Sasha Says… – Page 2 – Family and Home. Money Matters. Life in General. And More.

4 Common Cryptocurrency Scams And How To Avoid Them

May 20, 2023 No Comments

The rave about cryptocurrency is far from over! The numerous opportunities discovered since its inception in 2009 have got people worldwide hurrying to get a piece of the cryptocurrency action. This is further confirmed by findings from Stash, which found that there are over 420 million crypto investors worldwide. However, in addition to giving many the financial freedom and increase in wealth they seek, there is also the dark side. Several crypto investors have reported being scammed of their earnings, therefore, it is vital to stay alert.

Here are a few common cryptocurrency scams you should know and how to avoid them.

1. Pump and dump schemes

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One of the quickest yet most damaging crypto scams is the pump and dump schemes. This is usually how the story goes: Fraudsters create a lot of hype about a particular coin to get investors interested. They understand the concept of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) in the crypto world and take full advantage of it! Once they have acquired a significant number of investors, the price is then inflated. The scammers would then sell their holdings at an inflated price, usually a significant amount. This leads to a crash in the price and a sudden decline, rendering the client’s investments worthless! To avoid this scam, you must battle your fear of missing out. Don’t be led astray by hype; read more into the advertised coin to learn more about and make more informed decisions about investing.

2. Investment scams

A notable scam worth mentioning is the investment scam. These scams usually consist of a promise to provide “zero risk” investment to make an incredible amount of money. The scam works in several ways. Sometimes it is a so-called “investment manager” unexpectedly calling or texting you with promises of a rewarding investment opportunity. But there’s a catch— you must buy crypto and send it to their account. The website they present to you looks legit, but it’s not! And when you take out your earnings, you can’t! Another popular form of investment scam included the romance scam, where an online “love interest” needs some crypto, making big claims without evidence or explanations and promises of guaranteed increases in returns.

Fortunately, you can employ several safety tactics to safeguard yourself against such scams. For instance, when there are promises of great return, conduct your research to determine how true it is. For instance, if you’re interested in purchasing Polkadot (DOT), it is advisable to look up the price of a Polkadot coin on reliable platforms such as Binance. This would ensure you’re not being misled, and prevent you from being directed to a fraudulent site.

3. Rug pull scams

The rug pull scams are simpler than the pump and dump scheme as it also involves malicious actors attempting to influence the project’s value. In a rug pull scheme, the fraudsters announce a new project, such as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) or coins investors should take advantage of. However, this is far from the truth. When the fraudulent project begins to gain the attention of buyers, the project will suddenly disappear. This is because the scammers have absconded with your money, leaving you high and dry!

4. Phishing scam

Phishing uses scam emails, texts, and voice calls to trick their targets. In crypto, this happens quite often. It has come to be the most effective method of scamming the perpetrators. The phishing scam aims to gain credentials to access your account, manipulate your sales, and steal from your account. The scammer sends a seemingly harmless website link via text and email. However, the link has been embedded with several harmful malware, viruses, remote access, and other techniques to steal your information. Over the phone, scammers play on your human instincts, such as compassion, FOMO, and other tactics that would get you to expose your credentials. The best way to avoid phishing scams is to be cautious of opening links that don’t look dodgy or from unfamiliar sources.

There are several wonderful advantages to investing in cryptocurrencies, such as fast settlement times, potential high returns, round-the-clock liquidity, and diversification, to name a few. Security is another reason why crypto is a better investment choice. However, the efforts of scammers can prevent you from enjoying this perk. The scams mentioned are not at all the only scams cryptocurrency investors are exposed to. There are several more out there and even more sophisticated crimes being carried out. Therefore be sure to employ effective security measures.

Brain Wave, Family and Home living

How to Spruce up Your Home on A Budget

May 17, 2023 No Comments

Do you look at your home and think that it could do with a bit of TLC? If so, then you have come to the right place. This guide will tell you all of the things you can do to make your home appear more maintained without breaking the bank.

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Paint your Front Door
This isn’t a huge investment and it’s ideal if you want to make a major difference to your home in just one day. Your front door will be relatively easy to repaint, and you have a lot of options here too. You can go for a classic color, or you can opt for something a bit bolder if you want. Either way, it doesn’t matter which color you go for, but it does help to make sure that it blends in with the theme of your street. The last thing you want is for your home to stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Plant some Colorful Pots
Consider using some planters so you can change your home with the seasons. If you have some steps that lead to your front door, then you can easily add some groupings of pots or even some topiaries if you want. You can plant boxwoods or evergreens if you do not want to garden all year round and this is great, to say the least. Just make sure that you do not go overboard and that you take the time to pick plants that utilize one or two hues. This is a great way for you to make sure that it adds to your home, without overwhelming your space.

Build a Fence
Even if you do not have a classic-looking home, it’s easy for you to create the same friendly vibe by adding a fence. This may sound cliché, but a fence is one of the best ways for you to make your home seem inviting. You can go for a white picket fence, but you can also opt for an iron-style fence if you want to make your home stand out a bit. Just make sure that your fence is not higher than the other fences on the street because the last thing you want is for your home to look and feel like a prison.

Get Rid of Grime
The great thing about pressure washing is that it is inexpensive and satisfying. It’s a simple task but the payoff is huge, and it could even help you to avoid a full paint job. It’s very easy for you to rent a pressure washer, if you do not have one.

New Windows
If you want to make your home, look great then one thing you can do is look into home window replacement. When you do, you will soon find that your home looks way better and that you are able to add a ton of value as well. New windows will let more natural light into your home as well and this can make all the difference to how your space looks and feels.

Brain Wave, Entrepreneurship & Business Talks

10 Simple Tips to Help You Get More Creative in Your Business

May 17, 2023 No Comments

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In the world of business, we can often think about and heavily focus on being professional, organized, and focusing on our goals. Depending on the industry you’re in, you may find that you’re just unable to get creative. Or maybe you don’t understand the importance of it? It could be that you’re focusing too much on data and processing and you’re not really attracting the audience that you’d really like to. When this is the case, it could be that you’re just being too methodical with things. You may find that bringing more creativity into your life is just what you need. In order to do that, it’ll help if you can apply more creative practices to your work.

But what happens when you tend to be a little more strategic or analytical than creative? Maybe you’ve tried to shake things up a little and you’re not getting results. When that’s the case, you may be better off following some tips that are guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing. And the best part is, if you’re just not sure that you’re the creative type, they’re all incredibly simple to apply! So let’s take a look at what could actually help to get your business more creative.

1. Get Visual With Your Branding
First of all, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re able to bring your brand alive with visuals. Have you created an identity for your business with the right colors and fonts and imagery? If not, this is a great place to start. And if you’re not sure what will best represent your brand, you can work with a branding consultant to do this.

2. Hire a Graphic Designer
Next up is the idea of getting a designer in your business. If you know that design, visuals, and creativity just isn’t your thing, then you’ll want to outsource this. You can hire a freelance designer to manage the visuals on your behalf. That way, you can always make sure that you’re injecting creativity into everything you’re doing, without struggling to do it yourself.

3. Plan a Photoshoot
Another creative visual that can come in handy for your business is photos and visual assets to use your in branding and marketing. If you don’t have these, why not plan in a photoshoot? If you’re a consultant or entrepreneur, having professional headshots can help. But you can also do shoots for your products or more branding based so that you have them to use online and so on.

Brain Wave, Money matters

How Fintech Can Help Your eCommerce Business

May 17, 2023 No Comments

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New financial technology, or “Fintech,” can help your business achieve more as you redefine current systems and processes to meet expected consumer demands and future proofing. You don’t need to use Fintech systems, but you can offer better services and security if you do. Among these features are more accurate records that customers can access at any time.

Easier Banking Options
Fintech has many benefits. But of course, the main one is within banking. Yes, all banks offer some kind of online banking. Yet Fintech advancements mean you can provide your customers with all the services they expect. And this is valuable if you run an online eCommerce platform. Evolve Bank & Trust is just one of the financial institutions embracing all that Fintech has to offer. Meaning you get solid 24/7 banking infrastructure with no additional costs or unfair fees.

Improved Payments for Customers
As an eCommerce platform, your customers come first. And business never sleeps. So you must be able to offer your customers what they want when they want it. And this also means transactions and processing of digital payments. Digital payments are quick and convenient. And don’t in the same way as traditional banking transactions that work to a schedule. As a result, your cash flow is constant, as you don’t need to wait for any payments to come through.

Fintech Can Help with Transparency
Compliance, and trust are major factors. One of the key areas where Fintech solutions can help your business is with greater transparency. From moving homes to buying stock, there is a substantial distrust when it comes to online transactions, Fintech used between eCommerce and banking offers a greater look inside all processes. For example, your customers can see who they are doing business with, all payments received, and upcoming payments scheduled.

Efficiency and Automation
Automation, especially with AI, is a major issue right now. Automation makes things easier, and most systems can carry out functions much more efficiently than a human. This is why over 90% of major corporations use automation in at least one core service. For instance, half of these use Chatbots to improve customer service. Chatbots can help individualize communications among a customer, their bank, and eCommerce platform based on historical interaction data.

Access to a Wider Market
eCommerce as a whole relies on access to customers. And when you think about the global reach of the financial industry, there are only benefits for you. Fintech isn’t limited by the borders and boundaries of the land. And when it comes to online systems, there are no issues like supply chains that plague other industries such as logistics. Additionally, third-party apps and user software allow your customers to access powerful Fintech services easily from anywhere.

Summary
There are many ways in which emerging Fintech can help your online business. It makes banking and payments easier, offers a degree of transparency, and opens you up to a wider market. Combined, these help you give customers what they expect from a modern business.

Brain Wave, Health and medicine

Make it Easier to Exercise at Home

May 17, 2023 No Comments

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Not everyone likes to do certain things in public. And some you can’t by law! So, if you find it hard to exercise at home, give some of these ideas a whirl before you think of giving up.

Try Virtual Instruction
Encouragement is a powerful thing when you want to exercise, especially if you are new to it. If your goal is losing weight, you need someone to get you through. If you want to tone up, you want someone to help you through the burn. Fortunately, today, high-end boutique gyms like HOTWORX offer virtual training sessions with expert instructors for a quality home workout. The point is you can have a much harder time going it alone, so a little help from experts will help.

Do It with Your Partner
If you have a partner or even a flatmate, you can both enjoy the benefits of working out together. This is an excellent way to exercise from where you live since you can encourage each other. And encouragement has been shown to give a better workout. Encouragement from a friend or partner can improve motivation and makes exercise a fun social activity. Some studies have found that you can boost your workout performance by between 2% and 4% with a friend.

Make Space to Exercise at Home
You will have trouble working out if you don’t make some space for it at home. For instance, trying to do some squats and star jumps in a small living room is a guaranteed way to break your shiny TV. And you must also consider equipment storage. For example, you won’t want to get on your stationary bike if just dragging it out of your storage cupboard is exercise enough. So try to make a dedicated space for getting healthy if you have a spare room or a backyard.

Make a Solid Action Plan
It’s great that you want to exercise. But if you exercise at home and/or alone, it can become a solitary activity that loses its enjoyment. But you can make the most of a positive attitude by making a plan of action. Being a goal-oriented person works for most things in life. But it is very helpful when trying to stick to an exercise routine. Partly because your brain knows what to expect. Make your plan around your work and home life, and include days for resting properly.

Make Homewide Dietary Changes
Family can make exercise very challenging. Things pop up that get in the way of your goals. You can be embarrassingly disturbed when during the downward-facing dog pose. And even family food can make your efforts mean nothing. So it helps to change what you put in your cart at the grocery store. For instance, change your shopping list to cut out sugary pop drinks, high-fat chips, and microwave-ready meals. Instead, focus on fresh cooking and healthy snacks.

Summary
You will reach your goals if you make it easier to exercise at home. You can sign up for virtual classes, make a dedicated space for your workouts, and make changes to your shopping list.

Brain Wave, Family and Home living, Life in general

Advice For Planning A Quick, Impromptu House Move

May 11, 2023 No Comments

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The house-moving process very much conforms to the adage “when it rains, it pours”. This is because nothing can happen for months as you aim to sell your home and look for suitable properties to move into, but the moment that you do, ten offers might come in, and you only have a month to move into your desired place.

Of course, the parameters that define the timeline of your move can also be rather constricting, especially if you need to find an approved school placement for your child before the new term starts. In some cases, you may find that all of a sudden, you need to move, and you need to move soon.

This shouldn’t cause you to neglect vital planning efforts, such as using a house inspector to verify the condition of the property you want or making an effort to view it again in person before your final offer. However, if all of that is being resolved, and you have a short amount of time to move, we think the following advice could help you most of all:

Find A Suitable Removalist

It’s good to find a suitable removalist that can fulfill your needs as quickly and reliably as possible. With iMOVE you’ll be able to check through many services in your local area to ensure you have the right one. This can help you decide which features you may be looking for as a matter of course, such as making certain expensive items can be packaged and insured properly as your possessions are transported from place to place.

Set A Strict, But Manageable Set Of Deadlines

When you have to move quickly, everything you need to accomplish has a shorter deadline. However, you can achieve more than you think. For instance, you might block out time during one morning to move all of your utility contracts to the new property by a specific date. Then you might spend the afternoon cleaning your house, or notifying your neighbors of the move, or signing off the end documents. Always make sure you dedicate yourself to the tasks of the morning and afternoon, and then you can break up your efforts into chunks that will progress.

Enlist Help From Friends, Family & Services

Enlisting help from your friends, family, and services can help limit the load at a time when intensive effort is required. For instance, you might use self-storage services to throw your most expensive items into an area of complete security at a time when you’re rushing around your home trying to pack everything. Asking a family member to look after your children when you need to go and visit/prepare the new property can be a big helper, if only for an afternoon. Moreover, you may ask a friend to help you with the drive, or to look over your house with you to make sure you haven’t left anything (and left the stove on) after you leave. That might sound simple, but these efforts really will matter.

With this advice, you’re sure to plan a quick, impromptu house move, without feeling too stressed out.

Brain Wave, Family and Home living

Make Sure you Leave These Home Repair Jobs to the Experts

May 10, 2023 No Comments

If you have a lot of jobs to do around the home, then you will know how difficult it can be to find time to get them all done. You may find that you just don’t have time or even the energy and this can make it very difficult for you to get on top of things. That being said, there are some jobs that you need to leave to the experts. If you want to find out more then simply look below.

Electrical Repairs
The most important job that you should be leaving to the professionals would be any electrical work. If you need to replace an outlet, or if you need to add a new outlet in general then you need to hire a certified electrician to take care of this for you. Working with electricity, when you have no prior training is not only dangerous to yourself, because it’s dangerous to other people as well. Certified electricians have the experience and training needed to get the job done and they can also stop any further damage from occurring to your home. When the time comes for you to sell your property, you have to make sure that you have proof of any rewiring you have done as well. If you have taken care of this job yourself then buyers may haggle the asking price if they feel as though they need to hire a professional to come and take a look.

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Appliance Repair
When one of your household appliances happens to break down, it can cause major damage to your home. If your fridge breaks down, then you will have to scramble to find a way to keep all of your food items from spoiling. If you have a dishwasher that has broken down, then you will have to figure out how you are going to deal with a mountain of washing up in the meantime. Because of disruptions like this, it can be all too tempting for you to try and deal with the repairs all by yourself. If you can, however, you need to avoid this. Appliance repair isn’t easy, to say the least, and if you don’t know what you are doing, you may end up making the issue even worse. You also put yourself at the risk of injury which is the last thing you need. If you want to avoid this, then make sure you hire a repair service. If you want to avoid a repair, maintenance is key. This could involve you hiring a dryer vent cleaning service.

Clogged Drains
One home repair that a lot of people try and take care of on their own is a clogged drain. In a lot of cases, you can take care of this by yourself by putting some boiling water down. That being said, a lot of the time, this will not be enough to deal with the issue. Rather than trying to attempt further measures to correct the clog on your own, you should try and hire a plumber. If you can do this, then you will soon find that it is easier than ever for you to get the result you want. If your initial attempts to unclog the drain are not successful, then make sure that you call a plumber rather than trying to deal with the issue on your own. If you can do this, then you will soon find that you can avoid making things worse for yourself. If you have damaged pipes, then you need to get them repaired as soon as possible because if you don’t then you may find that the issue worsens with time and this is the last thing you need.

Roof Leaks
Roof leaks might not be a serious issue to start with, but it is important to know that they can quickly turn into one. If you do not treat your roof leak quickly then you may find that your roof ends up rotting and before you know it, you will have a huge hole that you need to deal with. If you spot any wet spots in your ceiling, then this is a sign that your roof is in need of some repairs. Repairing a roof is very dangerous work and it is not something that you should ever try and do all by yourself. It will require you to climb up a ladder and remove the shingles. You will then have to install some new ones. If you aren’t careful then you may find that you end up injuring yourself and this is the last thing you need. Professional repair services know how to stay safe while working and this is a great way for you to protect your home against leaks in the future.

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