Monday, June 23, 2025
Home Blog Page 111

How to Keep Your Brain Working This Christmas Season

The Editor
-
0
How to Keep Your Brain Working This Christmas Season
Enjoy all that Christmas has to offer, but look after that brain too
Enjoy all that Christmas has to offer, but look after that brain too

Mince pies, a quick rummage through the Quality Street tin, and just one more turkey sandwich is generally the soundtrack to any British Christmas. We love to indulge and, when the weather is grey and cold, there’s no better time for it. However, there comes a point where Christmas television, endless grazing, and perhaps a glass of glühwein too many starts to make us feel sluggish. Our get-up-and-go leaves us, our brains feel foggy and, generally, a lot of us are absolutely ready to snap out of the Christmas routine come the New Year. If you’d rather avoid falling into it in the first place, then we’ve got some tips to keep your brain going during the festive season.

Embrace the Great Outdoors

It might be cold out there but embracing it for a few minutes will do you the world of good
It might be cold out there but embracing it for a few minutes will do you the world of good

Our first tip is hugely important. Even though it might be grey, cold, wet or windy, or even a wonderful combination of them all, getting outside does wonders for your brain. Wrap up warm, embrace the weather and enjoy a quick walk around the block. If you can, find some green space and aim for those 10,000 steps. We’re lucky to have the beach on our doorstep, a popular walking spot, so head out and watch the waves. Seeing the sunshine in the darkest days of the year will help to lift your mood, whilst engaging in a little light exercise will boost your endorphins too. You don’t have to complete a marathon or climb a mountain; just a small change will make a big difference.

Teach Yourself a New Game

Once you’ve gone out for that endorphin-boosting walk, it’s nice to have something to come home to and get started on. Learning a new game is a fun way to get your brain working, and one that you really won’t have to work hard to convince yourself to do. Poker and chess are great choices as they are both games that grow with you. When you start off with poker, you’ll want to work out which hand ranking is the strongest and play your best hand each time; slowly you’ll begin working out pot odds and improving your bluffing technique. In chess, you’ll start by learning how the pieces move and, before long, you’ll be knee-deep in theories about opening gambits. 

If you reach a lull in your practice then there are some ways to overcome it. Having a deadline can be a great motivator for some people. If you are trying to learn the rules of poker, you can sign up for a poker tournament to make sure you start spending a little more time remembering hand rankings. Poker’s popularity has grown with the rise of online poker tournaments and the ease of playing from anywhere. Chess will work just the same with online and in-person tournaments available throughout the UK, as well as the ability to learn all the moves of the pieces.

Learn a Language

If you enjoyed learning a new game then why not kick your New Year’s resolutions off a little early? Learning a language is one of the ultimate brain boosters and something us Brits tend to fall behind on when compared with the rest of the world. Those who speak a foreign language fluently are far less likely to develop memory problems associated with aging and, not only that, but it can open up a whole new world of holidaying possibilities. Whlilst it’s certainly easy to get by with English in many countries, speaking a common language like Mandarin, Spanish or even French can help you out in more rural locations. 

There are lots of apps that will help you to achieve your linguistic goals and, with so many people having language learning as a resolution, there are usually offers to be had in the new year. Duolingo is a great option for those who want to gamify their learning, whilst Busuu will suit people who like a social element to their lessons. Getting to listen to feedback from native speakers is a great way to quickly improve your skills and the scoreboard systems on both apps keeps you accountable when you’re starting to slip in the frequency of your practices.

7 B2B SaaS Billing Mistakes You Must Avoid To Succeed

The Editor
-
0
7 B2B SaaS Billing Mistakes You Must Avoid To Succeed
7 B2B SaaS Billing Mistakes You Must Avoid To Succeed
7 B2B SaaS Billing Mistakes You Must Avoid To Succeed

These seven B2B SaaS billing mistakes can cause confusion and mistrust between your business and customers.

Worse, they can make you lose customers and damage your reputation thus affecting your revenue.

Granted, invoicing and billing rank at the top of all the factors that are important to the success of your B2B SaaS business.

What can you do to avoid all these costly losses?

If your business offers a subscription billing model, you need to ensure your invoice and billing system is well-managed.

Besides, you need to ensure every step of your billing process functions flawlessly and proficiently by avoiding these billing mistakes: 

1. Not Generating Timely Invoices

One of the most common B2B SaaS billing mistakes is not generating timely invoices. Delaying invoices can lead to late payments by customers.

As a rule, invoices should be sent immediately after the completion of a sale or within the agreed time.

The good news is that with automated billing software, you can generate and send timely invoices.

What’s more?

A good billing platform can help you track payments seamlessly. Besides, most billing software solutions are built with mobile users in mind hence you can create and send invoices with your smartphone.

2. Not Making Follow-Ups on Unpaid Invoices

Customers can forget to make payments within the specified time even after sending them invoices. 

Sometimes delayed or failed payments can be caused by declining credit cards or other errors.

These things can be pretty common in subscription management, so you must never forget to remind your customers.

Follow-ups on unpaid invoices can save your business a lot of revenue. And this is where adopting a subscription-based billing model becomes helpful.

Using this payment model, you can create a recurring cycle to collect payments and keep track of payments.

Besides, an automated subscription-based billing system can remind you when invoices are due and send follow-up reminders to customers who haven’t made their payments on time.

Also, ensure your follow-up emails aren’t sounding rude or intimidating to customers.

3. Not Integrating Multiple Payment Methods

Ecommerce stores lose 62% of customers who encounter a failed transaction with a payment method.

What does this mean?

Businesses that do not have multiple payment gateway integrations lose a lot of customers which translates to a huge loss in revenue in the long run.

This is also one of the B2B SaaS billing that can be avoided by using subscription billing software.

Most of the ecommerce platforms allow multiple third-party integrations of payment methods to provide seamless transactions. 

This can also prevent failed transactions.

4. Using a Complicated Pricing Model

To be successful with your B2B SaaS company, you need to choose the right pricing model. As a rule, your pricing model should be simple.

This will enable your customers to understand what value they are getting for their money.

To avoid complicating your pricing model, you need to limit your pricing plans.

Asking customers to choose from five pricing plans is frustrating them. It makes it difficult for them to decide which plan is best for them. This can cause more refunds, customer churn, and even open tickets.

5. Lack of Transparency

Lack of transparency can ruin your trust with customers. And this happens when you add hidden fees to your services. When you include undisclosed fees when billing your customers, you blindside your clients which can damage your reputation.

Instead, maintain transparency in your invoicing system and focus on creating long-time professional relationships with your clients. 

6. Not Stating Late Payment Fees

If clients know that they will not be charged late payment fees, some may make payments late. Late payments can hurt your daily business operations, especially for ecommerce stores.

Ensure you state late payment fees on invoices to ensure customers pay before the due date or on time.

7. Not Branding Invoices 

Branding your invoices is a great marketing opportunity for your business. For instance, including a logo at the top of your invoices and other business details can help to set your business apart from your competitors.

Besides, branding your invoices can showcase your professionalism. You can design a template in automatic invoicing software for small businesses that your are using to generate invoices.

Conclusion

Having a well-managed invoicing and billing process can help your business maintain an excellent cash flow and nurture relationships with your clients. These 7 can hurt your reputation with clients and ultimately lower your business revenue and hinder growth.

Avoid them by investing in a functional and effective SaaS billing system.

Author Bio – Reena Aggarwal

Reena is Director of Operations and Sales at Attrock, a result-driven digital marketing company. With 10+ years of sales and operations experience in the field of e-commerce and digital marketing, she is quite an industry expert. She is a people person and considers the human resources as the most valuable asset of a company. In her free time, you would find her spending quality time with her brilliant, almost teenage daughter and watching her grow in this digital, fast-paced era.

Children’s classic book ‘Where’s Wally’ flying off shop shelves

The Editor
-
0
Children’s classic book ‘Where’s Wally’ flying off shop shelves
Children’s classic book ‘Where’s Wally’ flying off shop shelves
Children’s classic book ‘Where’s Wally’ flying off shop shelves

An Islamic version of the children’s classic search-and-find book, ‘Where’s Wally?’ has been flying off of Islamic bookshop shelves.

Halal me to introduce…

‘Where’s Wally?’ features the mischievous character, Waaliyah who, like Wally, just loves to get lost in a crowd.

In the book, the cheeky Muslim teenager is shown blending seamlessly into the background in scenes including, ‘A trip to the zoo’, ‘A day at the beach’, ‘Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca’, and ‘Waaliyah visits SingsBury’s.

In keeping with Wally’s iconic red-striped jersey, bobble hat, and blue jeans, Waaliyah’s choice of costume is also somewhat incongruous for an individual wishing to hide in plain view. Her choice of hi-visibility burqa, replete with reflective silver bands, does little to preserve her inconspicuousness (the quality of being not easily seen’).

Where’s Wally with a twist

Despite her dazzling attire, prankish Waaliyah manages to keep children and adults alike guessing over her whereabouts for minutes at a time as they quickly leaf through her debut publication.

A book featuring Waaliyah’s boyfriend, Wahid is planned for the new year.

France re-introduces national service – Offers sweetener

The Editor
-
0
France re-introduces national service – Offers sweetener
France re-introduces national service - Offers sweetener
France re-introduces national service – Offers sweetener

Emmanuel Macron has re-introduced national service for all French 16-year-olds. The idea is to promote a sense of civic duty and national unity among French youth,.as well as give them something to do other than play computer games and look at their phones.

The new national service is divided into two phases:

Première phase

Phase one of national service is mandatory and according to the French Government.will “enable young people to create new relationships and develop their role in society”. The one-month placement will teach skills such as: the brushing of teeth,.the shaving of armpits (girls only), taking the rubbish out, convincingly denying that France was lucky to beat England in the World Cup quarter-final, and why the French should never spit in the street. 

Phase deux

The second phase of national service is voluntary and lasts between three months and a year. Youngsters will be encouraged to serve “in an area linked to defence and security”.– but the snowflakes amongst them may opt to volunteer for work linked to heritage, the environment, or social care. Diddums.

Phase Bakewell

An additional phase of national service for those youngsters who excel in the area of French cuisine,.offers the opportunity to bake giant Bakewell Tart hats for the other inductees. The choice of Bakewell Tart as inspiration for the military headwear is said to be down to Emmanuel Macron’s personal penchant for the tasty, glace cherry-topped, baked tarts favoured mainly by the English.

Sigmund Freud would probably say that this demonstrates a deep-seated acknowledgement that whatever the French try to do, the English will always do it better. 

Eccentric politicians – Enough already

The Editor
-
0
Eccentric politicians – Enough already
Eccentric politicians - Enough already
Eccentric politicians – Enough already

Do you consider yourself eccentric? Do you have an overbearing personality and slightly too much confidence for your own good? A zany charm perhaps, or quirky habits that demand people’s reluctant attention? Ever been punched in the face? If you can answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions,.then you could probably forge a successful career in British politics. But, if you are considering it, please, please, PLEASE DON’T!

Eccentric politicians

With the country on its knees, unable to provide even basic staple foods.such as fresh Iguana, or Dodo eggs, with every public servant.from teachers to railway workers striking for a decent day’s pay, with a border control policy more porous than the three lions’ back four, and national debt exceeding £2,365 billion, the last thing we need is another irritating and incompetent self-publicist getting in the way of actual, real progress.

Please do not stand for election if you recognise any of the following in you…

Matt Hancock, MP

Love rat Matt has three young children and was married to Martha whom he dumped for his fitter secretary. He is the first MP in modern times to win a horse race, winning at Newmarket in August 2012 although he was sitting on the horse back to front. Hancock is an avid cricketer and plays for both the Lords & Commons Cricket teams, sometimes in the same match if he can get away with it. Matt once played cricket at the North Pole but was bowled out for a duck by a penguin.

Screaming Lord Sutch

English musician turned perennial parliamentary candidate. Sutch failed to win in all 39 elections in which he stood from 1963 to 1997. A former rocker, he had a hit in 1963 with ‘Jack the Ripper’ with his band the Savages. His concerts often began with him emerging from a black coffin before flaunting skulls, skeletons, knives, and daggers throughout his performances. He suffered from depression throughout his life and hung himself on 16 June 1999 at his late mother’s house.

The Rt Hon Lord Michael Heseltine CH

British politician and businessman who started out as a property developer. At prep school he started a birdwatching club called the Tit Club, members of which were named after a member of the tit family – Heseltine was the Great Tit. While at Oxford university, he plotted his future on the back of an envelope, writing down: ‘millionaire 25, cabinet member 35, party leader 45, prime minister 55’, but never achieved Party Leader or Prime Minister. He was nicknamed ‘Tarzan’ after swinging the Parliamentary mace in the commons in protest at a Labour vote. More recently he revealed how he ordered 400 squirrels shot on his Northamptonshire estate to protect songbirds.

Michael Foot

British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. He was an ardent supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and looked like it. His scruffy appearance brought ridicule from right-wing newspapers who attacked his bohemian eccentricity, and choice of ‘donkey jacket’. He was nicknamed ‘Worzel Gummidge’ by opposition MPs and the press and depicted as a scarecrow on the satirical TV show ‘Spitting Image’. Labour’s manifesto for the 1983 general election was described as ‘the longest suicide note in history’ by a member of his own party. He never became Prime Minister.

Filthy Cumbrians rub ‘Cum’ in our faces

The Editor
-
0
Filthy Cumbrians rub ‘Cum’ in our faces
Filthy Cumbrians rub ‘Cum’ in our faces
Welcome to Cumbria sign board

Everyone knows that Cumbrians are depraved sexual perverts, but do they really have to rub their filthy Cum in our faces?

Cumbria County Council, or ‘Cumbria C*unt* Council’ as they prefer to call themselves.(filth) have begun to erect (filth) £60,000 worth of new signage across the cunty. It is reported that the move was inspired by a small clique of sex-obsessed.(filth) pervert councillors who are determined to impose their (filthy) liberal views on sex on the citizens of Cumbria, not to mention the rest of us.

Cumbrians

Signs displaying legends like ‘We come to Cum’,.and ‘Holiday in Cum’ are designed to attract the kind of (filthy) people that frankly, we don’t want in Suffolk. Tsk.

Other Cumbrian landmarks and sites of special interest are also undergoing a (filth) makeover.

Castlerigg Stone Circle, an atmospheric monument built around 3000BC is to be re-labelled.‘*as******* S**** Circle’ (Ass circle), Lowther Castle & Gardens will become ‘Low**** *as*** * ******s’ (Low ass), Carlisle Cathedral is to be named ‘C**li*** **t*e*ral’(Cliteral), and the National Trust – Sizergh Castle and Gardens will be henceforth know as… wait for it… ‘*a***nal Trust – Sizergh’ (The anal trust – Sizebergh). Filth!

F*ck Cumbria

Our advice is to f*ck Cumbria and holiday in beautiful, family-orientated, respectable, East Suffolk! ‘*as* S**folk’ (Ass folk).

Lonely trucker caught with his pants down

The Editor
-
0
Lonely trucker caught with his pants down
Lonely trucker caught with his pants down
Lonely trucker caught with his pants down

A lonely trucker from Woodbridge, Suffolk, has been caught while comforting himself with a traffic Cone.

We’ve all done it. You’re on a long trip across East Anglia in the darkness of a cold December night in your articulated lorry. You have deliveries to make at multiple locations. You’re tired, hungry, and you miss your family – especially your wife. You’re bored with the monotony of your unfulfilling driving job, and you long for some excitement. You have needs, and you long for some comforting physical contact… with a traffic cone.

That’s what happened to Steve Franks (52), a long-distance delivery driver working for Fresh farm foods of Halesworth, Suffolk. Franks, who appeared at Ipswich County Court last Tuesday, admitted two counts of indecent exposure and one count of the sexual abuse of a traffic cone.

Poor Lonely Trucker

Taking the stand, the Lonely trucker, Franks admitted under intense questioning from a giggling prosecution barrister, that he was guilty on all counts but that the misdemeanor was not premeditated. Franks claimed that he pulled his lorry into a layby on the A140 near Mickfield in September intending to urinate. After he had relieved himself, he began to return to his truck when he noticed a traffic cone poking out of the bushes. He went to investigate and as he approached the cone, his trousers, which were still unzipped, caught in the thicket and fell down around his ankles, taking his pants with them. Finding himself standing alone in the bushes with the traffic cone. Lonely trucker Franks admitted that he became aroused and began to simulate sex with the cone. When he had finished, he swapped numbers with the cone, returned to his cab, and drove off.

Where the rubber hits the road

The depraved Lonely trucker looked crestfallen as he admitted that he did have, and was receiving counselling for, a sexual fetish disorder known as ‘rubberism’ which causes those with the kink to seek sexual gratification in the presence of all manner of rubber and plastic objects – balloons, assorted kitchen utensils, and Stretch Armstrong dolls among them.  

Franks apologized to his wife, who looked refined in an orange two-piece skirt suit with a wide white vinyl belt, and his two children who were sitting stony-faced in the public gallery, but blamed long hours on the road for his ‘terrible error of judgement.’

Summing up, the judge urged the press and public alike to have some sympathy with the disgraced driver on account of his job which he acknowledged did involve long periods of solitude which he went on to say could understandably contribute to bouts of loneliness and boredom.

Whatever you Sikh, you will find at Singhsbury

The Editor
-
0
Whatever you Sikh, you will find at Singhsbury
Whatever you Sikh, you will find at Singhsbury
Whatever you Sikh, you will find at Singhsbury

Whatever you Sikh, you will find at Singhsbury’s. That’s what Ipswich convenience store owner, Barry Singh tells his ever-growing base of loyal customers looking for a good deal.

Singh (44) has been running the local corner store for eighteen months since the previous owners were shut down following a dispute over their shop name – ‘Arrods – being in breach of copyright. The entrepreneurial businessman claims that any resemblance between his shop name and the famous Sainsbury’s brand is purely coincidental – despite both their logos sharing the same colour and font. “Honest, mate. It was a coincidence. I mean how many colours are there? Red, yellow, blue? Not many innit? So I went with orange. Coiincidence.”

No longer at this Madras

Singhsburry’s owner says that he has received numerous legal-looking letters bearing the original Sainsbury’s logo but has “not had time to open them” yet due to the incredible business his store has been doing. “I ain’t got time innit?” said Mr Singh as he strolled leisurely around his store.

We asked Mr Singh to tell us more about some of his products and why he thinks people are choosing his store over its more famous namesake. “Okay. First, we have fresh produce. All our fruit and veg are totally fresh. I can guarantee that because we get it from Sainsbury’s. One of our best-selling fruits is Gu-rhubarb for the crumbles.”

A bit like

Other top-selling products racing off the shelves of Singhsbury’s include: Punjabiscuits, which are a bit like jammie dodgers but with a mango chutney jam. Guru Nan-Nik-Naks crisps are a take on original Nik-Naks but come in classic Indian flavours such as, Chicken Korma, Cumin & Coriander, and Prawn Vindaloo.

Muslim-ming drinks aimed at fat women from the local Mosque are selling out quickly in preparation for new year’s resolutions and, for mums, Diwali’s Rusks are just the ticket for baby’s feeding time and more affordable than the original Farley’s brand.

Singhsbury’s Marketing

Barry asked the Suffolk Gazette to mention his New Delhi Counter which will be opening in January.

The only downside to shopping at Singhsbury is they do not accept credit cards. You have to pay in Kashmiri

1...110111112...389Page 111 of 389

Just In

Sport

Business

Features

Contact us