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Finance tip: Transport
Check your tyre pressure regularly. When driving, one of the biggest forces that your vehicle has to overcome is the friction created between your tyres and the road, and this force can account for up to 20% of your fuel consumption. At any point in time, it’s estimated that as many as half of the vehicles on the road have at least one under-inflated tyre, which causes increased fuel consumption (hitting you in the pocket). Remember that your tyres naturally lose pressure over time (approximately 0.1 bar per month), so make sure to check them regularly, and make sure that they are always at the optimum operating pressure. Personally, I check my tyres every second or third time I fill up, which keeps me on top of things…
Business tip: Marketing
Integrity is everything. This might come across as an obvious, and possibly glib, statement, and you’re asking “How can I work on that?” What’s important to realise here (and this is sometimes the hard part to hear) is that integrity is built up over time, with absolutely everything you do. It’s where your ads are placed, how you treat your customers, how well you deliver on what you promise, whether you’re involved in any community work, whether you’re a member of your industry body… everything. It’s what ultimately convinces somebody to buy from you (especially if it’s through a medium like the Web, where there’s still some hesitancy to transact). Just think about it: A customer has a choice between you and one of your competitors. You’re in the same area, you offer the same product, your pricing is similar – who’re they gonna go for? They’ll go for the business that a friend or acquaintance mentioned, the one with more industry endorsements, or it might even be based on the fact that they’ve seen your name in an article somewhere and not your competitor’s. That’s what integrity boils down to, and it can be the difference between sinking or swimming…
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