Tag: How-to

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How to Start an LLC in 7 Easy Steps

An office laptop on a desk space displaying the words "llc limited liability company" on the screen

Forming a limited liability company (LLC) is one of the most important steps when starting a new business. An LLC offers your business liability protection as well as a multitude of other benefits. This guide teaches you everything you need to know on how to start an LLC and what to expect during the process. 

Sign up for ZenBusiness to expedite your LLC formation process.

How to Start an LLC in 7 Steps

  • Step 1: Choose a State to start your LLC
  • Step 2: Name the LLC
  • Step 3: Nominate a Registered Agent
  • Step 4: File LLC Formation Documents
  • Step 5: Create an Operating Agreement
  • Step 6: Apply for an EIN
  • Step 7: Receive a Certificate from the State

Step 1: Choose a State to Start an LLC

The first step is to choose the state you want to register your business in. You should choose the state where you live or where you plan to conduct your business. Different states have different regulations and rules regarding how to start an LLC. For example, each state has different taxation, costs, fees, and other policies.

Although you can find each state’s LLC rules and regulations online, you can also use an LLC formation service like ZenBusiness to get started quickly. Services such as ZenBusiness and Inc Authority will hold your hand from steps A to Z as you form your LLC.

What’s the Best State to Start an LLC?

Delaware is the most popular state to form an LLC because it carries a strong reputation for being business-friendly and offers a quick filing process with increased protection. However, we recommend forming your LLC in your home state because that is where your LLC conducts business.

Which State Has the Lowest Business Tax?

South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nevada have no individual or corporate income tax. However, Nevada imposes gross receipts taxes. Furthermore, Alaska doesn’t have individual or state-level sales tax, and Florida doesn’t have individual income taxes. Lastly, New Hampshire and Montana have no sales tax. 

Read our guide to state corporate tax rates for more information. 

Step 2: Name the LLC

Your next task is to name your LLC. However, you can’t simply choose any name. You must make sure the name is available for use or not in your state. Furthermore, you must ensure your business name doesn’t violate another business’ trademark.

This means you can’t choose a name that’s identical to another business’ name or that is only different because of an “s” at the end or another business entity identifier. For instance, you can’t start an LLC called “John’s Kitchen Supplies, LLC” if there is already a “John’s Kitchen Supply, LLC” in your state. 

If you check available business names before filing your paperwork, you can avoid having your LLC formation request denied because of naming problems. 

Here are a few essential LLC naming guidelines to follow:

  • You must include “Limited Liability Company” or abbreviations like LLC or L.L.C in your business name.
  • You can’t include words that may confuse your company name with a government agency, such as Treasury, State Department, and FBI.
  • You can’t use words such as Bank, University, and Attorney in your LLC’s name. These words may require further paperwork in addition to a licensed person like a lawyer or doctor as part of the company. 

Most importantly, you should choose a name that’s distinctive and relates to your type of business. The name should do a good job of telling people what products or services you sell or offer. You also want to pick a name that’s memorable and easy to pronounce. It’s a good idea to check if your LLC’s name is available for domain name registration before finalizing your decision. 

How to Check if a Business Name is Taken?

Each state has a secretary of state or other state agency responsible for business entity filings. In most states, the online site of the state business filing agency has an entity name check tool. Use the tool to search business names and learn whether or not another business is already using the name you want. 

Can I Reserve My Business Name?

You can reserve LLC names for up to 3 months if you don’t want to register your LLC right away. However, each state has different rules regarding LLC name registration. Furthermore, you are required to pay a reservation fee and submit a name reservation form with your state business entity filing agency. 

Step 3: Nominate a Registered Agent

After naming your LLC, the next step is to choose a registered agent. A registered agent is an organization or person who receives legal documents on behalf of your company. These documents include official correspondences like legal summons and state filing notices.

All LLCs must have a registered agent to ensure the LLC receives these official notices and documents. Furthermore, the registered agent must be 18 years or older and have the right to conduct business in the state. The registered agent must also have a physical street address in the state. As such, you can be your own registered agent if you meet the eligibility requirements.

However, we recommend using professional registered agent services for this purpose. Hiring a professional registered agent ensures you receive all the crucial mail and information that may get lost in translation if you’re your own registered agent. 

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Registered Agent?

The cost of hiring a registered agent depends on which state you want to start an LLC in. It also depends on which registered agent service you use. While the cost can go up to $300, Northwest Registered Agent offers a standalone registered agent service for $125 a year. 

Step 4: File LLC Formation Documents

Step four is the most important step when you start an LLC. The LLC formation documents are known as the Certificate of Formation or Articles of Organization.

You must fill in the form, either online or in PDF, and send it to the Secretary of State after paying the formation state fee. The filing fee depends on which state you file in. For example, the fee starts from $40 in Kentucky and can go up to $500 in Massachusetts.

So, visit your state LLC filing agency’s website and fill out the Articles of Organization.

Some basic information you must provide includes:

  • Your chosen business name
  • The address of your principal place of business
  • The purpose of your company
  • The way your LLC will be managed (member or manager-managed)
  • Contact information of the registered agent
  • The duration of the LLC, if not perpetual

Once you finish filling out the Articles of Organization, the business owners must sign the form. Furthermore, a few states, such as New York and Nebraska, require you to publish a notice in the newspaper specifying your desire to register your LLC. You must complete this step before filing your Articles of Organization in these states.

The Articles of Organization will explain if you need to take any further action before submitting the form. 

Step 5: Create an Operating Agreement

Once you submit your LLC formation documents, you must create an operating agreement. An operating agreement includes the details of the legal, financial, and management rights of all members of your LLC. It also details how profits are distributed, how members leave the LLC, and who provides capital for the business.

In essence, the operating agreement contains all the relevant information related to your business operations. Although many states don’t require an operating agreement, creating one is strongly recommended. This is especially important if you have more than one member or partner.

The operating agreement ensures everybody agrees on their designated rights and responsibilities. While creating your own operating agreement is an option, you can find dozens of free templates online to get you started. 

However, you may want to hire the best LLC services like ZenBusiness to create your operating agreement if you have a complex LLC structure with multiple owners. 

Here are the six primary sections of a standard operating agreement:

  • Capital Contributions
  • Dissolution
  • Distributions
  • Membership changes
  • Management and Voting
  • Organization

Step 6: Apply For an EIN

Next, you need to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your LLC. An EIN is a unique 9-digit issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Every LLC is required to get an EIN to help the IRS distinguish each business for general tax purposes. Therefore, an EIN is similar to a Social Security (SSN) number for your LLC.

Your company’s EIN is crucial if you plan to hire employees or open a business bank account. You can obtain an EIN by applying directly on the IRS website. The IRS will issue your EIN immediately once it verifies your application. 

All multi-member LLCs need an EIN, regardless of whether they are taxed as a partnership or have chosen to be taxed as a corporation. However, the IRS treats single-member LLCs as a disregarded entity unless they elect to be taxed as a corporation.

Therefore, single-member LLCs are not required to obtain an EIN unless it has one or more employees or excise tax liabilities. 

Step 7: Receive a Certificate from the State

After your LLC formation documents are filed and approved, your state will send a certificate to confirm that your LLC formally exists. After you receive the certificate, you can handle further business matters like obtaining business licenses and opening a business bank account.

After You Start an LLC

After starting your LLC, there are additional tasks to manage and review. Here are other essential things to address after forming an LLC.

  • Set Up Business Accounting. Having a business accountant who will help you take advantage of tax benefits is crucial. Accurate bookkeeping is essential for any successful business.
  • Get Permits and Licenses. Check if your business needs any business licenses or permits to stay compliant with your state’s laws and regulations.
  • Separate Personal Assets From Business. It’s vital to open a dedicated business bank account and credit accounts to avoid blending them with your personal bank accounts. If you don’t separate personal assets from business assets, your personal assets (your car, home, and other valuables) are at risk if your LLC gets sued.
  • Get Business Insurance. In most cases, businesses with employees must get workers’ compensation insurance. Although general liability insurance is not a legal requirement, we recommend getting it to protect your business assets from lawsuits.

How to Start an LLC – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Before you head out, we want to answer a few common questions we receive about how to start an LLC. This way, you will have all the information you need to launch your business without any headaches along the way.

Bottom Line on How to Start an LLC

Learning how to start an LLC is quick and painless once you know the exact steps. If you follow the above guidelines to a tee, you will have your LLC up and running in no time. However, if you want to expedite the process, we recommend using a professional LLC formation service from ZenBusiness or Inc Authority. 

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How to Find Wholesale Distributors in 5 Steps

A wholesale distributor taking inventory of his warehouse

If you own a retail or are starting an e-commerce store, finding the right wholesale distributors is the first step toward a successful operation. A wholesale distributor buys many goods directly from manufacturers and resells them to businesses at a low cost. 

Find the Right Wholesale Distributor in 5 Steps

Wholesale distributors can be key partners for your business. But where do you find them – and how will you know you are making the right call?

Wholesale distributor supply chain

When looking for wholesale distributors, there is a lot more than simply searching for provider names on the internet. 

First of all, building a list of potential suppliers is no easy task: it takes time, and standard tools such as Google are, frankly, not enough for qualified research. When searching for wholesale providers, it is important to reach out to the proper channels – which we will soon get into. 

After you’ve listed a few wholesale distributors, you won’t be done yet. There are still several elements to consider to make the right choice, such as product offerings, pricing, geographical access to products, shipping, and much more. 

To make your decision smoother, we’ve listed 5 steps you should take when looking for the best wholesale distributors. 

Step 1: Create a List of Possible Providers 

This might sound like the most obvious step on the list — but it is, in fact, one of the hardest. Crafting such a list takes time, and you must go to the right channels to find the best wholesale distributors. 

The first action that might come to mind when searching for wholesale distributors is Googling a set of keywords on the search page. But sometimes, the results don’t meet your expectations or needs. For more accurate results, we recommend other strategies. So, here are a few ways to access the best wholesale providers.

Contact the Manufacturer of the Product you Wish to Sell 

You are already a step ahead if you already know the product or brand you want to sell in your store or e-commerce website. You can contact the product manufacturer and ask for a list of wholesale distributors that resell their products.

This allows you to offer a highly curated product portfolio instead of simply selling what you can find. Adopting this strategy can set your business aside from the competition and increase your sales significantly. 

Go to Trade Shows to Find the Best Suppliers 

If you don’t know what products to sell or if you are interested in a wider variety of items and brands, visiting a trade show can be a great strategy. During these events, a number of manufacturers, suppliers, brands, and wholesale distributors exhibit their latest products.

It’s a great opportunity to network and make businesses. Further, this is also a great way to see the products for yourself and assure that the quality of the goods meets your expectations. 

Access a Wholesale Distributor Directory 

Finally, you can also access an online directory and find a list of the best wholesale distributors, thus gaining access to various manufacturers across the globe. These marketplaces, such as Alibaba, Handshake, Global Sources, and Tundra connect manufacturers with retailers and e-commerce businesses – some are integrated with the world’s leading e-commerce platform, such as Shopify, which eases the operation as a whole. 

Once you have gone through these channels, you can successfully craft a list of possible wholesale distributors. Then, what’s next? 

Step 2: Check for the Product Offering 

After building your wholesale provider list, it’s time to check what products the suppliers offer. Be sure to request a product catalog that discloses pricing details and the product itself. 

Don’t overlook aspects such as the type of material used on the product, dimensions, and even certifications that assure the product’s quality. Some lower-priced products might seem more appealing but shouldn’t ignore quality. Ensure you have all the details you need before making a large purchase and risk having the product forgotten in stock.

In addition, you should also consider how consistently the wholesale distributors can make their products available so you don’t ever run out of inventory. After all, if the provider faces problems with stock, delivery, or other, this can seriously affect your business as you will not have the products available in your store.

Step 3: Confirm the Geographic Location of the Provider 

You might come across many wholesale distributors located outside of your country of residence. Many distributors in China provide access to a broader set of products. 

However, while committing to a provider outside of your country can give you access to a wider portfolio, you should also remember that buying from a distributor offshore can incur taxation, inspections, and a complex logistical process.

This brings us to our next step…

Step 4: Confirm the Shipping Processes 

Imagine this: you’ve found the right wholesale distributors and built an entire marketing and sales strategy around the products you plan to resell through your retail or e-commerce business. You even designed a launch campaign for a specific collection you will be receiving in your store and invested a ton of money in publicity and advertisement. 

However, your provider has faced shipping issues, and your delivery came late – or didn’t arrive at all! – compromising your strategy and frustrating your clients, eager to shop for your products. 

It sounds like a tragedy, right? 

Shipping is an essential part of a healthy operation, so you must work with a trusted wholesaler committed to delivering on time. Further, also make sure that the products will arrive intact, that is, with no damages whatsoever to the package or the product. 

And if you face any hurdles, be sure to count on reliable customer support – our next step is finding the right wholesale distributor. 

Step 5: Always Look for a Reliable Customer Support 

Customer support plays an essential role in B2B relationships. Usually, times of crisis – such as the scenario described above – are when customer support is most tested. However, we are sure you do not want to wait for a problem to occur to ensure you are provided with proper support.

To avoid being frustrated by customer service, we recommend you test wholesale distributors’ support channels upfront. Try and reach out by phone, e-mail, and chatting and see how long it takes for someone to get back to you. If you do not receive a response in good time, you will probably know what to expect in the future. 

And, bonus tip: you might also want to take the time to read a few reviews on the internet regarding customer support. After all, a word from another customer is priceless  – and can either prevent you from having a bad experience or guide your way into a successful partnership. 

Best Wholesale Distributors for retailers and e-commerce businesses 

If you are on step #1 of finding wholesale distributors, we have gathered a list of providers to help you with your quest. Here are a few suppliers you can start your business with. 

1. Alibaba

Alibaba is a China-based vendor covering multiple categories and over 190 countries. It is one of the largest wholesale distributors in the World – and a highly reliable one, too. 

2. Handshake

Handshake is a wholesale marketplace by Shopify – the World’s leading e-commerce platform. It is the perfect fit for small businesses selling online. It offers Shopify users free shipping on opening orders, low or no minimum orders, and no fees.

3. Global Sources 

Global Sources is a B2B wholesale marketplace with over 10 million registered buyers. It has been around since 1995 and is a trusted wholesale provider. 

4. Tundra

Tundra is an online wholesale marketplace where business owners can pick up large volumes of goods. It is easy to use and a perfect fit for small business owners and e-commerce businesses. 

You can start with a few names on your search for a wholesale supplier. Be sure to go through all five steps before sealing a partnership. 

Why Your Business Should Consider a Wholesale Provider

Working with wholesale distributors helps different types of businesses source the best products while focusing on managing their company, designing sales strategies, and tailoring the best marketing campaigns. Here are some of the main advantages of working with a quality supplier. 

Easy Stock Management 

When working with a wholesale distributor, you can purchase as much stock as you need without worrying about storage space. In addition, you can also quickly restock in case you run out of a specific product. 

Market Trends are Always on Your Roadmap 

Sometimes in retail, it seems like every competitor is selling a different version of the same product. And that’s because they are. 

Some products win over customers’ hearts and become a real market trend. You might be familiar with this phenomenon when you think of particular products, like the popular hot air brush that every beauty and cosmetics store just had to offer or the hottest tech gadgets that customers just can’t live without. 

When you work with a wholesaler’s distributor, you can rest assured that you will always be updated with the latest trends. When you offer trending products in your online store, not only are you reaching a more significant number of customers but also pull attention to other products available in your store. 

Profitable Margins 

When purchasing from a wholesale distributor, you can guarantee higher discounts when buying in bulk. This means you can work with better profit margins and boost your business. 

If you are looking into working with even better profit margins, here’s a tip: recurring buyers are sometimes offered better supplier deals through loyalty programs. So be sure not to overlook this opportunity when sealing the deal with a wholesale provider.

Optimized Business Operation 

When buying from a wholesale supplier, you don’t have to get involved with the product development process, which saves you a lot of time and money. For merchants that don’t know how to find a manufacturer, reaching out to a wholesale distributor can be the best path to success. 

Of course, developing your original product can be a great leap for your business. After all, there is no competition in originality and exclusiveness. However, idealizing a product and finding a manufacturer is a big step and might be the best option for more mature businesses. Read our article on business operations to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Wholesale Distributors

Do you have questions about how to find the right wholesale distributor? Here are a few answers to frequently asked questions. 

Bottom Line on Wholesale Distributors 

Wholesale distributors can be great partners for retail and e-commerce businesses that want to expand their product portfolio and boost their sales. Because wholesale providers act as the middleman between manufacturers and merchants, companies can take off the stress of handling the product development process and focus on marketing and sales strategies. 

Furthermore, merchants that work with reliable wholesale distributors can benefit from easy stock management and profit margins while offering the hottest products in the market without the hassle of designing their products. 

The first step when looking for a wholesale distributor is to craft a list of potential providers. Next, check the product offering, geographic availability, logistical processes, and customer support quality before committing to a specific supplier. 

You are guaranteed to make the right call by following these five simple steps. Remember: choosing the right partner can pave the way to an even more successful business.

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How to Mine Dogecoin in 3 Steps

How to Mine Dogecoin in 3 Steps - Dogecoin logo

What started as a joke, now has a $22 billion market value. Dogecoin collected a fanbase worldwide and despite its recent success it’s still possible to mine Dogecoin and make some profit. In this article, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to mine Dogecoin.

Mine Dogecoin with Hashshiny Cloud Mining!

How Mining Dogecoin Works

Screenshot of Dogecoin website homepage

Before talking about Dogecoin mining, it’s important to first understand how mining cryptocurrency works in general. Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies operate in a blockchain network that works by adding new blocks to its decentralized ledger. 

“Mining” is critical for cryptocurrencies’ maintenance, development, and circulation. In practical terms, sophisticated hardware needs to solve complex mathematical problems and the first computer able to find the solution, receives the next block, the process begins again and the miner receives a newly minted coin as a reward for completing the “block.”

There are two different ways to mine: Proof of Work and Proof of Stake. Proof of Work (PoW) is what all types of hardware are needed for mining, such as GPUs, ASICs, and FPGAs (more on this later). Proof of Stake is an alternative for PoW, PoS is a consensus mechanism where cryptocurrency validators share the task of validating transactions.

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For the most part of mining cryptocurrency, including Dogecoin, miners resort to PoW. Here is the difference between Dogecoin mining and Bitcoin mining (as of December 2022):

Dogecoin logo

Dogecoin

Bitcoin logo

Bitcoin

Algorithm

Scrypt

SHA-256

Difficulty

8.48 million

36.95 trillion

Total Supply

Infinite

21 million

Reward per block

10,000

6.25

Block time

1 min

10 min

Bitcoin is the oldest and largest cryptocurrency by market cap and it uses a hashing algorithm called SHA-256. A hashing algorithm is simply a function that generates a fixed-length code using a certain technique. Each hashing algorithm uniquely creates random codes.

On the other hand, Dogecoin uses a hashing algorithm called Scrypt – a bit less complex than Bitcoin’s SHA-256. This makes mining Dogecoin much faster and less energy-intensive than BTC.

Most cryptocurrencies have a limited supply cap. Bitcoin, for instance, has 21 million whereas Dogecoin doesn’t, which means that its mining and circulating capacity increases continuously. This gives a larger block time between the two. New Dogecoin blocks are discovered every minute, while Bitcoin blocks, every 10 minutes. 

The Process of Mining Dogecoin

Since the unexpected rise of Dogecoin at the beginning of 2021 – among pop culture, memes, and Elon Musk tweets about it – the meme coin ignited the interest of many crypto enthusiasts in Dogecoin mining and sent mining profitability to a new six-year high.

As its popularity increased, so did the mining process. This means, it is still possible to mine Dogecoin but it’s getting more and more difficult to do it. Because of that, miners got together and formed “mining pools.”

Mining pools are a group of miners who mine the cryptocurrency as a single entity – or node –  by merging their computing power. The rewards get distributed among the participants proportionally by the amount of computer power committed by each miner. Today there are three ways to mine Dogecoin: individual mining, mining pools, and cloud mining. 

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How to Mine Dogecoin - visual representation of the difference between solo mining and pool mining

Dogecoin Mining Risks

Mining Dogecoin individually is possible as long as you know the risks. So, before diving into Dogecoin mining, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. We’ve listed the main risks of mining Dogecoin solo:

  • Electricity: Mining any PoW crypto consumes a lot of energy because computers must run 24/7. A GPU (graphics processing unit) from Nvidia and AMD requires high-wattage power supplies. A rig with three GPUs can consume 1,000 watts of power or more.
  • Faster wear and tear of equipment: If a miner decides to use their laptop to mine Dogecoin, they must be aware that, just like GPUs are up and running 24 hours a day, a laptop must do the same. This may accelerate the depreciation and affect the lifespan of your equipment. 
  • GPU shortage could return: Nvidia has recently put an end to GPU shortage and boosted RTX 30-series graphics cards. Still, since dedicated GPUs are mainly manufactured by two companies, AMD and Nvidia, the market is vulnerable and maybe, still susceptible to another shortage again. 

How to Mine Dogecoin in 3 Steps

Now that you know the process of mining Dogecoin, how it works, and the risks that come with it, and if you’re ready to venture into mining this successful meme coin, there are a few steps to follow. 

Note that you can start mining Dogecoin instantly with a cloud-mining platform like Hashshiny. The steps below would work only if you’re willing to invest in mining hardware and take the longer route.

Step 1: Get Equipped

There are a few must-haves to start mining Dogecoin or any other cryptocurrency, and the two starters are hardware and software. 

Hardware

There are three types of hardware equipment you can use:

  • CPU: Your regular PC’s processing unit can do the work, but as mentioned above, you might end up damaging your equipment due to overheating.
  • GPU: A graphic process unit is much more potent than a regular CPU; GPUs are also faster and more efficient and have become a must-have among miners. 
  • ASIC: Application-specific integrated circuit miners are the highest level of mining crypto. They’re more powerful than GPUs and were specifically designed for mining crypto. However, it’s also more expensive. 

Software

After choosing your equipment, it’s time to pick the software. Each one of the hardware listed above has its software to accompany it. We’ve listed the main ones:

  • CPU: CPU miner by Pooler, for Litecoin, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies
  • GPU: EasyMiner is a good option for beginners, CudaMiner works best with Nvidia GPUs, while CGminer goes well with all types of GPUs
  • ASIC: CGminer and EasyMiner can also be used with ASICs 

Step 2: Get a Wallet

Screenshot of Dogecoin's different types of wallet

The second step is to get yourself a wallet. Dogecoin offers its official wallets – called Dogecoin Core and Multidoge but you can find another one that also stores Dogecoin. If you don’t know which crypto wallet to choose, check the best crypto wallets in 2023. A wallet will let you collect any revenue as a reward from mining DOGE.

Step 3: Decide How You Will Mine 

As already mentioned, there are three approaches to mining Dogecoin: solo, pools, or cloud mining. If you intend to mine DOGE just for fun, you can do it by yourself, using a GPU through software such as Easy Miner or Cuda Mine, for example. 

The function of a GPU is basically to process and render all images on a computer’s screen, and many laptops and desktop computers use it to improve image processing.

However, solo mining alone can be a tricky process if the individual isn’t used to it, and oftentimes it’s not profitable unless you’re willing to shell out significant sums of money on high-quality and professional equipment and electrical bills.

For first-time miners, we recommend trying to join a DOGE mining pool or a cloud-mining platform. Mining in a group increases the chances of becoming a block validator due to the collective hashing power of the pool. Also, a pool boosts the chances of profiting from mining – which is higher than mining solo. 

The Crypto Economics Behind Dogecoin Mining

Most people want to know if it’s still possible to make some profit mining Dogecoin, even after its last peak in April 2021. But before discussing its profitability, let’s quickly look at the economics behind the Shiba Inus coin.

As opposed to the most popular cryptocurrencies out there such as Bitcoin and Litecoin, Dogecoin doesn’t have a fixed upper coin limit, which makes it an inflationary currency. 

Although when first created, it was designed to be a limited supply of 100 billion coins, and the block reward was set to halve every 100,000 blocks until block 600,000 was mined. However, one year and 160 days after its launch, developers decided to give Dogecoin an infinite supply, thus DOGE turn into an inflationary currency with a slowly declining inflation rate.

With no hard cap supply, the DOGE hash rate declined significantly after that. To protect the network from 51% percent attacks, developers decided to allow merge, letting Dogecoin miners receive hashing power from another proof-of-work network. As a result, miners today can mine both Dogecoin and Litecoin simultaneously.

Is Mining Dogecoin Profitable?

That’s a very common question among miners and crypto enthusiasts. Profiting from DOGE depends on four main factors: energy costs, equipment’s hashpower, the current Dogecoin price, and the block reward. Generally speaking, the most costly variable is energy costs, as depending on the region or even the country, costs can go through the roof, then mining isn’t that profitable, especially if done solo.

The hash power provided is also an important variable that defines whether mining Dogecoin will turn out to be a profitable activity or not. The most popular GPU can make $0.25 to $2 per day. If using a new ASIC model, miners can make a profit of approximately $10-$40 per day. 

Of course, it’s worth remembering that we aren’t including amortization into consideration – some GPU or ASIC models can take years to pay off the equipment’s price. 

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How to Trade Crypto

Besides mining, there are other ways to profit from the crypto craze, such as NFT, DeFi, and trading. One of the most common ways is through trading.

You can trade cryptocurrency by exchanging one crypto for another (such as Bitcoin to Ethereum) or buying or selling crypto using fiat currency (like US dollar to Bitcoin). The process, however, can get complex if you aren’t familiar with the crypto market – which is similar to stocks and other financial markets. 

Before starting off, you should understand how blockchain technology and the market involved in trading crypto works. Signing up with a quality crypto exchange will make things much easier for you.

Pros & Cons of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, so it’s very common to see Bitcoin prices fluctuate over 10% in a single day. This is a great opportunity for high-risk profiles to make a profit quicker with crypto trading.

But is crypto worth investing in? Or is it something for you? If you can handle volatility and are okay with the risk of loss (in case you can’t access your wallet or private key) and security, cryptocurrencies have a high return potential (oftentimes higher than the stock market). 

It gives users anonymity, and it’s very accessible and versatile – it only takes a few minutes to trade and transfer Bitcoin or any other crypto. If you’re sold on the idea of profiting from cryptocurrencies, check the fastest growing cryptocurrencies in 2023 and get ready.

Pros: 

  • Potential for high rewards
  • Anonymity 
  • Cryptocurrencies beat inflation

Cons: 

  • Understanding cryptocurrency takes time and effort
  • Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile
  • Crypto newbies are vulnerable to security risks

Evaluate the complete pros and cons of cryptocurrencies to make the right decision for yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Mine Dogecoin

We have answered the most frequently asked questions so you can learn more about how to mine Dogecoin. 

Bottom Line on How to Mine Dogecoin

If you’re wondering if there’s still space for late adopters to make some profit with Dogecoin, the short answer is yes. However, there are some aspects and risks to consider when it comes to mining not only Dogecoin but any other cryptocurrency. 

Mine Dogecoin with Hashshiny Cloud Mining!

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How to Buy and Flip NFTs Like an Expert in 5 Simple Steps

Someone holding a NFT globe

The Web 3.0 revolution has introduced several means of making money online. Buying and flipping NFTs is one of them. Know that NFT trading volumes in 2022 are not riding the same high as in 2021, but that doesn’t mean they’re no longer a viable asset to flip. These digital assets are definitely here to stay. 

If you want to learn how to buy and flip NFTs and earn profits, read this guide to the end. We’ll explain everything there is to flipping non-fungible tokens in layperson terms and discuss tried-and-tested strategies that’ll help you flip for a profit.   

What is NFT Flipping?

Before we get to the step-by-step guide on how to buy and flip NFTs, let’s understand what exactly is NFT flipping? Flipping is a recently coined term that refers to buying an asset and selling it quickly for a profit. It’s not limited to non-fungible tokens only, you can flip any valuable asset including trading cards, cars, real estate, or antiques. 

When it comes to NFTs, to flip just means to buy low and sell high. It usually refers to a short-term trade. If you hold an asset for a long time before selling, that’s not exactly flipping. 

Graphic representation of exchange between NFT and Ethereum cryptocurrency
Source: Pixabay

There’s always a risk when you invest in any asset. Flipping is a relatively riskier means of earning money, but if you strategize, it can help you make a handsome amount of money in a short period of time. Remember that it’s not a sure-fire way to make money, but you’re likely to succeed if you tread carefully and follow a strategy. 

How to Buy and Flip NFTs In 5 Steps

Is it possible to buy a non-fungible token in the morning and sell it at the end of the day and make a profit? Yes, absolutely. The key is to analyze the market properly and pick the right project before you buy. The entire process is really simple theoretically.

Screenshot of trending NFT projects on OpenSea
Source: OpenSea

Experience is an important ingredient of success when it comes to NFT flipping. Ask any successful flipper and they’ll tell you that some things only come with experience. Remember to start small and work your way up to more expensive non-fungible token projects. 

This guide will focus on “true” flipping. We won’t focus on creating NFTs, buying early, or minting non-fungible tokens because that can be a whole lot of trouble for starters. Although minting is more profitable, we will focus on buying and selling on a secondary platform like OpenSea or Rarible, which is flipping in the true sense. 

Step 1: Pick the Right Time to Buy NFTs

Just like the crypto trading market, the NFT market can either be going up (bullish) or be going down (bearish). You can easily analyze the market trend by looking at the week-by-week NFT trading volume on any credible website.

The best time to buy is when the market has bottomed out. In other words, when charts indicate that trading volumes have hit a record low and the trend starts moving up, that’s the best time to buy. This is because you are more likely to find non-fungible tokens at lower prices.

NFT trading volumes 2021-2022
Source: CRYPTOSLAM

The key underlying principle is liquidity. When the market is trending upwards, it has higher liquidity, which in simple terms means higher demand. The higher the demand, the more likely you are to sell your digital assets at a profit. All in all, buy when the market has bottomed out and sell when the market is going up.

Step 2: Choose the Right NFT Project to Flip

The next step is to pick one or a few credible NFT projects. You’ll need to do your fair share of research, analysis, and decision-making to shortlist the best ones to flip. Here are a handful of factors that’ll help you choose a promising NFT project.

Number of NFTs in Circulation

You need to look at the basic rules of demand and supply here. Projects with a limited supply tend to have a higher value and hence, are more likely to earn you profit.

Floor Price

The floor price on a project is the lowest price you can purchase an item on. This should give you a general idea of how much each token costs and help you rule out projects that are out of your budget. If the floor price is above or near your investment budget, investing in that project isn’t financially viable. When you’re looking for new projects to flip, try to find a combination of a low floor price and a limited supply. 

Utility

Does a project offer perks or special benefits to its buyers? For instance, some NFT holders get special discounts at select coffee shops while others get a chance to meet a celebrity. Such perks add to the credibility of projects and also make them more valuable. 

Team Behind the Project

Best stay away from anonymous NFT sellers. A professional and trustworthy team behind a project adds to buyers’ confidence. This is much better than anonymously-run projects that run a much higher risk of loss or scam.

Quality of Art

Last but not least, every non-fungible token is essentially a piece of art. The more unique and high-quality the art, the greater its value. 

Step 3: Buy Rare or Undervalued NFTs to Flip

Now that you’ve shortlisted projects to work with, now is the time to decide which NFT you are going to buy exactly. Purchasing is fairly simple. All you have to do is connect your cryptocurrency wallet to the NFT marketplace. 

Note that you must have a compatible cryptocurrency to make a purchase. For instance, OpenSea works mainly on ETH. Most other non-fungible token platforms use any of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies which makes the market more stable. 

But things get complicated when it comes to deciding which to flip. Here are a few strategies to find the best NFTs to buy.

Explore the Trending NFTs Page

The trending page won’t always have the exact NFT you would flip but it gives you an overview of what projects are hot and what prices are tokens being sold at. If you’re lucky enough, you can stumble upon a good flipping opportunity right on the trending page. But in most cases, you will have to do your searching to make profits. 

Screenshot of Top NFTs trending page on OpenSea
Source: OpenSea

Find Undervalued NFTs

This is where you need to know that flipping NFTs is not a get-rich-quick scheme. You’ll have to spend tons of time on project pages and scrolling through hundreds of items a day to find potential NFTs. Essentially, you are looking for undervalued items or tokens that you think will increase in value in the near future. 

The best strategy is to first set the price filter from Low to High. This will display the cheapest NFTs on the project first. Not all tokens will be up for sale so click on Buy Now to see which ones are up for grabs. 

Screenshot of Bored Ape NFTs page - How to find undervalued NFTS

Now scan the entire page to find outliers, items that are priced lower than others in the same project. For instance, if you see that the first couple of items cost 0.5 ETH and all the next ones cost either 0.9 ETH or more than 1, you have a chance at flipping 0.5 ones for a higher price. You could sell them at 0.89, for instance.

Sort NFTs by Traits

Here’s another method to find which NFTs to flip. Traits or Properties define how rare a non-fungible token is and hence determine its value. If less than 100 NFTs share the same trait, they are likely to cost higher than most other NFTs. Similarly, if you’ve spotted an undervalued item, always check out its traits to identify a specialty.

Suppose you see a Bored Ape NFT with a trait that less than 50 other items share, go to that trait page and see the prices of other items with the same rare trait. This will help you decide on a good selling price for your rare token.

Step 4: Set a Price

Buying the right article is only 50% of the job. Now you must set a reasonable price to make a profit successfully. For your digital asset to sell quickly, you want to price your item lower than the others while still making a profit. 

Take the marketplace buying and selling fees into consideration when deciding the price. You don’t want to lose all your profit in fees. Use psychological pricing to increase the chances of selling as quickly as possible. 

For example, if you want to sell something at 1.0 ETH, price it at 0.99 ETH. While this may look like a futile effort to you, charm pricing has pronounced effects. For starters, the value of 0.99 ETH is virtually the same as 1.0 ETH, but technically, the 0.01 margin helps you NFT appear before all the 1.0 ETH ones on an NFT marketplace. You want your item to appear as high on the left side of the page as possible when the price is set from Low to High.

Step 5: Flip!

If you follow the right pricing tactics and the market conditions are right, it won’t be long before you receive a buyer’s request. Until then you need to keep your digital assets in your NFT wallet. You can sell on the same day, but it can take up to 3 days for your NFT to sell at your asking price. 

Best NFT Marketplaces for Flipping

As mentioned above, liquidity is the key to NFT flipping. You want to buy and sell your tokens on marketplaces that have a high enough demand so you can keep circulating and making profits. For this, you need to choose the right platform for flipping. Take a look at the top two NFT marketplaces and see which one you should work on.

OpenSea logo

OpenSea

Visit

  • Blockchain: Ethereum
  • Monthly trading volume: $5 billion+
  • Fees: 2.5% of every sale
  • Collection: 1,000,000+ assets

OpenSea is by far the best NFT marketplace for liquidity and security. It also has one of the most extensive NFT catalogs with almost every credible project present on it. As one of the largest marketplaces in terms of trading volume and asset collection, OpenSea is any NFT flipper’s first choice. 

However, you must also note that since this is a popular marketplace, you will find a lot of competition. Almost every experienced flipper uses OpenSea to filter out promising assets so you may find it hard to find tokens to flip. 

OpenSea is built on the ETH blockchain so you’ll find most tokens on it priced in Ethereum. However, it accepts more than 150 cryptocurrencies for payments. 

Rarible logo

Rarible

Visit

  • Blockchain: Ethereum, Flow, Tezos
  • Monthly trading volume: $1.56 million+
  • Fees: 2.5% of every sale and purchase
  • Collection: 400,000+ assets

Rarible is a newer NFT marketplace that gives emerging artists a chance to share their work in a new way. The platform features a vast range of digital assets including digital art, photography, music, games, domains, and metaverse assets. 

It’s one of the more expensive marketplaces as it charges a 2.5% fee on every transaction from both the buyer and seller. The good thing about Rarible is that it’s supported by multiple blockchains including Ethereum, Flow, and Tezos. Its strongest selling point is that it lets users buy tokens directly with their credit or debit card. But this may involve a lot of fees and is not recommended for NFT flippers. 

Rarible is not as big a market as OpenSea as of now. The platform aims to be a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which means it wants its users to have control over Rarible’s decisions and governance. This is something that sets it apart from the top marketplaces and may even give it the growth it needs to compete head-to-head with giant players like OpenSea.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Buy and Flip NFTs

Here are some of the most common questions new NFT flippers have when they start buying and selling non-fungible tokens.

Bottom Line on How to Buy and Flip NFTs

Flipping non-fungible tokens sounds like an easy way to make a lot of money. But it’s crucial for you to remember that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. You will have to research and spend the majority of your time finding promising projects and NFTs to flip. But yes, it’s a fun way to make money and will get easier with time as you gain more experience. 

Start small and work your way up to minimize risk. Even if you do end up in a loss, you can still start over and try to avoid making the same mistake.

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Why You Should Learn How To Use a VPN

Person learning how to use a vpn on a smartphone

Learning how to use a virtual private network, or VPN, is a good idea if you value privacy online. A VPN is a type of network that gives you more security as you use the internet, regardless of what type of connection you use. 

How To Use a VPN in 3 Steps

VPNs are created using special software installed on whatever device you want to keep safe. These programs are often free, with the option to pay for the service for premium features. Free versions of VPNs usually have data caps, meaning you can only use them for so long before they no longer function.

Step 1: Choose a VPN Software

Choose a service based on your needs. VPNs are good for more than just privacy, so if you expect to use one for a purpose such as accessing international content, the server’s location might be important to you. There are many things to consider when learning how to use a VPN.

While prices for VPNs are often similar, there are differences in quality that you should consider. For example, no matter what type of information you’re transmitting, a VPN with a large number of servers tends to be faster than one with fewer servers. If you’re handling large files or streaming HD content, you may find your VPN unable to keep up if its speeds aren’t up to par.

The location of those servers matters, too. Even if the service has a large number of servers, if they’re far away, you may find their speeds lacking.

Looking To Bypass Censorship? Consider the Server’s Location

On the other hand, if you’re learning how to use a VPN so you can access international content, you may want servers that are located in other countries. If you live in a country that censors its internet, using a VPN residing in a country that doesn’t will allow you to access the content you otherwise couldn’t.

Many streaming services also have different content, depending on where their own servers are located. Even if you’re in a country that doesn’t have censorship laws, international licensing issues might mean some content is unavailable to you. Connecting to a VPN located in the country in which the content is available will allow you to access that country’s content.

Do You Want a VPN For Your Mobile Devices? Make Sure the Service Supports It

Not all services support mobile devices, such as cell phones or tablets. If you want to use a VPN on these types of machines, make sure the VPN you choose allows it and supports whatever operating system the device is using.

Step 2: Learn the Basics of Your VPN Software

While the experiences across different VPN software vary, the software options tend to be fairly similar in how they work. When learning how to use a VPN, understanding one generally means you can use others as well.

When you launch the software, you’ll likely need to log in to an account. At one point or another, you’ll run into the service’s Terms of Use. You may wish to read these, as some services require you to install third-party applications or view ads. Be wary of any terms that include collecting information from you in exchange for using the service.

Connect to a Server

Your VPN will probably ask you what server you want to connect to. If you’re interested in protecting your privacy while accessing public WiFi, you’ll likely want to choose a server that’s close to you to optimize speed. On the other hand, if you’re using a VPN to access international content, you can pick a server located in whatever country you want to access content from. Click the connect button, and you’ll be using a VPN.

This is how you get started learning how to use a VPN. If you’re an advanced user, you may wish to change some settings such as using specific protocols, using split tunneling, or altering the encryption method, but you probably won’t need to worry about these settings if you’re just starting.

Step 3: Know What Else You Can Do With a VPN

We’ve mentioned the most common uses of VPN software, but these aren’t all you can do.

One use might be to hide your activity from your ISP. If you’re connected to a VPN, your activity is hidden from your ISP. You may wish to do this if your ISP forbids certain activities, such as downloading torrents.

Maybe you want to hide your browsing activity completely. On a regular network connection, your browsing habits are at least partially visible to one party or another. A VPN can serve as an iron curtain that protects your browsing activity from being viewed by anyone. When learning how to use a VPN, it’s important to know what you can and can’t do with one.

How Cybercriminals Steal Your Information

One of the most common methods a cybercriminal uses is a “Man-in-the-Middle” attack, which is when a third party directly intercepts communications between two entities. A variant of this is called the “Evil Twin,” which is when a fake public WiFi network is displayed using an access point. When your device connects to the malicious WiFi network, the party on the other end can see everything you’re doing and all information you input.

You can sometimes spot an Evil Twin if you see two public WiFi networks with similar names. If you can identify where the network is coming from, notify the staff.

If you’re learning how to use a VPN to prevent your information from being stolen, understand that such a service can prevent you from being a victim.

VPNs Are Not Perfect Solutions

It’s not just cybercriminals after your data. Big data companies and governments naturally see VPNs as the enemy of their business models or interests, and they’ve created countermeasures against VPN traffic. Advertisers have also become more sophisticated, and can sometimes break through a VPN’s wall of anonymity.

The capacity for these services to spoof locations, unblock streaming, and bypass censorship has been lessened, as companies and governments are discovering ways to detect and block VPN traffic or compromise the security of these services. Learning how to use a VPN is dependent on knowing its limitations.

While VPNs are far from useless and still work well for these tasks, they are not impervious to external threats. You can never be invincible when using the internet, no matter which VPN you’re using.

The Cons of Using a VPN

VPNs have numerous benefits, but they also carry some inherent issues.

Expect a loss of performance when using a VPN versus when not using a VPN. These services manipulate your data traffic to travel to other places before coming back to you, which will slow down how fast you can transmit and receive data. In addition, these programs take up hardware resources, such as processor speed and memory, so your device may feel sluggish when a VPN is in use.

Some countries have made VPNs illegal. China, for example, has strict control over its internet and relies heavily on censorship. If you’re caught using a VPN in a country that doesn’t permit its use, you may be subject to criminal penalties.

Finally, decent VPNs cost money. While you can often get discounts on monthly rates if you choose longer plan periods, expect to pay a fair amount if you want to use one for a long time.

VPNs Are Usually Legal, But Using Them for Criminal Acts Isn’t

Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and most democracies allow the use of VPNs. However, while a VPN is typically used for the sake of privacy, you still aren’t allowed to abuse that privacy to commit illegal acts. Using a VPN to protect yourself from the law doesn’t mean you can get away with anything. You may not use a VPN to download copyrighted or illegal content, for example.

You shouldn’t expect a VPN to shield you from the judicial system. Law enforcement has sophisticated technology that can catch you, even if you attempt to use a VPN to hide your activity.

In addition, it is against some streaming platforms’ terms of service to use a VPN to access content that is not available in your country. If you’re caught doing so, you may be banned from using the platform.

VPNs Have Evolved From Their Original Use

The peer-to-peer tunneling protocol, or PPTP, is the precursor to the VPN. PPTP was a way to connect a computer to the internet with added privacy. As the internet has evolved, the need for security and privacy has always been a constant. Certain services such as antivirus software were one way to prevent issues at the end-user level, but soon it became necessary to protect the connection itself.

The very first VPNs allowed for a remote connection to a home network. While ostensibly for security, early VPNs were highly vulnerable to attacks that could disrupt the flow of data. They were also far slower than the services of today, which limited their use for end-users.

VPNs originated as a tool for businesses and governments. Learning how to use a VPN in the early days was mostly about protecting corporate or sensitive data. By using VPNs, they could ensure that their internal data was protected from external threats. However, after massive data breaches occurred in the early 2000s, everyday users started to want that protection for themselves.

Choosing a VPN With the Right Protocol

Not all protocols are created equal, and some are more secure or speedier than others. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure your VPN supports protocols that accommodate the tasks you want to do.

Consider this question: Do you want L2TP/IPsec or OpenVPN TCP for streaming movies? This matters because protocols can vary in both speed and security; some protocols are designed for speed, and some are designed for security. Depending on why you’re learning how to use a VPN, you’ll want to use a protocol that suits your needs.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN is a newer protocol that has several things going for it. This protocol is open-source, meaning its developer code is made public. This is a good thing for you, as it means anyone can look at the code and spot vulnerabilities in it before cybercriminals do.

OpenVPN is very secure, by VPN protocol standards. It has military-grade, AES-256-bit encryption, 2048-bit RSA authentication, and a 160-bit SHA1 hash algorithm. All you need to know about these terms is that it means the protocol is exceptionally secure, so if you’re learning how to use a VPN for security purposes, OpenVPN might be the protocol you want in your service.

There are two varieties of OpenVPN: OpenVPN TCP and OpenVPN UDP. The TCP variety is designed to ensure a steady and reliable stream of data. The UDP variation, on the other hand, is geared more toward speed over reliability.

Speed is more important than reliability when streaming video, so OpenVPN UDP is better suited for this task. By contrast, reliability is more important than speed when handling sensitive information, so if you’re doing any sort of banking activity or handling other important information, the TCP variety might be the ideal choice, if that’s why you’re educating yourself on how to use a VPN.

L2TP/IPsec

L2TP, or Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, and IPsec are two separate protocols. L2TP has no encryption whatsoever, and so has little use by itself. IPsec, on the other hand, does have strong encryption properties. It also has the bonus of having no known vulnerabilities or loopholes to be exploited.

Put together, these two protocols create a highly secure combination. They’re compatible with many different devices and platforms, and are user-friendly.

This security and versatility come at the expense of speed, as L2TP/IPsec is not a particularly fast protocol, making it generally ill-suited for gaming or streaming. If that’s why you’re learning how to use a VPN, you can do better.

SSTP

Microsoft created the SSTP protocol, which stands for Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol. This particular protocol has been included in every version of Windows since Windows Vista.

SSTP is an especially secure protocol, combining 256-bit SSL keys for encryption and 2048-bit SSL/TLS certificates for authentication. Despite being designed for Windows systems, SSTP also works on macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and BSD, making it a highly versatile protocol that is used on a wide variety of devices. However, while SSTP will work on these other non-Windows platforms, it will function best in its native Windows habitat. If you’re learning how to use a VPN for a Windows device, SSTP may be the ticket.

IKEv2

The Internet Key Exchange version 2 protocol combines stability, speed, and security. However, it is meant as a tunneling protocol, not an encryption protocol. This means it is rarely used alone, and is typically combined with something like IPsec to make up for its innate lack of encryption.

Despite these advantages, IKEv2 is not an especially popular protocol for use with VPNs, as it can be blocked by firewalls relatively easily.

PPTP

Although it was created back in 1995 and has been all but replaced by newer protocols, PPTP is still used in some VPN systems today because of its blazing-fast speed. What it has in speed, however, it lacks in security. It’s thus less suitable for handling sensitive data, but can be exceptionally useful for streaming or gaming. If you want to know how to use a VPN for gaming or streaming, PPTP might be ideal.

SoftEther

This protocol is well-regarded for its versatility. In addition to running on macOS, Linux, Windows, and Android, it also works with FreeBSD and Solaris. It’s also friendly to use in conjunction with many of the other protocols mentioned on this list.

SoftEther is open-source, and it can bypass many types of firewalls. It’s faster than many other protocols, but also not as secure. It’s also a relatively new protocol, so it lacks extensive real-world testing. If you’re just now starting out educating yourself on how to use a VPN, SoftEther might be a little riskier than other protocols because of its newness.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How To Use a VPN

VPNs can be relatively simple services, but there are nuances about them that you might want to know.

Bottom Line on How To Use a VPN

Educating yourself on how to use a VPN can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, depending on your needs. While there is no such thing as complete security online, these services can greatly enhance your safety. If you want an extra layer of privacy to access international streaming content or bypass censorship, a VPN can help you accomplish all of these things. If VPNs sound like a solution that could suit your purposes, contact us for more information.

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How to Create NFT in 7 Steps & NFT Ideas to Create Now

Futuristic NFT creation concept

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are taking the digital world by surprise – it’s changing the way we buy and sell digital art, brand products, and experience the internet. If you are already sold on the idea of the NFT craze and want to surf in this wave, we’ve listed seven ways to create your own NFT and how you can do it. 

How to Create NFT & NFT Ideas to Create Your Own NFT

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, which means that each token represents a unique item. Think of it in this way – fungible is a synonym for non-replaceable – some things are unique, and even if there’s a copy, the original is only one, like the Mona Lisa. Or a Picasso’s painting. For instance, Bitcoin is fungible, you can trade one coin for another, and that will be the exact same coin. An NFT is a one-of-a-kind digital file, which means non-fungible. Things like art, collectibles, photos, songs and even real estate can be turned into tokens. 

These NFTs can only have one official owner at a time and most of them are secured by the Ethereum blockchain – no one can modify the record of ownership or copy and paste a new NFT into existence.

How Do NFTs Work?

NFTs are individual and unique items with blockchain records that store information about the digital file. The NFT’s market value is set by the market demands and the transfer among owners is noted on the blockchain as well. The market fluctuates dramatically, so you may see it up or down any given month. In 2022, there has already been more than $37 million invested in NFT marketplaces, according to Chainalysis.

How to Create an NFT

Now that you understand what a Non-Fungible Token is, maybe it’s time to consider creating your own NFT and selling it. If you aren’t convinced about its worthiness, think of the NFTs that have gone viral such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club which cost $190 at launch last April and now they go for over $400,000 (more about it later on). 

Let’s say you come up with a really cool digital sticker idea and you believe in its potential to become the next Bored Ape or a Nyan Cat, it is time to get your hands dirty. We’ve listed the seven steps to creating an NFT.

Step 1: Choose the NFT Content

Digital art, similar to real-world art is open to all kinds of creative forms. If you decide to create an NFT, you need to choose its format and generate an NFT from any multimedia file. An NFT can be a digital painting, a GIF, a photo, a text, audio, a 3D image, or a video from some notable event. But it doesn’t stop here – NFTs can also be virtual items like a virtual sneaker, avatars, and even virtual lands in the metaverse.

Step 2: Pick Your Format

The second step is to choose the format. Keep in mind that after deciding what content and in which format you wish, you will need to convert it to a suitable file type, especially if it is not already digital. Most items tend to be stored as portable network graphics (PNG) or graphics interchange format (GIF) files. Texts would typically be available in portable document format (PDF), while music would likely be stored as MP3 and video kept as MP4.

Step 3: Mint your creation

The process of turning a digital item into an asset on the blockchain is called minting – similar to minting a coin – and that’s what you will do next. This step is what makes your Non-Fungible Token unique, tamper-proof, and impossible to be deleted – once it’s recorded in a distributed ledger or decentralized database. Minting an NFT can be daunting, so you can follow this step-by-step guide here. 

Step 4: Choose the NFT Marketplace

Now that you have pre-minted your NFT, it is time to pick the marketplace you want to sell it. There are a few websites out there, but the most popular is OpenSea – often called the Amazon of NFTs. 

However, choosing the right marketplace is an essential part of minting NFTs, as this depends on many things, including certain blockchain types, supported standards and formats, accessibility, and a price to mint an NFT (in most platforms, this process is paid). 

These marketplaces differ in various aspects, such as different focus, niches, pricing, and user interface, so do proper research to narrow down your preferences and choose one that suits your needs.

Most NFTs are commercialized under Ethereum, although Ethereum does not have a monopoly on NFTs. When looking to mint a token on the blockchain, users will be required to pay a gas fee – that refers to the contribution the user will make to compensate for the computing energy used to process and validate transactions on the blockchain.

Step 5: Get a Wallet

According to the basic blockchain principle, anything related to cryptocurrency transactions is done through a crypto wallet – that eliminates the need to store user account data. Like a physical wallet, a crypto wallet lets you store and buy your cryptocurrencies. There are many wallets to choose from, and they can be both downloaded on a smartphone or accessed in an internet browser.

Step 6: Buy Crypto

As mentioned, most of the NFT marketplace transact NFTs with Ethereum. If you don’t own any ETH, you can purchase some from a reputable broker or cryptocurrency exchange and store it in your wallet. 

Step 7: Follow the Instructions

Each NFT marketplace has specific instructions creators will need to follow in order to create a Non-Fungible Token. Following the instructions are important because this will determine the chances of selling your creation. 

Generally speaking, you will need to upload the file and fill it in with an attractive description and title. Then, you might be asked to choose whether to mint a single token or a whole collection. Next, you will need to decide the way you want to sell your NFT: fixed price or auction. Depending on the marketplace, you’ll be able to choose a royalty percentage, that is the amount you will get when future collectors sell your NFT.

Best NFT Wallets 

An NFT wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that supports the blockchain protocol that NFTs are built on. Crypto wallets help users exchange and store NFTs by providing them with a private key to the address where the NFT is stored. 

However, not all crypto wallets can hold NFTs, so it’s important to check which crypto wallets include NFT wallets that manage assets on the consumer’s behalf. The most popular NFT wallets are Coinbase Wallet, Meta Mask, and Math Wallet. 

4 NFT Ideas to Try

An NFT could represent many things, such as:

Digital Art:

  • GIFs
  • Collectibles
  • Music
  • Videos

Real-World Items:

  • Deeds to a car
  • Tickets to a real-world event
  • Tokenized invoices
  • Legal documents
  • Signatures

Some examples of NFTs that exist today, so you can get the idea:

Artwork collection

One of the most popular NFT collections is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The collection of thousands of bored apes started at less than $200, and the cheapest now costs $420,000 (145 ether).

Another example includes the renowned digital artist Beeple, who managed to auction one of his collections for $69 million dollars at Christie’s and broke the NFT record pricing.

Gaming items

NFTs take the in-gaming experience to the next level. Gamers can generally buy items and upgrade their avatars, but with an NFT, they can recoup their money by selling the items once they’re finished with them. But it’s not limited to it – games founded on the blockchain can develop their NFT, such as The Sandbox and Decentraland, which both sell virtual properties for as high as a few million dollars.

Memes

As far as creativity goes, you can also profit from making memes. NFTs of memes can make millions with viral content. Recently, a common meme called Bad Luck Brian was sold for $36,000.

Tweets

The first tweet ever tweeted in the history of Twitter was in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and was purchased for $2,915,835. The trade was supported by the Valuable by Cent platform, a special type of platform which deals with signed tweets from original creators, creating a world where people can earn from viral tweets.

How to Flip NFT for Profit

In the blockchain vocabulary, flipping is a loose term for buying an NFT for a low price and selling it when the price is high. To spot potential in an NFT, there are a few key factors you should bare in mind:

  • Benefits: Does the NFT offer any perks? Or is it simply a digital asset with no value? Some companies are using NFTs to access exclusive membership clubs and real-world events such as gigs and live concerts. 
  • Community: Follow the online interest on a given NFT – how much are people talking about it on social media, forums, or YouTube videos? Look at the engagement around it, do you think many people believe in it?
  • Credibility: Like everything that’s new and unregulated, is more likely to be prone to scams and frauds. Make sure you know the team behind the NFT project and whether they’re trustworthy and credible – which is essential for your success and investment.
  • Uniqueness: While the quality of the art project isn’t a determining factor, you should be able to spot the chances of the NFT becoming an icon. Similar to a real art painting, think of the aesthetic of the project, the uniqueness, the creativity, and features. Read more on how to flip NFTs here.

How to Buy an NFT

Now that you have identified which NFTs are worth investing in, it’s time to buy some. There are two ways to do it: minting an NFT when the price drops and buying an NFT on a secondary marketplace.

Most NFT collections are released at low prices and sometimes even for free. But since high quality and trending NFTs are hard to mint, most of these projects release whitelists for those who want to guarantee access when the collection goes live. 

To get whitelisted, join the project’s Discord group to learn its criteria for eligibility, and the date and time the NFT collection will go live. You can also opt for buying NFTs on a secondary market by making an offer to the NFT seller.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Create an NFT

Here are some frequently asked questions about how to create your own NFT and some NFT ideas.

Bottom Line on How to Create an NFT

Similar to artwork, the sky’s the limit for creating NFTs. The success of an NFT depends on many factors, but mostly on creativity, selling skills, and luck. A high-quality, unique, and captivating NFT, with a well-written description, may turn into a viral digital asset. 

Buying and selling Non-Fungible Tokens requires a few things: an NFT crypto wallet, owning some Ethereum (for most NFTs), and an account in an NFT marketplace. Once up and running, the NFT data is recorded into the blockchain and it can only have one official owner at a time – of course, copies can be done, but there’s only one original like there’s only one Mona Lisa. 

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How to Trade Crypto in 6 Steps 

Someone learning how to trade crypto with a laptop and phone

Simply put, trading crypto is the act of buying and selling cryptocurrencies or digital currencies, for conventional fiat money via an exchange as a form to make a profit. For those who can keep up with the volatility of cryptocurrencies, trading crypto can give much higher returns than traditional investments. We’ve listed the six steps you should follow to trade cryptocurrency.

How to Trade Crypto In 6 Steps

You can make crypto trade by exchanging one crypto for another (such as Bitcoin to Ethereum) or buying or selling crypto using fiat currency (like US dollar to Bitcoin). Also, some investors may use cryptocurrency trading to increase market exposure. 

Crypto options trading refers to derivatives trading, which is a form of agreement or contract between two parties or more, whose value is based on an underlying financial asset, index, or security, previously agreed-upon between the parties. 

As with stocks and other financial markets, trading cryptocurrency can be complex, so before starting off, we’d like to stress the importance of understanding the assets and technologies involved in trading crypto. If you’re ready to venture into crypto trading, there are six steps to follow. 

Steps for cryptocurrency trading

Step 1: Open a Crypto Exchange Account

You can’t simply buy crypto using your bank account to start trading cryptocurrency. The first step to trade crypto is to open a crypto exchange account. 

A crypto exchange is a platform that allows users to buy and sell crypto. The best crypto brokerages on the market are Binance and Coinbase. To open a crypto exchange account, you’ll need to share some personal information, such as date of birth, personal address, Social Security number (in the United States), and your email address.

Step 2: Fund Your Account

Once your crypto exchange account is up and running, you’ll need to fund it. The easy way to do it is to connect your bank account with your trading account. Then, you can transfer fiat money through bank deposit, debit card, or wire transfer. Wire transfer is typically your cheapest option to fund your account, as it offers little to no fees. Trading fees may vary, so you can look at Coinbase and Binance’s transaction fees at their dedicated fee pages.

Step 3: Choose a Cryptocurrency to Trade

The most popular coin among traders is the two strong coins available on the crypto market: Bitcoin and Ethereum. But there are thousands of other fast-growing cryptocurrencies to choose from. Choosing the right cryptocurrency for you will involve many factors, such as risk management, market and technical analysis, and its market cap. 

Most traders prefer to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum as they have a higher trading volume than smaller altcoins. But, many crypto traders allocate a portion of their capital to smaller altcoins. In this case, you should use your own judgment on whether you should stick to smaller altcoins or go for more substantial and stable cryptocurrencies. 

Step 4: Pick a Strategy

Similar to trading stocks, experienced traders know they need a strategy – trading, in general, involves risk and pitfalls. Strategy, in this case, is the plan or the roadmap you will develop to guide you and mitigate financial risks in all your trading endeavors.

There are plenty of strategies to choose from, but the right method will depend on many factors, including experience, knowledge, analytical skills, patience, and discipline. Strategies can be divided into two: active and passive. 

Active trading strategies include day trading, swing trading, trend trading, and scalping – these strategies require more attention and constant monitoring and management. On the other hand, passive investment strategies don’t demand much attention and enable a more hands-off approach. Some examples are HODL and index investing. 

Step 5: Start Trading

Now that you’ve picked the crypto you want to trade and have developed the right strategy according to your risk profile, knowledge, and skills, it’s time to get your hands dirty. There are two ways to trade crypto: actively and automated. The most effective and easy way is to automate this process by using trading bots. 

These bots will automatically execute orders based on your strategy so that it can help you maximize your trading profits, reduce risks, diversify your portfolio, and give you leverage over manual traders. 

Step 6: Store Your Coins

If you’re exchanging crypto, you’ll need to store your coins in a wallet. Crypto exchange apps aren’t wallets. They do hold your crypto coins, but they don’t store them. Think of it like a physical wallet you use to keep your money – you can use a bitcoin wallet to store your bitcoin in digital form.

In general, crypto wallets come in two main types: hot and cold wallets. Hot wallets require an internet connection to function, and you can use a specific app to store your crypto. Cold wallets use a storage device that looks like a pen drive, and you can store your crypto. But it also refers to any storage that does not require an internet connection – it can be a physical box, a piece of paper, a hardware wallet, or a list of numbers and letters that you keep in your head. If you opt for a hardware wallet, Ledger Nano X and Nano S are the most popular cold wallets on the market.

Pros & Cons of Trade Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, so it’s very common to see Bitcoin prices fluctuate over 10% in a single day. This is a great opportunity for high-risk profiles to make a profit quicker than in the stock trading market. 

However, in the same way it’s a lot easier to make a profit, cryptocurrencies are risky. Trading crypto isn’t something for you risk-averse investors who cannot handle volatility. Read our article on the pros and cons of cryptocurrency to learn if it’s worth investing in.

Crypto Trading Vs. Stock Trading

Stocks and cryptocurrency are two very distinct types of investment. Both investments are liquid assets, but that’s the only commonality they share. 

In simple terms, when you invest in stocks, you own a percentage stake of the company you’ve invested in. Also, you can only buy and sell stocks during the opening hours of the stock exchange. The stock market is regulated and extremely strict, so there are penalties if you don’t comply with its laws and regulations. 

On the flip side, cryptocurrencies are decentralized, and the crypto market doesn’t have to deal with international laws and regulations. And as opposed to the stock market, in which you get dividends if your stocks perform well, you won’t get paid dividends in the crypto market. Instead, you can lend or stake your tokens to earn passive income.

The risks and returns of crypto are higher than other investments. Crypto trading is often considered more high risk than stock trading, but it depends on what stocks or cryptocurrency you’re trading and how you’re trading it. 

Before trading cryptocurrency, you should be aware that you risk losing your money to the market. If you really believe in the future of cryptocurrency, holding your crypto assets for the long term may be more beneficial than trying to time the markets.

How Crypto Trade Works

The structure of the cryptocurrency trade is very simple. There’s a buyer and a seller. As far as a zero-sum game goes, one person will gain and the other will lose. Understanding that will help you to minimize potential loss and optimize your gain. 

When there are more people buying or trading crypto orders than selling, the price goes up, as the demand for the asset rises. Conversely, if there are more people selling than buying, the price usually goes down.

Market Patterns & Cycles

Both the stock and crypto markets work in cycles. It’s crucial for every trader to learn to read and perceive market trends, patterns, and cycles to know where and how you can position yourself. At first, the crypto market may seem complex, but as you begin to understand, it gets a lot easier. 

Reading the market is an ongoing process – one way to do it is to run a Technical Analysis (TA) of the market. There are a variety of complex indicators that a trader could use to analyze the market but for the purpose of this article, let’s stick to the basics. 

  • Market structure and cycles

You can spot patterns on a market over years as well as within hours, days, and weeks. In the case of the crypto market, it has four phases: the accumulation phase, the run-up phase, the distribution phase, and the run-down phase. In crypto, the best time to buy and sell is in contrarian investing – which means going against the market: selling when the market is buying and buying when the market is selling.

  • Chasing the whale

The “whales” are individuals or a group of people who basically dictate the market trend and behavior, by holding or selling large amounts of cryptocurrencies. So, why should you follow what these individuals or institutions are doing? Simply put, because they know what they are doing. If you’re able to anticipate the intention and movement of a whale, you can follow up with your strategy and maybe profit from that. 

  • The psychology of the market

As the name suggests, this tool provides the market sentiments. The overall feeling of greed and fear of investors tends to set market trends as well. 

As a rule of thumb, all investors should leave their emotions out of the trading game, as the emotional pressure may leave investors anxious over losing buying and selling opportunities and losing control over their investments.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Trade Crypto

We’ve listed the frequently asked questions on how to trade crypto.

Bottom Line on How to Trade Crypto

Trading cryptocurrency can be daunting and quite complex, especially for first-time traders. The process itself isn’t difficult, as it just involves a few steps until you can buy or sell the cryptocurrency of your choice. However, the prep is much more important – without a proper strategy, mindset, tools, and emotional intelligence, trading can be much riskier. Whether you want to make money to start a business, or simply want to make a long-term profit, you can do it by trading crypto. 

In other words, at the end of the day, the most important thing is to make your own decisions, using available information and using the best judgment, as well as to make sure you are properly educated.

In addition, strategies can differ from person to person – according to their risk profile, financial management, knowledge, trading capital, and preferences, which means there are a lot of responsibilities involved in this game. If you read this article until the end and decide this is the time you’ll become a crypto trader, before downloading a crypto brokerage app or putting money on a hot wallet, you must evaluate your own personal situation before deciding to take the first step into cryptocurrency trading.

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How to Calculate Crypto Taxes – Cryptocurrency Tax Rate 2023

Businesspeople calculating cryptocurrency tax rate

Yes, any capital gains you make from cryptocurrencies are taxable. As the U.S. Treasury calls for stricter crypto tax compliance, the IRS is coming after crypto tax dodgers. It’s crucial for investors to know their IRS cryptocurrency tax rate, how to file crypto taxes, and how to legally minimize their tax liability. 

What is Your IRS Cryptocurrency Tax Rate?

According to the IRS Notice 2014-2021, cryptocurrency is classified as a digital asset, or in other words, property. Just like owning any other capital asset like stocks, bonds, or real estate, your crypto assets are liable to a capital gains tax. This means buying and holding crypto is not taxable. Only the gains you make from using, selling, or trading cryptocurrency are taxed by the IRS. 

The exact cryptocurrency tax rate you need to pay depends on your annual earnings and the time period you held the cryptocurrency. For starters, the capital gains tax on your crypto can either be

  • a short-term capital gains tax from 10% to 37% (on crypto assets held for less than one year) or 
  • a long-term capital gains tax from 0% to 20% (on crypto assets held for more than one year)

Note that evaluating the holding period is an important step in calculating your crypto tax rate. The IRS states that it begins on the next day after you acquire a cryptocurrency and ends on the day you dispose of it. Based on this, if you hold an asset for 365 days or less, it qualifies for a short-term capital gains tax. If the holding period exceeds 365 days, the long-term tax bracket will apply. 

Apart from using, selling, or trading crypto, taxes also apply to crypto mining, staking, and getting paid in crypto. This is when you’re receiving an income in crypto and you’re taxed at your regular federal and state income tax rate as far as mining, staking and crypto payment are concerned. Crypto donations, gifts, or inheritance are also taxed but different rules apply to them. More on that below. 

When Do You Need to Pay Crypto Taxes? 

Before we get to calculating the exact cryptocurrency tax rate that applies to you, let’s categorize different events for simplicity. This way you can tell which events are nontaxable, taxable as capital gains, taxable as income, and are special cases that have special rules and regulations. 

Rule out non-taxable events first to get them out of the way. 

Nontaxable Cryptocurrency Transactions

You don’t need to pay any taxes if you:

  • Purchase and hold cryptocurrency: Simply buying and holding an asset is not taxable. You only incur a tax when you sell, trade, or use it at a higher value than what you purchased it at. 
  • Donate crypto to a charity or non-profit organization: If you decide to donate crypto to a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, you can claim a charitable tax deduction. 
  • Making a crypto gift: If you make a crypto gift under $15,000 per person per year, you do not incur a gift tax.
  • Receiving cryptocurrency as a gift: You don’t have to pay any taxes on gifts you receive as long as you don’t sell, trade, or use them.
  • Transferring crypto assets between wallets and accounts you own: Circulation of crypto assets between different crypto wallets, or accounts on crypto exchanges does not incur a tax liability. 

Cryptocurrency Transactions Taxable as Capital Gains

Note that the capital gains tax only applies when you sell, trade, or use crypto at a higher value than your initial investment. In other words, if the fair market value of a crypto asset increases in your custody, you are liable to pay capital gains tax. The tax applies depending on your annual income and holding period if you

  • Sell cryptocurrency for fiat: If you purchased $5,000 worth of a fast-growing cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin in 2018 and sold it for $10,000 in 2021, you make a long-term capital gain. The long-term capital gains tax will apply to the amount of $5,000 that you gained as a result of your investment. 
  • Make a crypto-to-crypto exchange: Suppose you buy $1,000 worth of Ethereum today and the value of the virtual currency increases over the next few weeks, taking the total value of your holdings to $1,100. If you exchange your ETH for another token, you will be liable to pay a short-term capital gains tax on the $100 you gained. 
  • Spend cryptocurrency to make a purchase: Suppose you buy $200 worth of a virtual currency and its value doubles in six months. You now have a total crypto holding of $400 and if you spend it to buy a good or service, you will have to pay short-term gains tax on the $200 you gained.

Cryptocurrency Transactions Taxable as Income

You’ll have to pay income tax on cryptocurrency according to your income tax bracket if you: 

  • Get paid in crypto: Various employers are paying their employees using virtual currencies. This also applies if you sell a service or goods in exchange for crypto.
  • Mine crypto: Crypto mining is an activity where miners use powerful computers to solve computational problems that strengthen the blockchain and earn cryptocurrency as a reward. The value of the crypto you earn from mining qualifies to be your income and is taxed as such.
  • Stake crypto: Crypto staking is a lot like mining where you hold your crypto assets for a set amount of time to earn staking rewards on it. 
  • Receive crypto as a result of a hard fork: The assets you get from a hard fork are taxable depending on how you choose to use them once they’re available to you.
  • Receive crypto from an airdrop: Airdrops are gifts or rewards you may receive from a company as part of a promotion. Any crypto received as an airdrop is taxable as income.
  • Earn crypto as an incentive or reward: There are many other instances where you may receive cryptocurrency as an incentive, or reward that can’t be covered in this list. All such receipts are accounted for as income when calculating your cryptocurrency taxes. 

How to Calculate Your Total Cryptocurrency Tax?

Now that you know which of your crypto assets are taxable and what tax applies to them, it’s time to find out the exact tax rates that apply to these assets. Let’s see what the short-term and long-term capital gains tax rates are.

Short-Term Capital Gains Cryptocurrency Tax Rate

Suppose you’ve acquired a digital asset less than a year ago and decide to sell, exchange, or use it. If the market price you sell that asset at is higher than what you bought it at, the profit you make is a short-term capital gain.

Short-term capital gains on cryptocurrency are taxed just like regular income. The tax bracket you fall in depends on your total annual income and filing status. The cryptocurrency tax rate ranges from 10% to 37% on short-term capital gains. If you’ve held the digital currency for 365 days or less, the following tax rates apply. 

Tax Rates for Short-Term Capital Gains on Cryptocurrency 2022 

Tax rate

Single filer

Married filing jointly

Married filing separately

Head of household

10%

Up to $10,275

Up to $20,550

Up to $10,275

Up to $14,650

12%

$10,276 to $41,775

$20,551 to $83,550

$10,276 to $41,775

$14,651 to $55,900

22%

$41,776 to $89,075

$83,551 to $178,150

$41,776 to $89,075

$55,901 to $89,050

24%

$89,076 to $170,050

$178,151 to $340,100

$89,076 to $170,050

$89,051 to $170,050

32%

$170,051 to $215,950

$340,101 to $431,900

$170,051 to $215,950

$170,051 to $215,950

35%

$215,951 to $539,900

$431,901 to $647,850

$215,951 to $323,925

$215,951 to $539,900

37%

Over $539,900

Over $647,850

Over $323,925

Over $539,900

The short-term capital gains tax is fairly simple to calculate. All you have to do is calculate the total tax owed on cryptocurrency according to your total annual income and filing status. If you’re married and filing jointly and you earn $100,000 per annum, the tax rate that applies to you is 22%. So if your total short-term capital gains on crypto amount to $1,000, you will pay $220 in tax.

Long-Term Capital Gains Cryptocurrency Tax Rate

If you hold a digital currency for more than 365 days and its value increases over the time you’ve held it, then this holding qualifies for a long-term capital gains tax. This tax is lower than its short-term counterpart. You are taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% on your total profit depending on your total annual income and filing status. 

Tax Rates for Long-Term Capital Gains on Cryptocurrency 2023

Tax rate

Single filer

Married filing jointly

Married filing separately

Head of household

0%

Up to $41,675

Up to $83,350

Up to $41,675

Up to $55,800

15%

$41,676 to $459,750

$83,351 to $517,200

$41,676 to $258,600

$55,801 to $488,500

20%

Over $459,750

Over $517,200

Over $258,600

Over $488,500

Let’s say you’re single and earn less than $41,675 a year. If you had bought a cryptocurrency for $1,000 two years ago and now you’ve sold it for $3,000, your capital gain is $2,000. However, you won’t have to pay any capital gains tax as you fall under the first bracket which has 0% tax. But if your yearly earnings are above $41,675, you’ll have to pay 15% on your crypto profit, which, in this case, is $300.

Cryptocurrency Income Tax

We’ve covered the tax rates for both short and long-term cryptocurrency capital gains. Let’s see what tax rate applies to you on the income you earn through cryptocurrency. Remember that these rates apply if you get paid in, mine, stake, or receive crypto as an incentive or reward. 

The cryptocurrency income tax rate is the same as regular income tax. You can use the same tax rate table for short-term capital gains to calculate the total tax on your income from crypto. 

How to File Cryptocurrency Taxes?

Not everything about trading crypto is interesting. Things can get really boring when you have to report due taxes. Fret not because this step-by-step guide will help you file crypto taxes professionally and effortlessly. 

Step 1: Keep Track of All Crypto Transactions

The best practice is to start compiling all your transactions from the very beginning of the tax year. Waiting for the very last moment to start your tax filing preparation can be very taxing. If you’re trading crypto, the crypto exchange you use should have a record of all the transactions you make over a period of time. 

But apart from that you also need to compile any instances where you used virtual currencies to purchase a good or service or any transaction that’s not recorded on the exchange. Having a comprehensive record of all crypto transactions at the end of every month can do you a huge service. 

Step 2: Calculate Net Capital Gain

As mentioned above, not all crypto transactions are taxable. So you’ll need to filter out nontaxable events and make your tax calculations easier. Once this is done, you can move on to calculating your total tax owed. 

This may sound simple but things can get very complicated once you get down to the nitty-gritty. This is why we recommend you use crypto tax software. Crypto tax solutions such as Koinly make transaction reconciliation as easy as it gets and helps you calculate your total capital gains with ease. This is especially useful for you if you’re a professional crypto trader and want your tax filing to be accurate and effortless. 

Step 3: Complete the Appropriate IRS Forms

With the net capital gains and income from cryptocurrency calculated, the next step is to fill in the right tax forms. In this case, it would be IRS Form 8949 which is used for reporting the sale and disposal of all capital assets.

IRS Form 8949 for cryptocurrency tax filing

Next, you need to tally the summary from your Form 8949 to Form 1040 where you enter your total capital gains or deductible capital losses. This form is also known as the Schedule D. 

IRS Form 1040/ Schedule D for Crypto net capital gains or losses

Step 4: Report Crypto Income

With crypto capital gains out of the way, you’re left with your cryptocurrency income to report. Depending on what type of income it is, there are a few different types of forms you’d need to fill.

Income from airdrops, forks, or trading crypto as a hobby is reported on Schedule 1 as other income. Mining, staking income, or any other interest rewards from lending or holding your cryptocurrency is reported on Schedule B.

Lastly, if you’ve earned crypto through a business, which includes receiving payments for goods and services in crypto or running a mining farm, this would be treated as self-employment income. This type of income is reported on Schedule C.

Step 5: Submit Tax Returns to the IRS

Once all your forms are complete, the last step is to submit them to the IRS and make sure they’re filed on time. We recommend that you use tax filing software for this purpose to ensure everything goes well. 

How to Minimize Crypto Taxes?

Crypto taxes can incur a huge dent in your finances, especially if most of your gains are in the short term. We’ve researched a handful of legal and powerful strategies to minimize your crypto taxes. 

Tax-Loss Harvesting

Note that you are only taxed on your net capital gains. This means any losses that you incur from selling, using, or trading a crypto asset can be used to offset the profits. But both the profits and losses need to be ‘realized’ for them to be accounted for. 

This means if you bought BTC worth $5,000 and it depreciated down to $4,000, you cannot harvest the loss of $1,000 until you sell, use, or trade the asset. In other words, you need to realize any potential losses to use them to offset gains in your tax bill. 

It’s also important to note that the maximum amount of capital losses you can report in a tax year is $3,000. Losses of values greater than this can be moved on to subsequent years. 

Convert Short-Term Capital Gains into Long-Term Ones

Long-term capital gains taxes are lower than short-term ones. You can significantly reduce your tax liability if you choose to hold an asset for more than a year. Develop a long-term investment strategy to minimize your taxes in this way. Experts recommend investing in a deflationary cryptocurrency if you’re going in for the long term.

Gift or Donate Crypto

Donations in cryptocurrency are not taxed as long as you’re donating to a certified charitable or nonprofit organization. Gifts are also not taxed as long as you don’t gift more than $15,000 per person per year.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Cryptocurrency Tax Rate

Here are some of the most frequent questions people ask about crypto taxes. This section will help you resolve any questions you may have about different aspects of crypto taxation. 

Bottom Line on Cryptocurrency Tax Rate

Cryptocurrency is taxed just like any other capital asset. Remember that you are liable to pay taxes only on a taxable event which generally includes selling, trading, or using cryptocurrency for purchasing. The short-term and long-term capital gains tax rate ranges from 10% to 37% and 0% to 20% respectively. 

Any income you earn in the form of digital currency is also taxed like regular income. Calculating and filing crypto taxes can be complicated, especially if you’re filing at the last moment. We recommend you use crypto tax software Koinly to calculate and file tax returns efficiently. 

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How to Interview Someone for a Job – Step-by-step Guide 

An ongoing business interview

In the recruitment lifecycle knowing how to interview potential candidates is a fundamental skill to learn. The interview process takes place after you have either shortlisted qualifying candidates who have applied to your applicant tracking system for your roles. Or you have sourced candidates that meet the criteria of the job you are looking to fill. 

The objective of the Interview is to determine if the candidate being interviewed meets the specific criteria that the hiring manager is looking for from a technical perspective. As well, the candidate must have the right soft skills for that hiring manager and organization. From an analytics perspective, the difference between average recruiters and advanced experts is their ability to choose the right interviewed candidates. 

The average interview lasts 45 minutes. This seems like a short window to really get to know each candidate and decide whether they’re a good fit for the position. But if you’re a skilled interviewer who knows what questions to ask and how to ask them, even 20 minutes are more than enough. Continue reading to find out more about the best practices to follow during the interview process.

How to Interview Someone in 8 Steps 

We’ve divided this step-by-step guide into two parts: preparing for the interview and conducting it. The following section gives you an overview of the entire interview process from start to finish. 

Prepare to Interview 

Step 1: Know What You’re Looking for

Understanding what you’re looking for in a potential candidate is an essential, but often overlooked, aspect of interviewing someone for a job. It’s true that the best applicant tracking systems only shortlist the best matches for the job position. However, as an interviewer, you need to know the requirements the hiring manager you are finding candidates for is looking for in a candidate.  

For this step, it is highly recommended that you do a deep intake session with your hiring manager. During the intake session, you need to ask questions about the job, and department and understand what kind of candidate the hiring manager is interested in hiring. 

10 common questions to ask the hiring manager during the intake session include:

  1. What are the important skills a candidate needs for the job?
  2. What kind of personality would fit best into the department?
  3. What is the minimum level of years of experience needed for the job? 
  4. What kind of education does the candidate need? 
  5. What is the salary of the job?
  6. Selling feature of the job/department or company? 
  7. Why is the job open?
  8. Are there examples of past candidates who were successful in the role? 
  9. Where is the location of the job and can the job be remote? 
  10. What is your hiring process? 

Step 2: Know Your Candidate

Do your research on each candidate before the interview begins. You want to know as much as there is to know about them beforehand to conduct an engaging and fruitful interview.

Skimming through the resume right before starting or during the interview doesn’t give you the time to reflect and come up with good questions. We recommend that you study the candidate’s resume, cover letter, and all other supporting documents in detail. 

Some of the best recruitment sites like Indeed help you find qualified applicants and verify their abilities easily. Use all this information to take notes to identify interesting points to ask questions. But do not rely on these tools to guarantee a candidate’s skill level. 

Additionally, keep all the information you have on the candidate on hand before you go into the interview. This will help you refer to important information in case you miss anything.

Step 3: Decide Interview Structure and Type

Using a consistent interview structure for all candidates helps you level the playing field and run each interview smoothly. In addition, from a compliance perspective ensures all candidates are treated the same way. The typical interview format looks something like this:

  1. Introduction: Greet and introduce yourself to the candidate. Get to know them.
  2. Explain the purpose of the interview: You can explain the job and why the candidate was shortlisted.
  3. Interview questions: This is the main part of the interview where you ask the candidate questions you’ve prepared. 
  4. Candidate’s questions: Ask the candidate if they have any questions about the job position or hiring process
  5. Thank the candidate and wrap up: Thank the candidate for their time and let them know the next steps and when should they expect to hear back from you. 

Apart from the structure, you might also want to choose what type of interview is best for the position you want to fill. While there’s the traditional one-on-one interview, you can also go for a panel interview, presentation interview, or group interview, where you evaluate multiple candidates simultaneously. 

Step 4: Prepare Interview Questionnaire

As one of the last steps before you actually start the interview, use your research on the candidate to create an interview questionnaire. Doing this enables you to ask the right questions to make the most of your time with the candidate, and avoid awkward moments in the interview. We’ll discuss the types of questions you can ask in greater depth later. 

Once you’ve listed the questions you want to ask the candidate, you’re now ready to conduct the interview. Use a scheduling app to help you organize and let candidates know the date, time, and venue.

Conduct the Interview

With all the homework done, you’re finally ready for action. 

Step 5: Choose a Distraction-free Environment

You’re all set and ready to welcome your first interviewee for some questions and answers. But you can’t just call them over if you don’t have a separate office space or interview room. A quiet and distraction-free environment is key to putting your candidates at ease, so both of you can focus on each other. 

You may not always have a free room at your disposal to conduct interviews. In that case, consider going virtual. Conducting interviews virtually is a fast and easy way to evaluate candidates without putting extra time and energy into setting up an interview environment. Plus, candidates interviewing from home or current workplace will find it easier to answer your questions confidently. 

There’s no dismissing the fact that going virtual can’t match in-person interaction. However, you can maximize communication efficiency with the best video conferencing software. Options like RingCentral and Zoom give you HD voice and video calling functionality so you can conduct professional interviews wherever you are. 

Step 6: Put the Interviewee at Ease

This step is as important for you as it is for the interviewee. Going into an interview can be stressful for a candidate if they’re not sure what they’re going to be asked or how they’re going to be evaluated. You can help reduce their stress levels and get the conversation going by explaining the purpose of the interview.

Avoiding hopping into the hard questions straight away. Start off with small talk. Ask them how their trip to the venue was if you’re meeting in person. You could tell them about yourself, your role at the company, and how you’d be moving forward with the interview. 

Step 7: Ask Your Questions

Once the prospect is comfortable, you can begin asking them the questions you’ve enlisted. You should provide some context for each question before you ask it. This helps get the candidate’s train of thought going and can elicit better responses. 

Don’t just shoot out a question like, “Why do you think you’re a good fit for the job?” To begin with, this isn’t the best question to ask, and if you ask so promptly, you’re likely to unsettle the interviewee. Be subtle about taking notes. You shouldn’t appear as jumping to take a note if you notice something. 

Focus on what they’re saying, how well they’re able to communicate, and whether they’re trying to avoid a question. You should be able to recognize their competency for the position from the level of confidence and knowledge in their answers.

Step 8: Conclude the Interview

Once you’ve asked all your questions and have all the important information you need, you can start wrapping up. Remember to ask the candidate if they have any questions. If you feel you left something hanging, now is a good time to address it. 

Don’t forget to sell the job before you end. You want to be sure that your ideal candidate looks forward to working with you. Telling them about the perks and opportunities that the position has to offer keeps them interested.

Wrap up the meeting by thanking them for their time. Let them know what they should expect next, and end the interview on a positive note. How your prospective employees feel at the end of the interview speaks a lot about your company’s values and interviewing skills. 

The people you interview should ideally have a positive impression of your company and should feel encouraged. Make sure they don’t leave feeling drained and awkward. This can impact your employment brand adversely.

What Questions Should You Ask When Interviewing Someone for a Job?

Asking the right questions lies at the core of a successful recruitment interview process. Rather than asking closed-ended questions, focus on asking open-ended ones to get your interviewee to speak more. Let’s discover the different types of interview questions.

Types of Interview Questions

There are a few different types of questions you can ask. These include:

  • Behavioral questions: This is a broad question topic that helps you gauge how the candidate would behave in different situations. You can ask the interviewee almost anything about their behavior in professional settings in the past. You can present them with specific situations and ask what they’d do.
  • Situational questions: Also known as hypothetical questions, these are a lot like behavioral questions. Just that you come up with unique scenarios and ask the prospect what they’d do if they were in it.
  • Fact-based questions: These questions are aimed at checking the prospect’s knowledge on a particular topic. Be sure to ask fact-based questions.
  • Skill-based questions: Skill-based questions focus more on the candidate’s job performance rather than their behavior. These questions let you determine whether an applicant has the technical and problem-solving skills for the position. 
  • Opinion questions: There’s no right or wrong answer to these questions. Interviewers usually ask these questions to gain insight into the applicant’s thought process and decision-making ability. 
  • General questions: General questions are aimed at getting to know the applicant. You can ask applicants about their hobbies, goals, where they see themselves a few years from now, what kind of management style works best for them, and so on.

While all these are types of questions you can ask, interviewers need to stay well clear of some types of questions that you’re not allowed to ask. 

How to Interview Someone – Questions You’re Not Allowed to Ask

Here are the topics you should avoid during an interview. Asking about these can damage your company’s image and land you in legal trouble.

  • Applicant’s age or genetic information
  • Birthplace, country of origin, or citizenship
  • Disabilities
  • Gender, sexual orientation
  • Religion
  • Marital status, family, or pregnancy
  • Race, color, or ethnicity

How to Interview Someone – Do’s and Don’ts

Learning how to interview someone professionally takes time and practice. However, you can use this simple do and don’t list to make sure you’re doing everything right and staying clear of the no-go areas.

Do’s

Don’ts

Prepare before the interview starts. Do your research on the candidate and have your questions ready

Display bias of any kind

Put the candidate at ease. Ask them if they’re comfortable. Initiate small talk to get them settled in

Unsettle the candidate with difficult questions

Listen more, talk less

Talk about controversial or sensitive topics

Ask open-ended questions

Ask close-ended questions 

Take notes subtly

Distract candidates with your typing or note-taking

Sell the job

Give the candidates reasons not to be interested in the job

Let the candidate ask you questions at the end of the interview

Give no time for the candidates to ask questions

Thank the applicant for their time

Be unpersonal and abrupt at the end of the interview

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Interview Someone

Here are some common questions new employers ask about interviewing applicants for a job.

Bottom Line on How to Interview Someone

The interview process is an important part of recruitment, and it is as technical as it is important. As an interviewer, you must do your fair share of homework to evaluate applicants accurately. Remember to keep things easy and relaxed and ask the right questions for the best results.

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What Is Hybrid Work & How to Make It Work in 7 Steps

Businesswoman working remotely with laptop

Hybrid work combines the best of both worlds: the convenience of remote work and the collaborative ease of on-site work. Nevertheless, this modern work setup comes with its own set of challenges. That’s why you should exert extra effort to ensure that it’s effective for your business.

Keep reading this how-to guide to discover what hybrid work is. Find out how you and your team can make it work in seven steps.

How to Establish an Effective Hybrid Work Setup in 7 Steps

Hybrid work is a futuristic work arrangement that fuses together elements of remote work and office-based work. Follow these steps to boost the productivity of your organization as you and your team switch to a hybrid work setup:

7 Steps to Achieving a Successful Hybrid Work Arrangement

Step 1: Check if Hybrid Work Is Suitable for You

Learn if it’s a practical option for you based on employee preference, location & budget

Step 2: Choose a Hybrid Work Model

Select from remote-first, office-first, flexible, or fixed hybrid work models

Step 3: Set up Hybrid Work Schedules and Assignments

Create work timetables & task lists for employees & contractors

Step 4: Provide Work Equipment to Team Members

Equip staff members w/ company-issued laptops & other gadgets for work purposes (if applicable)

Step 5: Install Business Productivity Software

Use communication tools & project management software to enhance workflows

Step 6: Manage On-Site and Remote Teams

Supervise office-based and home-based workers on a regular basis

Step 7: Schedule Regular Meetings

Host face-to-face and virtual meetings periodically to keep your team connected

Step 1: Check if Hybrid Work Is Suitable for You

First of all, evaluate if the hybrid work arrangement is ideal for your business. There are several reasons why it could be a practical option for you. For instance, some of your employees may now prefer to work online on a part-time basis since the pandemic started.

Aside from this, you may have hired many team members who live in faraway cities, states, or countries so it’s not possible for them to physically go to your office. Last but not least, perhaps you want to cut down on office rental or maintenance expenses brought about by an on-site work setup.

Step 2: Choose a Hybrid Work Model

Next, select a hybrid work model that’s a good match for your organization. Check out the table below to discover the different kinds of models which vary in terms of ratio of remote and on-site work:

4 Hybrid Work Models

Models

Remote-First

Office-First

Flexible

Fixed

Work Location Ratio

Mostly home-based work w/ occasional on-site work

Mostly on-site work w/ occasional home-based work

Depends on the preference of staff members

Depends on the preference of the company

Work Schedule Decision-Maker

Depends on company policy

Depends on company policy

Employees & contractors

Employer & management

We will discuss the details of each hybrid work model in another section of this guide.

Step 3: Set up Hybrid Work Schedules and Assignments

No matter which hybrid work model you pick, you must establish a solid routine by creating work timetables for your employees and freelancers. Be clear about when each person is approximately scheduled to work on-site or remotely so that the entire team will be aware of their physical or virtual availability.

In addition to this, make a list of work assignments for each department and individual. This will make it easier for everyone to figure out which tasks should be tackled in the office or at home. To be realistic, the level of details for the schedules and assignment lists will vary depending on the model you follow. Still, it’s a good idea for you to make strategic plans regardless of your exact work setup.

Step 4: Provide Work Equipment to Team Members

After you’ve arranged the work schedules, it’s time to equip your staff members with the necessary tools that will enable them to fulfill their tasks inside or outside the office. After all, the hybrid setup doesn’t automatically grant workers regular access to office equipment and supplies unlike the traditional on-site arrangement.

To make up for this drawback, you may lend your employees laptops which they can use at home for regular office tasks, such as accounting, data entry, writing, coding, or web development. You may also supply them with other relevant gadgets based on their job, such as digital drawing tablets for graphic artists or VoIP devices for call center agents.

While it’s common for freelancers to rely on their own tools, your business could be expected to provide company-issued computers and smartphones to full-time staff.

Step 5: Install Business Productivity Software

Once you’ve equipped your employees with essential hardware, your next step is to implement the use of vital business software across your organization. For example, messaging tools make communicating remotely easier for you and your team. Aside from this, project management software empowers you to competently supervise work projects. Plus, they enable your staff members to efficiently collaborate with one another.

Business software usually comes in the form of desktop programs or mobile apps. Some tech providers offer free plans, while others showcase paid packages. We included a handy list of productivity programs in a later section of this review. Feel free to select the apps that fit your hybrid work needs and budget.

Step 6: Manage On-Site and Remote Teams

Even after you establish your hybrid arrangement, you need to properly manage your remote and on-site teams on a regular basis to keep workflows running smoothly. Ensure that all employees and contractors are meeting deadlines by keeping track of their progress via online tools.

Even more importantly, make an effort to periodically check individually on your team members to confirm that they’re doing okay on a professional and personal level. After all, the overall well-being of your staff will have an impact on the quality of their work.

Step 7: Schedule Regular Meetings

It’s possible for your employees and freelancers to occasionally feel like they’re each working inside a bubble with the hybrid work setup. After all, they don’t get to see each other on a daily basis like staff members in a conventional office arrangement normally do. That’s why it’s important for you to schedule meetings that are spaced out in regular intervals.

Face-to-face meetings in the office can help you and your team to feel connected with each other, both on a personal and professional level. Real-life interactions are valuable because they enable you to establish a rapport with each other.

To be realistic though, not everyone can attend meetings in person because of geographical limits or health reasons. That’s why you should also arrange virtual meetings to gather the whole team together from time to time.

While online meetings are not as interactive as face-to-face meetings, they can still help your freelancers and employees feel like they’re part of the organization. On one hand, it keeps them updated on the latest developments within the company and the industry. On the other hand, they will have the chance to share their feedback and ideas to the rest of the team for better engagement.

What Else You Need to Know About Hybrid Work

What Is Hybrid Work?

Hybrid work merges together components of remote work and on-site work. It allows employees and contractors to complete their office tasks both at home and in the office. As a result, it gives them the flexibility to work in locations which promote their productivity, while switching between locations as needed.

What Is a Hybrid Work Model?

A hybrid work model is a form of work arrangement which regulates the balance of remote and on-site work involved for the employees and contractors. Plus, it determines who’s responsible for assigning the work schedule of staff members. In general, the management and staff members agree on which hybrid model mutually works for them.

What Are the Different Types of Hybrid Work Models?

The four main kinds of hybrid work arrangements are the remote-first, office-first, flexible, and fixed hybrid models.

Remote-First Model

Employees and freelancers work online through a virtual office setup majority of the time if the company goes for a remote-first hybrid work model. Nevertheless, they are occasionally requested to visit the physical office or coworking space to attend face-to-face meetings or consultations.

Office-First Model

With the office-first hybrid work model, staff members are required to go to work in the physical office most of the time. However, they do have the option of working remotely a few days a week or month.

Flexible Model

Employees and contractors can adjust their working arrangement and location based on their professional needs and preferences, in case the company picks the flexible hybrid working model. While they can stay in the office if they need to personally meet co-workers for collaboration purposes, they can also work at home if they need to concentrate on conceptualizing or completing work projects.

Fixed Model

If they choose the fixed hybrid working model, the company determines the days and hours that staff members will spend working on a remote or on-site basis. Some organizations alternate which employees work at home or in the office on particular dates, while others allow all workers to work remotely on certain days.

What Factors Can Help You Choose a Hybrid Model That Works for Your Business?

You can select a hybrid work model according to the needs and budget of your business. For instance, you must figure out which ratio of home-based and office-based work enables your staff members to boost their work performance.

Aside from this, you should take into account how near or how far your office is from where your employees live, as well as how easy or hard it is for them to travel to the office. Last but not least, you ought to compute how much resources you can afford to invest in office maintenance for the on-site aspect of hybrid work, plus hardware and software for its remote work aspect.

What Are the Advantages of Hybrid Work?

There are various benefits to adopting the hybrid work system for your business. First, your team will have the convenience of working anytime, anywhere if you go for a hybrid setup. Next, you and your employees can increase your productivity if you have conducive working locations and hours. Plus, you’re free to hire professionals who are based in other countries, states, and cities, instead of being limited to your local talent pool.

On top of this, you can stay constantly connected to your staff members with the help of modern technology. In addition to this, you will have less physical exposure to large groups of people, which can be a vital advantage during this pandemic. Finally, you can reduce your expenses related to office or co-working space rental or maintenance.

What Are the Disadvantages of Hybrid Work?

Hybrid work is a useful work arrangement, but it has certain drawbacks too. For example, it can possibly make your employees feel disconnected from each other because they don’t have real-life interactions on a daily basis. Aside from this, one of the effects of remote work is it’s more challenging to collaborate with co-workers, although you can reduce this effect with the help of online productivity tools.

Another limitation of hybrid work is the potential for external distractions at home or in public places when your staff is working remotely. On top of this, it may take time for you and your colleagues to make major decisions about the company if you discuss matters online, instead of during real-life meetings. Last but not least, there may be a risk of data leaks since a lot of your company information is in the cloud, though you can minimize this risk by protecting your data via security solutions.

How Can I Implement Hybrid Work Effectively?

There are practical steps which you can take to ensure that your hybrid setup works efficiently. To start with, you must assess if the hybrid work arrangement is appropriate for your organization, depending on your team’s preferences, location basis, and budget. Next, pick a hybrid model based on your business requirements, such as remote-first, office-first, flexible, or fixed hybrid work models.

Afterwards, create work schedules and assignment lists for all your employees and freelancers so it’s clear to them when they will be working in the office or at home. In addition to this, provide company-issued laptops and electronic devices to your remote workers, if necessary. Aside from this, implement the use of productivity solutions like communication tools and project management software across your organization for better rapport and collaboration.

Once you’ve established a work routine, continue to supervise your on-site and remote team members in a consistent manner. To maintain your connection with each other, hold real-life and online meetings to motivate everyone to coordinate and collaborate with each other. Hybrid work isn’t a perfect solution, but it can make your workflows more effective if you apply the right techniques.

Which Software Apps to Use for Hybrid Work

Business software can improve your hybrid setup, no matter which work model you adopt for your organization. Here are some communication tools and project management software that you can use to streamline the way that you connect with your team and manage your projects whether you’re working at home or in the office:

Communication Tools

Slack

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Slack is a popular messaging platform for businesses of all sizes. It showcases customizable channels where you can participate in online chats with big or small groups. Plus, it allows you to directly message people who are members of the workspace. On top of this, it gives you the chance to share files and conduct surveys among your co-workers.

Slack can be the ideal communication tool for you in case you want to organize your internal business messages using one centralized program. After all, the user interface (UI) is easy to navigate so you can smoothly switch from channel to channel based on the topic you wish to discuss and the particular team you need to reach out to. In addition to this, you can make voice and video calls to your colleagues if you need a higher level of interactivity. Finally, you can integrate Slack with other apps that you regularly use for work.

Although Slack has its benefits as a messaging software, it has certain drawbacks as well. For example, the free plan lets you read only a limited number of recent messages so you must subscribe to a paid plan to unlock older messages. Aside from this, you will just get a single workspace for the basic plans. Last but not least, the pricing of the paid plans can be costly.

  • Intuitive UI
  • Voice and video calls for all plans
  • Strong third-party integrations
  • Free version only allows access to 10,000 most recent messages
  • One workspace for low-tier plans
  • Expensive plan rates

Pricing:

  1. Free: Free
  2. Pro: $6.67/user/month
  3. Business+: $12.50/user/month
  4. Enterprise Grid: Contact Slack to get a quote
Microsoft Teams logo

Microsoft Teams

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Microsoft Teams is a communication software that is part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. It lets you chat with your co-workers and connect with them via audio and video calls. In addition to this, it enables you to share files and documents with your team members so you can brainstorm together.

Microsoft Teams is suitable for you if you mainly use Microsoft solutions for business tasks. After all, it smoothly integrates with Windows OS and various Microsoft products. Plus, the video conferencing tool has a wide range of features, such as live captions, customized background, recordings, and speaker coach. On top of this, the rates are relatively economical so you won’t break the bank even if you sign up for the paid plans.

While Microsoft Teams has its advantages, it also has some disadvantages. For example, your group meetings will be capped to one hour for the free plan and 30 hours for the lowest paid plan. Aside from this, you’ll be stuck with just 5 GB or 10 GB if you go for the basic plans. Finally, you won’t be able to host webinars unless you subscribe to the top-tier package.

  • Seamless integration
  • Feature-packed video conferencing tool
  • Fairly affordable pricing
  • Group meetings have time limits for low-tier plans
  • Small storage for basic plans
  • Webinar hosting available only for premium plan

Pricing:

  1. Microsoft Teams (Free): Free
  2. Microsoft Teams Essentials: $2/user/month
  3. Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $3/user/month
  4. Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $10/user/month

Project Management Software

Trello logo

Trello

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Trello is a project management solution that’s based on the Kanban workflow management style. It allows you to supervise business projects and collaborate with colleagues in a graphic way. Plus, it equips you to keep track of the progress of your team members in a step-by-step manner.

Trello is appropriate for you if you work best with visual methods of project management. That’s because Trello reviews commend it for its UI that’s easy on the eyes. The boards, cards, and lists give you a quick overview of project statuses with just a simple glance. Aside from this, all the plans provide you with unlimited storage in terms of number of files, although there’s a 10 MB and 250 MB cap for each file for the low-tier plans. To top things off, it keeps a record log of all your activities, regardless of which plan you pick.

Although Trello has its strengths, it admittedly has weaknesses too. For instance, it’s more suitable for simple projects than complex ones because it’s more basic compared to other project management programs. Next, you only have a few project view options, which could be a deal-breaker if you want to switch between many types of views. Last but not least, the high rates of the paid plans can be intimidating.

  • Visually-friendly cards and board
  • Unlimited storage
  • Unlimited activity log
  • Not ideal for complicated projects
  • Limited project views
  • Very steep pricing

Pricing:

  1. Free: Free
  2. Standard: $5/user/month
  3. Premium: $10/user/month
  4. Enterprise: $17.50/user/month
Monday.com logo

monday.com

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monday.com is a cloud-based work OS which is designed for project management. It enables you to oversee your projects using customizable work templates. The joint workspace serves as a venue where you can coordinate with your colleagues. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to create workflow apps without using coding.

monday.com is appropriate for you if you want to manage both complex and simple projects. That’s because you can scale it based on the size and type of project that you wish to plan and execute. In addition to this, it has various hubs that focus on several business aspects, such as HR, sales & CRM, marketing, creative & design, task management, and operations. On top of this, monday.com reviews acknowledge the convenience of its customizable dashboards, which let you monitor the progress of your team.

While monday.com has its pluses as a project management tool, it has its own minuses too. One disadvantage is that the project views are limited if you opt for the basic plans, unlike the premium plans which have varied project views. Aside from this, you can only benefit from automations and integrations if you sign up for one of the pricier plans. Finally, you need to pay for at least three users to subscribe to any of the paid plans.

  • Ability to manage different levels of projects
  • Multiple hubs
  • Personalized dashboards
  • Limited project views for low-tier plans
  • Automations & integrations available only for high-tier plans
  • Minimum of 3 users for paid plans

Pricing:

  1. Free: Free
  2. Basic: $8/seat/month
  3. Standard: $10/seat/month
  4. Pro: $16/seat/month
  5. Enterprise: Contact monday.com to get a quote

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Hybrid Work

Hybrid work is a viable work setup for you in case you want to make the most out of the fusion of on-site work and remote work. Find out the answers to basic questions about hybrid work. 

Bottom Line on Hybrid Work

Hybrid work is growing popular as a contemporary work setup because it offers dual benefits: the freedom of remote work and the productivity of office-based work. After reading this how-to guide, we trust that you can easily figure out which hybrid work model is a good match for your business. Even more importantly, we hope that we helped you understand how you can successfully maximize the potential of the hybrid work arrangement in seven simple steps.