Month: May 2023

I Found a Second Job

by  on  in General

Of course I know what happens in this city, we have tourists come here from all over the world and we entertain them however they want. It is Disney World for grown up people and of course we know that adults like sex. At any rate I recently learned about the escorts in salt lake city, although not as the person paying for it. In this case I am pretty sure that I am about ten tax brackets under the income required for this. This girl is incredibly beautiful and apparently she is already quite wealthy. I suspect that she must have shoeboxes full of cash in her closet to be honest. I am sort of her man servant it seems. She lets me stay in her guest house, which is bigger than the last apartment I had without the roommate drinking my beer. I drive her pick up truck when she has me run errands. When she is working I drive her around in a stretched Cadillac Escalade.

In fact she gave me a real interview when I applied for the job, but she apparently knew that I could kick a door in. I was in the Military Police when I was in the Army. She took me out behind her house in the desert and showed me four pistols. One of them was a really vintage Model 1911, I picked it up and hit five of the six bottles she had set up. She picked up another of the pistols and dropped the other. Then she sunbathed and made me swim laps in her pool to see how long I could do. The first time I worked we waited for a private jet to land. The guy had his own bodyguard and the two of us sat … Read More ...

The Pitch: Advertising and marketing news for 5.30.23

by  on  in Advertising & Marketing

Caley Cantrell

Peter Coughter

Longtime Brandcenter professors Caley Cantrell and Peter Coughter are retiring after 17 and 26 years, respectively, at the graduate school. VCU News also reports on a group of students from Creative Circus who received their degrees at this year’s Brandcenter commencement after the Atlanta school closed last year.

The Idea Center was hired by Leo Lantz Construction to redesign its website. It’s working with Virginia Cardiovascular Consultants of Fredericksburg on a new website and ongoing SEO.

Will Sidaros

Idea Center hired Will Sidaros as a project manager. The George Mason alum has previously worked as a freelance videographer.

Spurrier Group was hired by Allianz Partners as the travel insurance company’s lead agency for digital media and marketing. Work will focus on scale the company’s audience base and digital strategy.

Addison Clark was hired by local builder River City Custom Homes to provide strategic marketing including paid and organic social media, search engine optimization, and web and design support. The agency launched a redesigned website for client Gilman Heating, Cooling & Plumbing. The mobile-first site reflects the company’s updated branding.

Kimberly Loehr

Kimberly Loehr of Loehr Lightning Protection Co. was awarded Virginia Professional Communicators’ 2023 Communicator of Achievement Award at the group’s spring conference this month. The award recognizes achievement in the communications field and service to VPC, National Federation of Press Women and the community.

Loehr is a co-owner of the Richmond-based contracting firm and serves as president of nonprofit Virginia Press Women Foundation.

Cade Martin won Best in Show in Communication Arts Magazine’s 2023 Photography Competition for images included in a branding campaign for the International Spy Museum. The campaign was led by D.C.-based agency January Third and involved Philadelphia-based NLD Productions.



Arts & Letters Creative Co. created an ad for ESPN

… Read More ...

Global Business Card Software Market Size and Forecast

by  on  in Business Card Companies

New Jersey, United States – The Global Business Card Software market is expected to grow at a significant pace, reports Verified Market Research. Its latest research report, titled “Global Business Card Software Market Insights, Forecast to 2030“. offers a unique point of view about the global market. Analysts believe that the changing consumption patterns are expected to have a great influence on the overall market. For a brief overview of the Global Business Card Software market, the research report provides an executive summary. It explains the various factors that form an important element of the market. It includes the definition and the scope of the market with a detailed explanation of the market drivers, opportunities, restraints, and threats.

Both leading and emerging players of the Global Business Card Software market are comprehensively looked at in the report. The analysts authoring the report deeply studied each and every aspect of the business of key players operating in the Global Business Card Software market. In the company profiling section, the report offers exhaustive company profiling of all the players covered. The players are studied on the basis of different factors such as market share, growth strategies, new product launch, recent developments, future plans, revenue, gross margin, sales, capacity, production, and product portfolio.

Get Full PDF Sample Copy of Report: (Including Full TOC, List of Tables & Figures, Chart) @ https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=85186

Key Players Mentioned in the Global Business Card Software Market Research Report:

Adobe, Business Card Designer Plus, Business Card Maker, NCH Software, Knowee, Logaster, Business Card Composer, CR8 for Windows 3.01, Mojosoft.

Global Business Card Software Market Segmentation:  

Business Card Software Market, By Type

• On-premise
• Cloud-based

Business Card Software Market, By Application

• PC
• Mobile Terminal
• Others

Players can use the report to gain sound understanding

… Read More ...

How to buy a global $20bn company for nothing

by  on  in Business Financial News

Japan, declares tourist after tourist, investor after investor, is red hot. The yen is tumbling, the shopping is amazing, the stock market is flying, the sushi is cheap. It is also, perhaps, the only place in the world right now where you can buy a globally successful $20bn company for free.

And glorious though that notionally knockdown pricing sounds, it may yet spoil an important element of the party.

Like all good tricks, this so-far-hypothetical $20bn great gratis grab takes a bit of setting-up. For a start, to be the lucky buyer you have to be Toyota Motor — global carmaker supreme, Japan’s biggest company and embodiment of the reality that, while governance reform is happening apace, it is certainly not happening everywhere.

And second, you need to exist in a stock market that has, for decades, tolerated the self-evidently problematic phenomenon of listed companies’ “cross-holdings” of equity stakes in one another. Traditionally held as symbols of business friendship between companies, these stakes have acted as barriers against pushier shareholders and allowed poor management an ill-deserved cushion of complacency. True, the networks have been unwinding in recent years under government and shareholder pressure, but some pretty remarkable anomalies still exist.

Last week a large audience of visiting fund managers who had gathered in Tokyo took part in a thought experiment. Consider Toyota Industries — the world’s biggest manufacturer of forklift trucks and a major global player in weaving machinery. It is also, via the magic of cross-holdings, the single largest private sector owner of Toyota Motor shares. Toyota Industries’ 7.31 per cent stake in the parent (whose stock price has roughly doubled over the past decade) is currently worth $16.4bn, or roughly 85 per cent of the total market value of Toyota Industries.

But wait. Cross-holdings. Toyota Motor, in concert

… Read More ...

Best Payroll Software for Small Business (2023)

by  on  in Best Business Newspaper

Small businesses have a lot to gain from reliable payroll software, like saving time and money. Automating your company’s payroll process and tax filing, for example, can give you hours of your day back to put into building your business. According to Intuit QuickBooks, it can take nearly five hours each pay period to manage payroll taxes.

However, what is good for one company may not be good for another. Our Best Payroll Software for Small Businesses rating can help you navigate some of those small business-specific factors that go into choosing payroll software.

If you have a larger business or are interested in learning about features and plans that are less specifically tailored to small businesses, check out our Best Payroll Software of 2023 ratings.

Our Best Payroll Software for Small Business of 2023 Rating

The best payroll software for small businesses streamlines payroll processes. It automatically calculates payroll taxes and may file and deposit them with state, federal, and local taxing agencies depending on the plan. Base prices range from $17 to $125 monthly, whereas per-employee fees range from $4 to $10. Many payroll providers will file new hire paperwork with your state, and some include onboarding features, like e-signature for hiring documents.

After businesses complete payroll, employees receive funds via direct deposit in two to four days. Certain payroll solutions offer next-day or same-day services for eligible employers. And while most vendors have live customer support, hours vary by provider and subscription plan. Explore our top picks for small business payroll.

Gusto
Monthly Fee

$40.00 & $6/Employee

Best Overall Payroll Software

Gusto Is Recommended For:

  • Businesses that want payroll

… Read More ...

As America returns to the office, Xerox returns to advertising

by  on  in Advertising & Marketing

As America’s workforce has returned to the office, so has office equipment company Xerox returned to advertising. Earlier this month, the century-old technology brand launched a new brand campaign and a media mix revamp to better target the millennial and Gen Z work force. 

Investment-wise, it’s Xerox’s largest ad effort in the last five years, testing into channels that are new to the brand, like digital and streaming video, and TikTok and revisiting dormant ad channels, like out-of-home ads in the New York City metropolitan area, according to Deena LaMarque Piquion, CMO at Xerox. Xerox’s exact ad spend is unclear as Piquion declined to provide specific figures.

“We’ve really broadened the aperture to have a better mix of tactics,” said Piquion. “That’s what we heard a lot, that we were missing at the top of the funnel to really influence that area of favorability before they move to consideration.” 

Historically, Xerox’s media investments have been predominantly in digital tactics, especially LinkedIn campaigns and paid search. But to boost brand awareness, and keep up with the work force’s newest generation, channels like digital and streaming video ads, NYC-based OOH and TikTok have been added to the media mix.

It’s unclear what those investments are as Piquion declined to outline specifics. Last year, Xerox spent $2,554,357 on advertising efforts, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. That figure is significantly higher than the $1,552,230 spent in 2021. 

TikTok in particular, she said, is in its early experimental stage for the legacy brand as it plans to launch both paid and organic efforts alongside its newest campaign this year. The hope is TikTok will become a mainstay in the Xerox media mix to stay top of mind with younger audiences, said Piquion. 

“We’re extremely strong in [the] 45 and over demographic,

… Read More ...

TD to build U.S. business brick by brick, after First Horizon setback

by  on  in Business Financial News
  • Focus on U.S. southeast, fast-growing cities
  • Sees growth opportunities in wealth management
  • Plans 18 store openings in U.S. this year, 150 by 2027

TORONTO, May 25 (Reuters) – Canada’s no.2 lender TD Bank Group (TD.TO) will push ahead with its U.S. expansion by focusing on organic growth, after its M&A-led strategy in the world’s biggest banking market suffered a setback this month, a top official told Reuters on Thursday.

TD has made U.S. growth a key priority as it deals with a saturated market at home and had pinned its hopes on $13.4 billion bid for regional lender First Horizon (FHN.N), but that was scrapped after hitting regulatory hurdles.

With about $18 billion in excess capital, it now plans to focus on opening branches and building its wealth business in the U.S., Chief Financial Officer Kelvin Tran said in the first comments since the First Horizon deal was pulled.

“In the U.S., we are still a relatively young bank. We have a lot of white spaces there,” Tran said.

“We continue to make referrals to our wealth business. That’s still a new business in the U.S. … So lots of opportunities still there in the U.S.,” he added.

The bank has not ruled out other acquisitions.

“When we look at deployment of capital, it’s about what we can invest to drive organic growth, we look at whether there are opportunities for M&A … and then also opportunities to return capital to shareholders,” Tran told Reuters.

TD announced plans to buy back 30 million shares along with its quarterly earnings that missed expectations.

The uncertainty of the First Horizon deal has weighed on TD shares, which are down more than 7% so far this year, compared with a 3.6% drop in TSX’s banks sub-index (.GSPTXBA).

Some shareholders are willing to be

… Read More ...

India News: India top destination being explored by MNCs as alternative to China, finds global CEO survey

by  on  in Best Business Newspaper
India is the top destination being explored by multinational corporations as an alternative to China, according to a survey of 100 CEOs who primarily represent foreign B2B-focused firms.

The CEOs also consider Vietnam, Thailand and their own home countries as potential options.

Amid China’s increasing geopolitical assertiveness, questionable trade and business practices, and rising labour costs, 88% of the CEOs who participated in research firm IMA India’s 2023 Global Operations Benchmarking Survey opted for India as their primary alternative to China. The survey was run among companies with a presence in India.

“In the last five years foreign MNCs have increased their onground presence in India, partly as a result of diversification away from China. In particular, the IT & ITES companies are ramping up the share of their global workforce that is based in India,” said Suraj Saigal, Research Director, IMA India.

graph

According to a report based on the survey, nearly 70% of the firms saw substantial changes to their business strategies and onground operations in China in the past three years. The industrial sector shows a more prominent pull-back compared to the services sector. Among those implementing changes 56% have decreased their sourcing from China and 41% reduced investments.

While a minority completely exited, 6% of the surveyed companies have scaled back their market engagement.

The research also examined how businesses are perceiving and capitalising on the opportunities presented by India, taking into account the recent shifts in commercial and geopolitical strategies.

From FY18 to FY23, India’s estimated global share in workforce has increased from 22.4% to 24.9% in mean percentage terms, while revenue share has risen from 14.8% to 15.8%. These figures demonstrate incremental growth for India on the global stage during this period.

As per the study, a larger proportion of manufacturing companies, in comparison to

… Read More ...

Buying Digital Advertising for Your Self-Storage Operation

by  on  in Advertising & Marketing

Let’s say your self-storage operation is well-established within its market. You’ve got competitors, but you’re all doing well. There’s a decent equilibrium, and everyone keeps their facilities at or above that ideal 90% occupancy rate. None of you has needed any more advertising than your signage, maybe the occasional ad in the local paper, and a website. Things are great, and everything is humming along.

Then one day you learn that Bob, who owns a facility up the street, is retiring and selling his property to a real estate investment trust. So is Roberta, another storage owner in your area. Now you go from economic stability to panic mode. But you shouldn’t! Instead, you simply need to expand your marketing efforts.

A low-cost, high-reward way to reset the playing field is paid digital advertising, which involves purchasing space on various online channels to promote your products and services. Let’s explore the options for boosting your self-storage business.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

The most common type of digital advertising is PPC, a powerful tool that helps businesses to increase their online visibility and drive sales. It offers a range of ad types for targeting your self-storage audience including search, display, social media and video. Search ads appear on search engine results pages, while display ads are shown on third-party websites in the form of banners. Social media ads appear on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, and video ads are displayed on platforms like YouTube.

PPC provides several benefits:

  • It offers precise targeting, enabling you to reach your audience based on demographics, interests and behaviors.
  • You have control over your ad spend, allowing you to allocate your budget to the most effective channels.
  • You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, making it cost-effective.
  • It’s measurable, with tools like Google
… Read More ...

Tokio Marine Holdings outlines financial results

by  on  in Business Financial News


Tokio Marine Holdings outlines financial results | Insurance Business America















All business segments post lower net income

Tokio Marine Holdings outlines financial results

Insurance News

By
Terry Gangcuangco

Tokio Marine Holdings has published its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2023 (fiscal year 2022).







Metric

FY22

FY21

Ordinary income

¥6.6 trillion

¥5.9 trillion

Ordinary profit

¥503.9 billion

¥567.4 billion

Net income attributable to owners of the parent

¥376.4 billion

¥420.5 billion

 

Highlighting the company’s efforts to expand its domestic and overseas operations, Tokio Marine reported an underwriting income of ¥5.6 trillion and investment income of ¥875.4 billion.

Across the board, however, all three segments – domestic non-life, domestic life, and international insurance – posted decreases in ordinary profit and net income attributable to owners of the parent.

Moving forward, Tokio Marine is expecting an improved set of numbers.

“The company’s consolidated business forecasts for the fiscal year 2023 are ¥750 billion for ordinary profit and ¥530 billion yen for net income attributable to owners of the parent,” Tokio Marine said. The forecasts are based on the following assumptions:

“Net premiums written and life insurance premiums are projected to be ¥4.6 trillion and ¥1 trillion, respectively. Net incurred losses related to natural catastrophes occurring during the period are projected to be ¥76 billion in Japan and ¥68 billion yen outside Japan.”

The insurance group is also not expecting significant changes in interest rates, stock market conditions, and exchange rates in FY23.

What do you think about Tokio Marine’s

… Read More ...