What Do You Need To Know About Bitcoin In 2018?

Up until 2017, bitcoin was something that could easily be ignored even by serious financial investors and tech thinkers. Many believed it was a fad, and many others believed its value would ultimately dissipate, either because it had no practical usage or because its competitors would become better versions of it. In 2017, however, and particularly late in the year, the landscape changed. Bitcoin’s value spiked dramatically, nearing $20,000 at times, and though it has since corrected to a great extent, the conversation changed. Now even those who might roll their eyes at bitcoin have to at acknowledge that it’s a serious asset.

Beyond the fact that it’s being taken more seriously, however, here are some of the things you should know about bitcoin during 2018.

Some See The Correction Continuing

With bitcoin’s sensational rally having reversed course somewhat, there are some experts in the investing business who expect the trend to continue. One of the most recent mainstream opinions on the matter came from a Wall Street CIO who predicted that bitcoin could drop as low as $1,000 in 2018, which would represent more of a collapse than a correction. There are plenty of analysts who believe that the 2017 version of bitcoin represented a clear investment bubble, which supports this kind of prediction. It’s not necessarily going to turn out to be correct, but it’s certainly worth bearing in mind.

Regulation Is Still Being Ironed Out

Many of the world’s biggest governments and financial institutions are still trying to figure out how to handle bitcoin. In the U.S., people are free to use bitcoin pretty much however they please. An Irish article on the subject noted that the UK has taken a similarly laissez faire attitude toward bitcoin. But in other parts of the world – namely South America and East Asia – we’ve seen more efforts to curb usage and in some cases even punish it. These kinds of regulatory positions, vague as they may be, are the closest things we have to broad indicators of where cryptocurrencies’ prices might be heading, so they’re very important to pay attention to.

Altcoins Are Serious Options Also

For anyone considering purchasing bitcoin as a means of investment, altcoins should be looked at as well. There are dozens of them, to be fair, but the more mainstream ones have experienced fluctuations in value very similar (in pattern, not amount) to those of bitcoin. If this interests you, some of the names you’ll want to know are litecoin, bitcoin cash, and ethereum, to start with. These are all cryptocurrency alternatives that work similarly to bitcoin but offer different valuations, and can in some cases be a little more appealing as points of entry into the market.

Wallets Are Improving

It would be fair to say the very concept of bitcoin wallets has given some people pause about buying into cryptocurrency. Because bitcoin is an intangible asset that doesn’t exist in physical form, holding onto it is a strange concept. Basically, you choose a wallet with which you protect codes that allow you to access and make use of your cryptocurrency. This puts a huge amount of importance on the security and convenience of the wallets, and means your storage technique is as important as anything. And fortunately for those interested in bitcoin, a look at the best wallet options for 2018 shows that they’re getting better. Wallets have had time to gain reputations now, such that you can easily see which ones are most secure and easiest to use.

Some See It Soaring

Just as some believe a bitcoin crash is coming, there are plenty of others who think it’s poised to rise even higher than it did in 2017 – perhaps even much higher. Again, these predictions aren’t necessarily correct. They may even be wildly off. But in the interest of considering all the angles, anyone interested in bitcoin in 2018 should spend some time reading these points of view as well. Try to focus on the justification for the predictions rather than some of the astronomical numbers being thrown around (such as $100,000 by the end of the year).

Make Money In Your Sleep

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Need to earn some extra money this year but have no idea where to start? There are

plenty of ways that you can make what is called passive income, meaning that you

are making money even when you aren’t doing anything at all. If you like the idea

of making money in your sleep, here are some ways to do it.

1. Automate marketing

Rather than manually sending out newsletters and social promotions, you can spend

some time scheduling them all at once and then you won’t have to think about it

when they go out, you can be attracting customers to your site and making money

while you are asleep.

2. Promote yourself as a brand

You may have noticed the rise of bloggers and online influencers in the last few years,

and in fact many of these people are known as a modern celebrity. You can make

money by promotion yourself and creating ad revenue from blog posts and videos

online. You could be earning money all throughout the day when people see your

content.

3. Simplify your business

Rather than offering a never-ending list of products and services on your website,

make things simple for yourself and offer a few great quality items. This will not only

make your operations in the business much less stressful but it means that you can

save a huge amount of time on production.

4. Sell at a flat rate

It can get really confusing when companies start to offer product at a range of different

prices, and this is why you should sell everything at one rate to make your life easier.

You will find that people are attracted to your site nevaise of this and buy lots of items

from you.

5. Sell or invest in an essential product

If you can put your money into something which will always be needed, you can save

a lot of money and also make sure that you never go out of business. For example

you could use Fundrise to invest in property, which is one of the basic needs for us to

live, or even think about trading food which people will always need and want.

6. Become an affiliate

One of the great things about the internet in this day and age is the ability for people

to spread their message to those all over the world and also for brands to promote

products worldwide. If you use your blog or personal brand to team up with companies,

you will be paid for advertising their products to your audience and you may even be

able to receive free products as part of the deal.

7. Teach

Do you have a skill which could be utilised by other people? If you can create an eBook
or and online course for people to use, you will be able to make money without even
being there all of the time to teach them. Online courses are becoming more and more
popular so it is worth taking advantage of this.

What Is Debt Consolidation?

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If you are in a spot of financial trouble this year, you might have looked at the different

options you have for paying back your debts and getting back on track financially. Debt

consolidation is a type of debt management which allows you to recuse the debt from a

mountain to a manageable monthly payment.

Before you jump straight into the world of debt consolidation though, let’s learn a little bit

more about it and what it means for you.

A debt consolidation loan or bill consolidation will essentially pay off all of your existing debt

for you, and then you will end up with a loan which is consolidated into a manageable monthly

payment. You will still need to pay back any money you owe, however, it will allow you to pay

the amount back in smaller amounts and also with a lower interest rate, making it much

easier for you to do it.

The Benefits

There are many different benefits to going down this route of paying back your debts:

Reducing your monthly payments – when you take out a consolidation loan, you will stretch

out the deadline for payment and because of this, your money outgoings will be less than

they were before. This means that you will be able to manage the payments with much

more ease than you did before and be more likely to pay the full amount back

Improving your credit rating – by changing the way you are paying off your debt, you are

more likely to pay off the loan. If you manage to do this you will gain points on your credit

rating as you will no longer have the debt hanging over you and dragging you down.

Reduced interest to pay – you will generally always pay back a lower interest rate than

you did before when you switch to a consolidation loan.

The Risks

As with any form of loan you take out, there will always be a certain aspect of risk involved:

Long period of debt- due to the fact that a consolidation loan stretched out your payments,

you might end up being in debt for much longer than you would ideally want.

How will you get one?

The first step to being able to get a consolidation loan is the company assessing whether

or not you are eligible. Like any other loan company they will look at your credit risk to see

if they want to lend you the money.

If you have a bad history of credit, the lender may ask you to take out a secured loan. This

means you will be putting your home against the loan as security to reduce the risk to the

lender of you not paying back your debts.

There will be several factors a lender will look at when deciding to give you a loan:
credit history

Amount you want to borrow

The length of time you need

How likely you are to fully repay the debt you owe

Creating An Event To Raise Money And Awareness

As an entrepreneur, you already have a large number of useful skills. You’ve got

charisma and charm, and you speak well in public. You’re highly organised and

efficient. And you plan a budget and stick to it well. This makes you the successful

business person you are, and it is essential to the future of your company. These

skills are also rather handy should you even choose to manage an event.

Of course, entrepreneurs are very busy people. Chances are you don’t have a lot

of spare time to be organising anything like that. However, there are plenty of very

good reasons why you should get involved in a community event. Perhaps voluntary

or charity work might be on your bucket list or vision board. You’ve enjoyed a lot of

success and perhaps you would like to pay that forward now? After all, there are so

many good causes out there that desperately need help with raising awareness and

cash. There are probably one or two that are particularly close to your heart.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with you associating any event with your business or

product brand. Consider it a little payback for all the cost and effort you’re putting into

this. In fact, it is well worth seeking other corporate sponsors that would also like to be

seen acting in the interests of a good cause. Call it PR, or call it a goodwill gesture.

Either way, it can help you get underway with raising funds. It can also help you to

cover the costs of running such a high profile event.

Finding A Venue

Before you even consider what will happen during the event, you need to find a venue.

Every venue or space will have limitations and restrictions. Equally, not every venue

owner will be willing to donate or discount for the type of charity event you might

have in mind. And if you’re thinking more about a corporate networking event, you

might struggle again, depending on the activities you hope to offer.

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Once you have a venue secured you’ll have a date in mind, a list of activities that would

suit the space, and perhaps an overall theme for your event. Most importantly, you have

specifics. These are essential if you want to start building interest and hype in your

forthcoming event. It might be a good time to start talking to a professional event planner.

Or maybe this is one project that is all for you?

Entertaining At An Event

Entertainment is a big part of the attraction for any event. You need to make sure people

are keen to come out and participate, especially if you want them to donate money. Perhaps

you can recruit a celebrity? Or maybe you would prefer to hold a competition? Singing,

dog shows, professional musicians, and celebrity appearances are all guaranteed to draw

big crowds. Participation and engagement are both important. It holds the interest and

encourages more generous donations or spend.

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Big entertaining events attract bigger crowds and more generous donations

Of course, if people are to spend time here, you need a staging area and places for people

to sit. You might have to hire tables and chairs, and you’ll certainly need to encourage local

caterers to get involved. For a more upmarket event, you might provide wine, champagne,

and a buffet. Perhaps a sit-down meal is the whole point of the event? Add a celebrity chef

to the event, and you might be able to sell table tickets for a high price too.

Don’t Forget The Reason Why We’re Here

As you develop your list of ideas for entertaining the guests and visitors, it’s important you

keep your eye on the purpose of gathering them. If you haven’t done so by now, then

contact the charity or organisation you plan to support. They often have plenty of marketing

materials that can supplement your own efforts. They will also have a large number of

social media followers helping you to publicise the event. Your associated charity might

even have some great ideas and suggestions. Come up with ideas for activities and

entertainment that would suit their cause.

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Whatever your cause, you must present it well

You will be expected to present their story. You might hand the mic over to the charity’s

founder or speaker. But it should still be you that should speak at length about their

mission, their aims or their objectives. You should have a story to tell that speaks of

your personal connection with that cause. Use imagery and video to help highlight

your key points. Don’t forget to detail all the different ways your audience can make

a big difference too.

Key Personnel

When you invite a lot of people to an event, you need a lot of people to look after them!

There will be a need for ushers to help guide visitors to the right places. For a big gala

or formal occasion, you might need people that can manage parking, coats, and seating.

Then table service, waiting staff, bartenders and licensed alcohol providers, and kitchen

staff will be required.

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You’ll need a lot of help on the day

All of the people you pay or enlist to help you should be easy to identify. You might

provide uniforms that will give you another opportunity to display your brand logo.

At the very least, you should consider ID badges attached by a lanyard. This is a

fundraising event, so you don’t want to ring up a huge bill. You can find
some cheap ID carrying ideas online to suit each member of your team. High-vis and other

protective wear might be essential. It is likely to be your legal responsibility to provide it

and to check your workers are wearing it or using it correctly. It might be a good idea

to hire a health and safety expert who can manage training and the risk assessments.

There will be other third party personnel involved in your event too. You’ve hired a venue

so the manager of that site will be on hand. Your local authority is likely to need to oversee

what is happening as well. While most venues carry a licence for live and recorded music

and alcohol, you must check if any additional permissions are required. Certainly, the health

and safety risk assessments must be made and updated. If food is being sold and consumed,

you might need to provide certification too.

Marketing The Event

Raising awareness of an event to raise awareness of a good cause isn’t easy because

you’re trying to deliver two messages for two different brands. It’s difficult to determine

what percentage of the message goes to your company event. How much should be left

to explain why the charity is worth supporting? You will need to coordinate with the charity

so you can use their branding and logo. You might prefer to use a font and colour scheme

that is unrelated to you both. However, this is your event, represented by your brand. It

makes sense to use that in the marketing, and feature your charity logo within it. Check

the branding guidelines thoroughly.

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Be prepared for plenty of interviews

Some publications are more interested in charity events and fundraisers than others. Do

prepare a press release in plenty of time, but don’t be surprised if some newspapers and

radio stations are non-committal. If you want some attention from media owners and

journalists ahead of time, you need to give them something newsworthy and current on

that day. You can then slip in the promo for your event.

Always offer interviews and quotes. It makes any article much stronger and more interesting

to readers and viewers. Include them in your press release. They can always be repeated

in a formal interview later. Be sure to include details of how supporters can get involved.

Offer information about what they can expect on the day too. Most importantly, make sure

the newsworthy point of the interview is delivered, so the journalist is more willing to cover

you again. What makes the charity or your company topical today?

You’ll need lots of printing booked in. Design leaflets or flyers. Make sure there are plenty

of large format posters available as well. Other businesses and stores might be willing to

display them for you. People are used to printing their own e-tickets these days, but they

will still need to be designed. You’re likely to need dedicated web pages and landing pages

with short links. Don’t forget a full social media campaign to keep the hype going!

Marketing Your Business

This is an opportunity for you to raise your profile and support your PR strategy. However,

you might also be keen to make a sale or two. Approach this objective with caution. It might

harm the work you’re putting into your PR campaign. They rarely coordinate well. Still, your

logo will be prominent. Each of your interviews will carefully discuss how your business is

connected with the charity and its work. Aim to increase brand awareness rather than

pushing a hard sell. Of course, there is nothing stopping you joining all the other corporate

sponsors with a stall or sample table! How can your company do more to raise money

and awareness for good causes?