Hydroponics or Traditional Gardening, Which Is Better?
Most gardeners who garden in soil are curious about hydroponics and somewhat fascinated by the idea. But very few actually make the leap to gardening using hydroponic techniques.So let’s have a look at some of the pros and cons of each method of gardening.First, let’s look at the advantages (or pros) of gardening in soil.Gardening in soil is low cost – or is it?
Gardening in soil is the traditional method of gardening; it’s the way my grandparents did it.
Anyone can garden in the soil.
There is a connection with the earth when you dig in it, getting your hands dirty.Now let’s look at a few disadvantages.The earth must be tilled or in some cases amended because the existing soil is unsuitable for gardening.
Due to depletion of soil nutrients, the resulting crop is unpredictable at best.
Soils may be contaminated.
Traditional gardening in soil usually involves a lot of bending, kneeling and thus can aggravate back problems or make it impossible for older folks who have mobility challenges.
Garden pests can be a real problem – either stealing your whole crop or munching holes in tomatoes and leafy greens. Those pests can come in walking, crawling, slithering and flying forms. And although all the gardening books say that roly-poly bugs are not destructive in a garden, I beg to differ. I have really voracious ones in mine!
Growing things in soil is messy and involves dirt and sometimes mud.
Weeds can be a real problem.
Watering can be a challenge. Too much rain can wipe out the garden; too little can wipe it out also. Watering may be cost prohibitive and sometimes banned during very dry weather.
Some people just don’t have a “green thumb” and their plants seem to wilt and die no matter what they do.Now let’s explore the pros and cons of gardening with hydroponics.First, let’s look at the advantages of hydroponics gardening.The garden can be at your ideal height so you don’t have to bend, kneel or crawl on all fours to garden.
When you use a high quality nutrient solution for your hydroponic garden, you can be confident that your plants are getting all the nutrients they need to produce high quality produce – thus your body will have access to those nutrients via the plants.
Problems with pests are minimal.
There is no weeding necessary.
Vegetables and greens grow faster than they do with conventional gardening methods.
There is no “mess” or “mud” involved. Vegetables come out clean.
Gardening can be done just about anywhere, even in your basement or on a porch.
You can garden any time of year.
You have control of water and you can grow an equivalent amount of produce on much less water.
Hydroponics is an easy DIY project.
This gardening method is almost foolproof. In other words, anyone can garden with hydroponics and get a successful harvest.There are also some disadvantages to hydroponics.The initial setup may be expensive. However, most of the cost is incurred one time at the beginning and can be reused many, many times.
Setting up a hydroponic system may seem complicated.
Some people don’t like the idea of “buying” nutrients.
Some may object to eating something they consider to be produced with chemicals. However, there are many organic nutrient options that can be used in hydroponics.So let’s recap; both growing in soil and growing with hydroponics have their advantages and disadvantages. The more adventurous you are, the more fun you can have with either method of gardening. You must decide for yourself but I hope this information has given you food for thought.
What You Will Suffer With an Outdated Business Mailing List
The necessity of a business mailing list in doing business is downright indispensable. Almost all companies use it in lead generation, appointment setting and other marketing activities. It is one of the primary instruments that allow them to get in touch with the targeted prospects, previous clients and existing customers without meeting them in flesh. A lot of business organizations rely on it when they want to showcase their new solutions through direct mail, email marketing or through telemarketing.Possessing a plain business contact list is not just enough. When you get hold of a leads database, be sure that you have an updated one. Meaning to say, the data bank is only filled with accurate and updated business contact information. It is truly unimaginable what an erroneous data bank can harm to your sales and marketing campaigns. But to give you some ideas, here are the horrors.Wasting time. Time is one of the prime assets of any company. And usually, it is associated with money. The lesser time a work is done, the lesser money you will incur and vice versa. Getting a leads database is supposed to expedite activities. But with a data bank full of flaws, it is not the same thing. Instead of reaching prospects, it brings you nowhere. What’s the point of sending mails to the wrong or non-existing mailing addresses? No wonder it is just a total waste of time. Think of all the hours you will be spending, but all of those are put to nothing because those were sent to the wrong places. And don’t forget that you are fighting a very tight competition. Losing time for pointless undertakings is failing in default.Squandering money. Time is not just the resource that will evaporate into thin air. As I said earlier, time is equal to money. And therefore, wasting time is tantamount to squandering your bucks. Just the though that your creative missives do not go to the intended receivers means that you are sending your dollars away. If you work back all the work made to produce bulk mails, you will stagger with the large sums of money that will be lost. An erroneous business database is a perfect means for you to run out of funds.Putting efforts to nothing. It’s not just monetary values that you invest. Along with it are other resources including skills, technology, manpower, utilities and ideas. It is not that easy to amass the finest assets in the same way that it is difficult to think of the right branding strategy. But then again, errors in your list will put all of your efforts to nothing. It’s like writing a novel in the air.The damage that outdated records can do does not end there. It is in fact immeasurable and the extent cannot be determined. For you to avoid these mishaps, you ought to be giving extra care and attention in getting a database. If you buy one, be sure that you have chosen the right mailing list provider.
Security Guard Training
Security personnel are an unique group of vital service providers and as such more people are going to school to be a private security provider. Most security guard positions in the US now requires specialist training at a special school and subsequent certification.There are many opportunities for those considering a career in the security services and potential employers include most kinds of public premises operators, whether corporate or county, state and federal government departments. All will often go to a specialist security provider school to find suitable applicants with the right level of expertise and the correct attitude for the position. Anyone with the required attitude from age 18 to 65 can apply for training at a security training center. Applicants will require the right mental and physical fortitude but most skills can be learned through the specialist training.Training will often be specific to the kind of security guard a student seeks to become and would range from those relying more on a physical presence to deter crime to those with industry specific requirements for prevention and detection.Under the Federal Security Guard Act 1992, security providers, for most situations, are required to have undergone certain training at a security guard school. To begin, they must have successfully completed a Pre-Assignment course of eight hours and received their certification. This must then be submitted with a security provider application to the Department of State.Following submission, the security officer has 90 days in which to complete a second training course at a security guard school which includes 16 hours of on-the-job training. This on-the-job training would be arranged by the security guard school with a relevant security service firm. Often a security student would have secured their place at the security school through a specific employer. Their on-the-job training would then be with that firm and monitored by the security training provider.On successful completion of the second training course, the security student is now fully certified and licensed. All certified private security providers are, however, required to attend an annual one-day refresher training course to remain certified to operate. This will also be attended at the original security officer school. This annual course is to update their skills and receive training in any new developments in their specific area of expertise.Besides the above, Armed Guards must also complete 47 hours in firearm handling. This separate course, also often attended at the same guard training school, comprises 40 hours on the firing range with seven hours of theory. The required standard must be met before certification.
Why You Need to Use Google Analytics on Your Facebook Business Page
As a business owner, you may be making the most of your online presence via using social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to reach new audiences and promote your products and services. But are you using the right tools to keep track of who is finding you and how?What’s the point of going to all the effort of marketing yourself online and connecting with your target market, if you don’t if it is having any effect and you are not tracking your statistics?If you are savvy, you’ll already know that Google Analytics is a must in any Internet-based enterprise. Google Analytics provide a comprehensive overview of how visitors to your website or blog find and navigate your website/blog. It also offers insights into how to best optimise your online presence.Did you know that you can now use Google Analytics to monitor visitors to your Facebook Business page (formerly called your Facebook Fan page)? Whilst many business owners have been aware of, and using, Google Analytics for some time, very few have taken the next step of adding Google Analytics to their Facebook Business page.With so many people and companies now gravitating towards Facebook for marketing purposes, doesn’t it make sense to track where the eyeballs are heading?As a business owner, you now need to treat your Facebook business page just as seriously as you do your “official” website or blog. You’ve taken the step of investing time and money in creating a Facebook business page, so utilizing Google’s advanced Analytics tool is definitely the right next step to take.While Facebook already provides statistics for your Facebook Business page through its Insights, what you’ll find is they are extremely limited. You’ll only see the number of monthly active users, daily new likes, daily post views and daily post feedback. With Google Analytics, you get a far more comprehensive information snapshot, which includes graphs, maps and specific numbers.Google Analytics also provides information on the number of visits, page views, pages visited, bounce rate, average time on site, new visits and location of visitors. Can you see how valuable it would be to be able to see exactly where your Facebook business page visitors are spending their time and which tabs they are looking at? Armed with this information, you can them optimize and market on the tabs that are getting the most visits and traffic. Doesn’t it make sense, then, to add Google Analytics on your Facebook Business page?Having Google Analytics is really beneficial for any kind of business. Through this tool, entrepreneurs can keep track of the status of their businesses and from there take action on how to improve their marketing strategies. Specifically, you can then make changes in terms of improving your website and Facebook business page, increasing conversions and making more money online.In addition, you can automate Google Analytics for your convenience. Once it is set up properly, you can receive reports right to your inbox as often as you like (eg: weekly) to allow you to review how your Facebook page performed for the week and where the visitors to your page spent their time.