether you would like 1 2 months, 24 months, or three years of hosting. In other words, you get yourself a large upfront discount the longer you are willing to commit.

Note: As we're a affiliate partner, Bluehost provides a exceptional price for The Minimalists readers: only $3.49 monthly. That's a outstanding price.

After completing your registration you will receive you'll need to move:

Step 3. Install WordPress

Do not allow the word "install" intimidate you. You walk . Anyway, in this context, "install" just means "create a few clicks." Therefore, when you have

purchased your Bluehost account, you're just a couple clicks

from your WordPress setup.

To begin with, proceed to my.bluehost.com and sign in using your new password and login. Click "site" under "hosting":

Then click "Install now" under "WordPress":

Now you're at the "One Click Install" page. Next, under "do it yourself (FREE)" click on "Setup":

Then, choose your domain and then click "Check Domain":

Then read and accept the terms and conditions and click on "Install Now:"

When you wait for an instant, your WordPress install is complete. Congrats!

Step 4. Design Your Blog by Selecting a Theme

A motif lets you control the appearance and texture without the need for coding expertise or design comprehension of your site. To put it differently, a great theme enables one to design your weblog exactly how you need it to check. If you're not a coder (we certainly are not), then the motif gets the look work a thousand times easier.

There are two halves to your subject: the framework (the bones) and the child theme (the wonder).

Framework. Genesis is undeniably the most flexible & best choice, although there are lots of WordPress theme frameworks available on the market. Genesis (that the theme, not the awesome 80s band) may be the first half of your theme. Many topics deal with the aesthetics of one's website that is own new, however Genesis provides a essential foundation for the Genesis Child Theme. Simply visit StudioPress and Get the Genesis Frame Work ($59.95).

Child Theme. Once you procure your Genesis Framework, you'll want to locate that perfect Child Theme (which can be only a ridiculous way to state "weblog design" or even "the half of one's motif which makes your blog pretty"). The Minimalists utilizes the superbly easy "tru" theme, which can be found at BYLT, the Genesis Community market place. Head on over to BYLT, read the collection of themes, and find

Step 5.Install Your Theme

Remember how easy it had been in install WordPress? Installing your theme is simpler.

Log into to WordPress:

Afterward, on your WordPress dashboard, then go to Appearance > Topics and then click on the "Install Themes" tab, then followed with the "Upload" link. Then, click "Select File," select your genesis.zip (that you downloaded whenever you purchased Genesis in measure 4) and press on "Install Now."

Wait! Don't click "Activate" only yet. To begin with, upload your child zip document after exactly the setup process. Upon completion, click the "Activate" link and you're prepared.

Totally Unrelated Bonus Step: Watch Genesis's "I Can Not Dance" Well that was fun. Now let's return to setting up your site...

Step 6.Install WordPress Plugins

Plugins are appendages that add functionality. It is best to keep your number of plugins and install the plugins. (a lot of plugins, in addition to undependable plugins, can decrease your site.) We utilize only a few plugins in The Minimalists (below).

In your WordPress dash browse to Plugins > Insert New and look for, install, and then trigger the subsequent complimentary plugins one by one:

WordPress Search Engine Optimisation by Yoast is the defacto standard SEO plugin for WordPress. For details and everything you need to know about WordPress SEO read Yoast's Definitive SEO Guide.

Google-analytics by Yoast lets you keep track of your weblog's traffic readily and also with a great deal of interesting data: overall traffic, traffic sources, views per author & category, automatic tracking of outbound clicks and pageviews.

Jetpack by WordPress.com is a WordPress plugin that supercharges your self-hosted WordPress site with the great cloud power of WordPress.com.

In the end people may receive our posts via email, that a Feedburner account that was free was found by us. MailChimp is just another option that is email-subscription that is wonderful, when you have under 2000 subscribers, which is free. (Incidentally, if you don't already contribute to The Minimalists via email, you can here.)

Step 7. Tinker Before You're Happy

You are done. But this is actually where the fun begins. Now that you have your own personal blog, you get to make it yours; you get to show your vision to a real possibility. So away:

Test out various color palettes.

Add an image of yourself (ace tip: when you get the opportunity, get some professional photos taken; they are well worth the fee).

Spice up your weblog articles with top quality stock photos: Paul Jarvis (free), Unsplash (free), iStock (fee-based), Shutterstock (fee-based).

Produce a basic logo by means of an application like InDesign or Photoshop or a text editor (note: even though we don't have any design skills, we were able to utilize Apple's Pages application to generate our simple logo after downloading any free vector art and selecting the typeface/font [Helvetica Neue] that best suited our decorative), or you could hire some one just like 99designs to design a professional logo.

Determine whether or not you would like comments on your blog.

Establish a social networking presence on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ (or even all three).

Keep tinkering and soon you get the ideal appearance.

And, of course, start writing new site articles and also publish them.

We hope you have loads of fun expressing your self in your brand new blog. We're sure it is going to be a enormous growth experience for you personally. Wherever you are going, be sure to relish

#wordpress MakeMoneyOnline Blog Webhosting

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donaldhadided · 7 years

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How to Become an UBER Driver in 7 Simple Steps

Last updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Finding out how to become an Uber driver comes with a few questions such as…

What is an Uber Driver?

How do you become an Uber driver?

How much do Uber drivers make?

Where do I begin to fill out an Uber application?

What are the Uber driver requirements?

How to use the Uber driver app?

All of these questions and more are answered in detail in the article below.

Are you ready to start the process of becoming a driver for Uber?

Then start by entering some basic information into this special online application to get started.

Note: Read through our guide below for some tips and tricks to maximize your Uber driver pay. Or grab and exclusive Uber driver promo code for a huge sign-on bonus.

Pro Tip:

Don’t have a car?

Still love the flexibility and opportunity of ridesharing?

You’re in luck!

Breeze will rent you a Prius to help you get started.

They’ll even help you apply for jobs through on-demand services such as Uber, Lyft, Postmates, TaskRabbit, Washio and more!

For more information on this groundbreaking service, check out our in-depth coverage of Uber Financing.

1. Find Out What it Means to Be an UBER Driver

Uber drivers are independent contractors that own their own vehicle and insurance while driving on the rideshare smartphone application platform.

Many drivers work part-time or full-time positions to supplement their income.

Drive for Uber and you’ll have flexibility and the options to work at your own pace.

An Uber driver has the power to quit their job without 2 weeks notice but is also subject to being deactivated at any time if they do not perform up to the standard of Uber.

You have the ability to make as much as you want if you’re willing to work hard.

2. How to Become an UBER Driver

No matter your chosen career path, you can easily make money by driving for Uber.

Completely flexible scheduling.

Work when you can!

You can put in as few or as many hours as you choose.

Looking to get away from the dreary 9-5 life?

…or want a secondary or even just occasional income?

Driving for car-sharing services is a great way to achieve your financial goals.

According to a survey conducted by Uber, 97% of drivers are satisfied with the flexibility of their schedule.

Let’s say you want to be a full-time or part-time driver.

Begin the Uber application now and start earning up to $35/hour!

How much do Uber drivers really make in 2017? Scroll down to find the answer.

In addition to driving for Uber, we also recommend becoming a Lyft Driver.

3. Uber Driver Application Process

No cost to sign up…

Provide your basic info, along with info about your car in the Uber application.

You’ll need to provide some documentation, of course. Basic stuff.

Basic stuff.

They’ll let you know when you’re approved!

The Uber application is pretty straightforward and only takes about 5 minutes to complete.

Guess what?

They’ll also give you an iPhone to use.

It has the driver app programmed for Uber drivers, so you’re good to go.

Now you can hit the road!

4. Uber Driver Requirements

Uber driver requirements are a list of things that you must meet or exceed to qualify.

First, you must pass a background check to qualify for the Uber requirements.

This process includes county, federal, and multi-state criminal background checks.

Of course, you must have a valid driver’s license…

…And valid registration of your vehicle.

Also…

The Uber requirements state you must be age 21 or older.

If you need more help with vehicle questions then visit help.uber.com.

Uber Car Requirements

The Uber car requirements state your car must be a model 2000 or newer.

In some cities, the driver requirements are 2005 or newer.

It varies, though, from city to city.

It’s recommended to drive a hybrid car for the cost saving benefits but it’s not required.

Each service – UberX, UberSUV, UberBLACK, UberSELECT – all have their own specific Uber car requirements.

Pro Tip: The requirements for becoming an Uber driver and driving for Lyft are very similar. Each also has its own benefits and extra perks, so it is recommended to drive for both to make as much as possible out of your rideshare driving experience. Plus, there are sign up bonuses for both (more on that below)!

5. How Much Do Uber Drivers Make?

Are you wondering…the amount of money Uber drivers are making?

Your pay as a rideshare driver completely depends on how many hours you choose to work.

How much do drivers for Uber make per hour?

Well, it varies.

Uber estimates that their average driver pay gets around $19/hour.

Uber driver salary and pay can be up to $35/hour though!

So, if you’re wondering how much Uber drivers make part-time…

It’s up to you!

Part-time or full-time, it’s your choice for what you can make.

How much do drivers for Uber make per ride?

Check out the graph below for average per ride earnings around the country.

How much are Uber drivers making per trip? Source: Sherpashare.com

You earn money based on the rides you provide rather than an hourly rate.

Now there’s some incentive!

Bonus…

Uber driver pay is done via direct deposit on a weekly basis.

No more budgeting that paycheck to last two weeks or more.

Start an Uber application and make money on your own terms.

Check out this guide for more information about how to become a Lyft driver (you can do both, of course).

UBER Driver Bonus

CityBonus AmountRide RequirementTime Requirement Baltimore$2005030 Days Columbus$103030 Days Indianapolis$103030 Days Inland Empire$503030 Days Lake Tahoe$103030 Days Los Angeles$2,000 50060 Days New Jersey$30010030 Days New Orleans$503030 Days Orange County$2,000 50060 Days Phoenix$505050 Days Pittsburgh$1003030 Days Portland$1505030 Days Reno$103030 Days San Francisco$2,000 50060 Days Silicon Valley$2,000 50060 Days Sacramento$3507530 Days Seattle$15010060 Days Tucson$103030 Days Washington, D.C.$2005030 Days

6. Driving with Uber

Being an Uber driver is simple and fun.

Drive with Uber and have the freedom to work when you choose.

Even if you’re among the less tech-savvy of us, you’ll be fine.

Driving with Uber is rewarding and convenient.

Drive for Uber – How It Works

Uber will provide you with a phone, complete with the driver app.

Simply accept a ride when a request pops up, and get started!

Pick up your passenger and confirm your arrival.

The app will automatically charge the rider when the ride is completed.

When driving for Uber you can rate your riders after each ride.

Ratings range from one to five stars.

You won’t be paired again with a rider you’ve rated three stars or below.

Maintain an Active Account

Maintaining your account as active status is quite easy!

Just make sure to accept at least one trip every 30 days.

You can still drive as often as you’d like, of course.

This is just a minimum to make sure their fleet of drivers is active.

Uber Insurance Coverage

Uber provides a very comprehensive insurance package to protect their drivers as well as their passengers.

Some of the benefits include:

$1 million of liability coverage per incident.

This is active from when a driver accepts a ride until it concludes.

Also…

$1 million of uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage per incident.

When does this come into play?

An example: If another motorist were to cause an accident with an uberX vehicle, but doesn’t carry adequate insurance.

This policy would cover any bodily injury to all occupants of the vehicle.

And…

Contingent comprehensive and collision insurance.

What if I already have my own personal insurance?

In that case, this policy covers physical damage to that vehicle that occurs during a trip.

This would be up to the actual cash value of the vehicle, for any reason, with a $1,000 deductible.

In addition…

$50,000/$100,000/$25,000 of contingent coverage between trips.

This is an additional policy that covers Uber drivers during the time when they’re available but between trips.

Of course, being a contingent plan, this would only pay if the personal auto insurance declines or pays zero.

Metromile offers intriguing insurance which is tailored for rideshare drivers.

You may want to check out what they have to offer for Uber insurance.

7. Uber Driver App

Using the Uber driver app is essential if you want to drive with Uber.

The Uber driver app is your portal to getting pickups and navigation instructions to your destination.

As a driver, you’ll have the option to accept or decline a ride for a variety of reasons.

youtube

You don’t want to decline to many rides because Uber may deactivate your account.

You need to treat passengers well if you want to get positive feedback and continue driving for Uber.

The Uber driver app is easy to use and understand after just a few pick-ups.

How to Become an UBER Driver Q&A

Everyone has questions!

Take a peek at some of these common ones, and we hope it helps.

If you have additional questions then we suggest visiting the official FAQ for drivers.

How is my rating calculated?

Following each completed trip, riders are given the opportunity to rate his or her experience out of five stars. Your rating is comprised of an average of the last 500 ratings from completed trips.

How are my acceptance rates calculated?

This is a percentage of the number of rides you accept out of those that are sent to you while online in driver mode. You should maintain a minimum of an 80% acceptance rate to keep your account active.

Can I use my own phone while driving for Uber, or do I have to use the one they provide for me?

Yes, you can use your own phone instead of Uber’s. But make sure you return the device provided to avoid the monthly rental fee!

The post How to Become an UBER Driver in 7 Simple Steps appeared first on Rydely.com.

How to Become an UBER Driver in 7 Simple Steps published first on http://rydely.tumblr.com/

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unixcommerce · 4 years

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Does Your eCommerce Site Accept Mobile Payments?

1. Pay Attention to your Demographics

2. Align Yourself with the Right App or Software

This is probably the most important tip to keep in mind when accepting mobile payments.

Additionally, you want to pay attention to factors like processing fees and ease-of-use.

3. Allow Payments without Requiring an Account

Piggybacking off the last point. Do your customers a favor and let them checkout as a guest. I mean do they really need to remember yet another username and password?

Also, since most people are iffy about the security of mobile payments, this reduces that fear.

If you do require additional information, keep it only to the essentials, such as an email address and payment method. Asking for too much information will result in abandoned carts.

4. Leverage Loyalty

5. Accept Multiple Billing and Payment Options

If you want to improve the customer experience, don’t limit your mobile payment options. Allow users to make a purchase using a mobile wallet, credit or debit card, eCheck, or eCash like bitcoin.

6. Pre-Fill Locations

7. Design Mobile-Friendly Clear-to-Action Buttons

Another way to keep your customers happy is by designing mobile-friendly CTAs. This way they can easily and quickly complete the checkout process since they know exactly what to step-by-step.

Here’s a couple of ways to create more effective CTA buttons for your smartphone users:

Keep your messages short and to the point. No need to clutter their smartphone screens.

Use action words that tell what them what to do next and what will happen. This eliminates the guessing game.

Take into consideration “the thumb zone.”

Apple recommends touch screen conversions at 44 x 44 pixels.

Limit your CTAs to just one per given space.

“Stick” your CTAs to the bottom of the page.

Use colors wisely.

8. Make Security a Priority

As mentioned previously, security is one of the main reasons why people are hesitant to use mobile payments. You can reduce those fears by making security a priority.

We already discussed this in a previous Due post, but here’s a refresher on how you can secure mobile payments;

Encrypt all sensitive data.

Use a Virtual Private Network.

Only download files and apps from trusted sources.

No jailbreaking or rooting.

Don’t reveal your IMEI or MEID numbers.

Update your device’s software.

Download anti-virus software.

Don’t forget to verify each transaction by:

Requiring customers to enter their security code or CVV number.

Making sure that there’s an address verification match.

Monitoring customer purchasing patterns for abnormal purchases.

Requiring two-factor authentication.

9. Be Compliant

Speaking of security, if you process any payments online, then you’ll have to adhere to a set of security standards known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

To ensure that your eCommerce site is PCI compliant, visit the official site of the PCI Security Standards Council.

10. Train Your Staff

Additionally, credit card numbers and transaction histories are never held on Apple or Android servers. It’s another security measure that prevents sensitive data from being revealed.

You also want to make sure that your team knows how mobile payments are processed. This way if a customer has a question or concern, your staff can quickly answer or address the question or concern.

11. Let the World Know

Republished by permission. Original here

Image: Due.com

This article, “Does Your eCommerce Site Accept Mobile Payments?” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Does Your eCommerce Site Accept Mobile Payments? appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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#IFTTT #WordPress

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toomanysinks · 5 years

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Here are the 85+ startups that launched at YC’s W19 Demo Day 1

Y Combinator’s incubator classes have gotten huge.

With over 200 companies, the Winter 2019 class is by far YC’s largest yet. Meanwhile, the incubator prepares to shift its headquarters from Mountain View to San Francisco.

It’s so large, in fact, it’s had to change the way it does Demo Day. Rather than all pitches happening on one stage, they were split across two stages (the “Pioneer” and “Mission” stages) running in parallel. So even if you were in the building, you couldn’t see all the pitches in person.

We were there — and as we do with each class, we’ve brought back our notes on everything we saw. Here are the 85+ companies that pitched today. Come back tomorrow for Day 2!

Pioneer Stage

Career Karma: Hundreds of millions of people will need to change jobs in the coming years. Career Karma gives them a placement quiz and gets them accepted at coding bootcamps and other training programs that pay the startup $1,000 per student. With income-sharing agreements growing in popularity, plenty of job skill providers will be willing to pay to enroll the highest potential students.

VanGo: An on-demand ride service for getting your kids and teens around. The founders say that, because “moms trust other moms,” 85 percent of drivers on their service are moms and all of them are women. They plan to expand into other verticals to help parents down the road.

Basilica: Most teams trying to build artificial intelligence systems don’t have enough data, and that data can be expensive to collect. Basilica says its transfer learning method allows businesses to create accurate AI with just 1,000 data points instead of 1 million. Basilica generates network effect by using data from across its clients to improve efficiency for each vertical that teams will need to keep up with Google.

Lumos: Doctors use Google 40X more than professional tools for finding medical information, but Google is full of ads and results are meant for patients not doctors. Lumos offers a medical Q&A search engine for doctors who pay $15 per month. A trial at UPenn saw half of the med students using Lumos each day within weeks of launch. Lumos says it has more potential business opportunities based off understanding what studies and info doctors trust, and having access to them at critical decision points during treatment.

Traverse Technologies: Traverse uses software to identify potential sites for wind and hydro power generation. The company then buys and resells those sites. They estimate that a plot that they buy for $750k can be resold for $5 million. The currently have about $50 million worth of letters of intent.

Seawise Capital: Trade loans for exporters in India. The founders say they make 10% on every loan, and have taken on $550k in loans in the past 6 weeks. They plan to raise $5 million in debt by Q3 2019, and $25 million in debt by Q1 2020.

PerShop: Shopping online can be frustrating because you’re either hopping between individual brands without comparative pricing, seeing too many irrelevant products on aggregators, or can’t checkout on social apps. PerShop is a personalized shopping site that only recommends you items from your favorite brands, in your size, in your price range. Eventually it plans to sell personalized, targeted e-commerce ads. PerShop gets smarter as people use it to buy or just for entertainment.

Unicorn: Scooter companies that rent by the minute lose 2 percent of their fleet per day to damage and theft, and that means customers don’t have a safe scooter available when they want one. Unicorn rents scooters by the week or month and is already profitable. Vehicles aren’t left outside overnight and spend more time rented, while customers know there’s a scooter available for them without having to buy one outright. Unicorn’s founder started Tile and now he wants to build a better unit economics business than Lime and Bird.

Loonify Space: A bespoke launch system meant specifically for carrying small satellites into orbit. A balloon carries rocket to 35km and launches it mid-air. They have Letters of Intent for 155 satellite launches, worth a total of roughly $77 million. They intend to have their first launch on May 9th.

Kovi: Provides rental cars for on-demand drivers in Latin America. They currently have around 300 cars on the street, with 3,000 rental requests this year. The company estimates that 70 percent of drivers in Latin America rent/lease their vehicles.

Socrates Intelligence: There’s huge demand for reading in China but just one library per 480,000 citizens. Socrates Intelligence is the Netflix-style mailing business for books in China. For $56 per year, users can rent up to three books and get them within 48 hours. The startup already has 10,000 subscribers and plans to go after ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines next to become the ‘rent everything store’ for China.

Sunsama: A task manager that integrates with SaaS tools like Trello, JIRA and Asana to help workers identify and manage the tasks they should be working on a specific day.

Nowports: Half of shipping containers are lost or delayed in part because of inefficient routing and tracking. Nowports is the Flexport for Latin America, a freight forwarding business that helps pallets of goods get from factory to truck to boat to warehouse to retailer. Started by a third generation freight forwarder, Nowports could succeed where US companies lack the required local understanding.

Modoo Technology: A wearable for monitoring fetal health, measuring heart rate and baby movements. It has been selling in China for $200 since 2017, with $3.4 million in revenue in 2018. The company recently introduced a monthly subscription option for those who don’t want to buy outright.

Mission Stage

Pachama: A verified marketplace for carbon credits focused on protecting and restoring the world’s forests. The startup uses machine learning, satellite imaging, drones and LIDAR to offset carbon emissions. Pachama connects carbon buyers — an organization seeking to offset their carbon emissions — to carbon projects.

Cherry: Cherry is an office perks solution for the modern startup. Rather than giving entire swaths of employees the same benefits, the co-founders want to let people choose their favorite internet services. People will be able to select services through a Slackbot interface and get things like ClassPass and HBO paid for by their company. The company says they have 24 companies in paid pilot programs. We previously covered Cherry on TechCrunch here.

Cuanto: Cuanto is building a payment product for Latin American businesses selling their goods on WhatsApp and Instagram, a sales pipeline that 80 percent of businesses there focus on. The company is planning to use the data they yield from sellers to facilitate loans to businesses in Latin America. The startup is already live in 5 countries.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/here-are-the-85-startups-that-launched-today-at-y-combinators-w19-demo-day-1/

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zipgrowth · 5 years

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New Verizon Fees Could Cut Off Access for Millions of Remind Users

Other educators expressed similar distress.

“I kind of like that philosophy—charging more for spam—but Remind is not spam,” Knighton says. “This is an educational tool that so far has been free to users.”

“The massive amount of costs we’d be incurring with Verizon really forced our hand and made us have to make some hard decisions,” Grey says.

Workarounds That Don’t Work for Everyone

Educators say that while these workarounds will be a fine solution for some people, it won’t be enough to help many of their students.

Plus, he notes, less than 2 percent of Remind users have opted to purchase the premium service since it first became available in 2017, and many schools just aren’t in a position to foot that bill.

For school and district users in Canada, the paid plan isn’t even an option—at least not yet.

New Verizon Fees Could Cut Off Access for Millions of Remind Users published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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