Do you earn commission income? Having a hard time qualifying for the mortgage you want?

Real estate agents and insurance brokers are two common businesses that tend to be 100% commission based. Lenders consider commission income with a bit more risk than other types of self-employed business income.

1.Some lenders do not accept commission income for qualifying purposes. It is important to realize this niche and choose the right lender for your specific income type. A lot of frustration will be avoided by selecting the right lender.

3.Some of these niche lenders will consider up to 100% of your commission income and there are solutions for borrowers with poor credit.

Bloomtools Durham Specializes in Getting Results For Their Customers.

We Achieve results online for our customers by:

• Developing lead generating websites with the Bloomtools System
• Providing expert digital marketing strategies
• Providing Sales strategies and advice
• Leveraging  an all-in-one digital solution for busy businesses (Content Management System, Database Marketing System and a Contact Management System)
• Expert advice on all print marketing projects

Bloomtools Overview 

As 2017 is winding down, news of major cyber hacks, threats, and data breaches still linger in our heads. Which begs the next question, what will 2018 have in store for us?

2018 The Cyber Security Arms Race Continues

In 2017, the media dominated the airwaves of data breaches, cybersecurity threats, major hacks, which affected companies like Equifax, Verizon, Yahoo, and the WannaCry global incident. Which begs the question to organizations of any caliber are we next?

Various organizations, corporations, governments, public and private sectors, businesses big or small are all likely targets. What will 2018 have in store for us? McAfee and Kaspersky threat predictions identified cybersecurity trends to watch for in 2018:

• The continuing and increasing "arms race" between defenders and attackers.
• High-end Mobile Malware for Android and iOS.
• Sophisticated UEFI and BIOS attacks.
• Increased router and modem hacks.
• Ransomware to evolve from traditional PC extortion to IoT, high net-worth users, technologies, and corporate disruption.
• Consumer app collection of children's content to pose long-term reputation risk.

Global Infrastructure Attacks To Increase in 2018

Critical infrastructure cyber attacks is a major concern, as we come across some of these attack surfaces, many security experts are predicting that we will begin to see an increase of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure in 2018. Here are 16 critical infrastructure sectors that could be attacked in 2018:

• The Energy Sector
• The Dams Sector
• The Financial Services Sector
• The Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
• The Food and Agriculture Sector
• The Water and Wastewater Systems Sector
• The Healthcare and Public Health Sector
• The Emergency Services Sector
• The Transportation Systems Sector
• The Chemical Sector
• The Communications Sector
• The Information Technology Sector
• The Defense Industrial Base Sector
• The Critical Manufacturing Sector
• The Government Facilities Sector
• The Commercial Facilities Sector

Why SMB's Need To Focus on Cybersecurity Outsourcing or Augmentation

There is no denying it, there is a shortage of skilled resources within the field of cybersecurity, over 3.5 million positions will go unfilled by 2021. Small to medium businesses will be affected due to budgetary reasons or lack of knowledge on the subject.

The pace of innovation of technology and solutions will help compliment some concerns, however, education for all employees is the key to maintaining the cyber awareness of organizations well into the future. The only problem that these organizations face is that sometimes IT departments lack the skillset or real-world experience in properly protecting an organization from the onslaught of cyber threats in the digital frontier. By outsourcing or augmenting your organization's cybersecurity stance, you allow the company become resilient by implementing cost-saving products and solutions to better equip your staff. Adhering to your businesses regulatory compliances, along with effective 24/7 threat detection and remediation will put your business in the right posture to become resilient to ongoing threats.

Darnley Greson Jr

Eight Ways to Increase Your Profits

Increasing your profits might sound like it's an unattainable dream just out of your reach. But there are a finite number of ways that profits can be increased. Once you understand what they are, you'll have clarity on how to best reach your goals.

There are two primary ways to increase profits:

• Raise revenue

• Lower expenses

That's not particularly enlightening or instructional, is it? Let's look at four ways you can increase revenues and four ways you can reduce expenses to get clearer on what actions you can take for your business. 

Ways to Increase Revenue

Raise prices
The easiest way to raise revenue is to simply raise prices. However, this is not foolproof and assumes you'll be able to maintain the volume of sales you've achieved in the past. This method is also limited by market demand, what your customers are willing to pay.

Add new customers
Adding new customers is what most entrepreneurs think about when raising revenue. Increasing your marketing or adding new marketing methods is typically the way to add new customers. Another related option is to work hard to keep the customers you already have. You can also potentially contact the customers you lost and ask them to come back.

Introduce new products or services
For some companies, your products and services are changing every year. For others, not so much. To increase revenue, consider adding new products or services that will bring in an additional revenue stream that you didn't have before. Even if your products are changing every year, you can consider adding something completely different that your customer base would love.  For example, a hair salon could add a nail desk, a clothing store could add handbags or shoes, a grocery store could add a coffee bar, a restaurant could add catering, a landscaper could add hardscaping, and so on.

Acquisition
The final way a business can increase revenue is to acquire another business in a merger or acquisition.

Four Ways to Reduce Expenses

Negotiate for a better deal with vendors
If you've been working with a vendor for a while, you may be able to re-negotiate your contract with them. This is especially common with telecom companies. Call you phone provider and ask them for the latest deal. They always favor new customers over long term customers, but they don't want to lose customers either. Just calling them usually yields a better price than what you are paying now.

Change vendors

If a vendor has gotten too expensive, it might be time to look for a new vendor. Health care insurance seems to be in this category. Often, changing providers will lower your costs. 

Reduce headcount
If there is not enough work to support your employees or not enough cash flow to pay them, then it might be time for a layoff or restructuring. You might also consider outsourcing a function that you previously did in-house.

Reduce / rationalize expenses or services
It might be your business no longer needs to spend money on an expense. Perhaps this expense has been automated. In this case, it's an easy decision to cut the expense out entirely. 

Those are some of the ways to increase profits. Which one makes the most sense in your business? Create a plan around these eight ideas to boost your profit this year, and let us know if we can help. For results you can count on, contact us at 1 844 577 7654 or at solutions@bizmetrics.ca  We hope you find all of this useful and, as always, please keep your feedback and suggestions coming.

BizMetrics and Results You Can Count On are trademarks of BizMetrics Incorporated. Copyright © 2017 BizMetrics Incorporated. All rights reserved.

We (at Ruppert Contracting) have been working with clients on their mostly residential projects for the past 16 years. Since my background is European and I am familiar with the typical European home construction, knowing the North-American stick frame systems I wanted to find something better. This is what led me to the ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) products. I was excited to learn that ICF is a better alternative to the traditional stick frame exterior walls, possibly even better than the wall systems that are being commonly used in Europe.

To understand where my excitement came from, let me tell you a bit more about the ICF system:

The Insulated Concrete Form is specially produced EPS/expanded polystyrene foam that look like a giant LEGO block and its two sides are connected with plastic webs. When it comes to assembling the exterior walls on site, the blocks are placed on top of each other by very easy physical labour and reinforcing bars are inserted onto the plastic webs. These bars will later become part of the reinforced concrete. Once the perimeter walls blocks are up and properly supported (so they are plumb), as well as window and door opening are created, workers place concrete into them. This is the most critical point of the ICF construction, as the concrete placement has to be done properly (a knowledgeable person shall monitor the right amount of material flowing into all necessary cavities).

As soon as the concrete is poured the mass of the new wall can be noticed if you are to touch it or lean against it - while the EPS foam will reflect your body heat, even the fresh concrete behind it will provide a very sturdy feel.

Examples

What you are gaining with ICF is the following:

- a great deal of thermo mass due to the density of the concrete(this will retain the heat it receives through heating and keep reflecting it once the heating source is turned off)   

- a very quiet home - the ICF wall structure is very sound proof

- basically an earth quake-proof structure (like the high-rise buildings, an ICF building's structure is made out of reinforced concrete; therefore, their resistance against earth quakes or vehicle impacts is greater than even the resistance of the European homes that are constructed mostly with ceramic building block and can crack under stress)

- fireproof - the structure will not get compromised in case of fire

- water resistant - even if leaks or floods would happen, they would not compromise the structural integrity of the home. After drying and perhaps some cosmetics, the building can be used again.

- draft free and well insulated environment - I already mentioned the thermo mass, that will help retaining the inside temperature. However, thanks to the ICF walls' great thermal insulation, the heating or cooling costs are significantly lower, too. Since there is a continuous insulation, there will be now thermo-bridging, hence no drafts and cold spots. 

I could go on and on about the advantage of this product, because I am a big fan of it as I am of all the better building materials. This being said, I would like to make it clear, that we do not produce and/or sell ICF blocks, we are only the end users - people who build them into their client's homes.

However, this relentless search for the better solutions helps us maintain a high standard when it comes to any parts of the home construction. We have a similar approach to a home renovation, basement finish or an interior remodelling. This is how we like it, this is what is normal for us. We do not expect our clients to see it in any other way either.

Latest Projects 

Kitchen Reno 

Accent Wall 

Custom Stairs

To learn more about our services and get your next project started please call or contact me here.

Zoltan Ruppert | RUPPERT contracting ltd.

www.homesbyruppert.com                               

416-939-6029