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When Should You Get the Help of an Immigration Lawyer

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Applying for a visa to enter the UK does not necessarily require the help of an immigration lawyer. You can process your documents without someone telling you what to do. However, there are instances when you might feel that you are unable to deal with the entire process alone. As such, you might need to consider hiring one of the top immigration solicitors London offers. These are some signs telling you that you need to partner with a lawyer now.

You can’t figure the options out

You have lots of opportunities to enter the UK through immigration. You can start a business in the country or find an employer who can sponsor your visa. Other types of visas are family-based. It could be confusing if you check all the options since each one has different requirements. To explain to you what to do and what each choice means, you need an immigration lawyer.

You might be deported

When you are already at this stage, you can’t proceed with the battle alone. You need someone representing you in court to prevent possible deportation. You need not worry even if you already face the threat of deportation. Your lawyer will help you exhaust all possible means to stop it from happening. As long as you cooperate, and you understand the choices, you won’t have to be deported.

You have previous cases with the government

If you had problems related to immigration before, it might be difficult for you to get back into the country. It is worse if you committed a crime against the British government and you got deported. Making your way back to the UK will never be easy. Hence, you need an immigration lawyer to help you. Your case will involve complicated legal manoeuvres that only a qualified lawyer can manage.

You feel overwhelmed with the paperwork

It is not easy going through the entire legal process to get what you want. You might think that it is easy at first, but when you go through all the steps, you could end up getting overwhelmed. With the aid of an immigration lawyer, it will be easy for you to overcome the paperwork. You will provide what your lawyer asks for and your lawyer will prevent potential errors and delays. You can submit the requirements on time and have high hopes that everything will end well.

You feel threatened

Even if you tend to do everything right, it is possible that you feel threatened by the immigration process. As such, you need someone telling you what to do. It is also essential that you have someone who is willing to defend you in court. You might give up as you go through all the necessary steps for immigration, but you will find it easy once you have a lawyer.

Given these reasons, you need to consider hiring a quality lawyer now. You don’t want to make errors in immigration-related documents, since you could have a hard time correcting such errors.

The Rise and Fall of MoviePass Business Model

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MoviePass offered an unlimited movie watching experience to consumers, but the experiment has largely failed. Majority shareholder Helios and Matheson saw their stocks rise to around $32 in October 2017. The stock is valued at less than $0.02 right now. Let’s take a look at how one of the hottest tech stock purchases in 2017 has transformed into one of the worst investments of 2018.

Humble Beginnings

Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. (HMNY) became the majority stakeholder in MoviePass last year. In order to expand the service, the firm began advertising MoviePass as an all-you-can-watch buffet for avid movie goers. For $9.95 a month, members could see an unlimited number of movies. HMNY offered the tantalizing treat to attract new members and investors who believed MoviePass would do for theaters what Netflix did for TV. MoviePass only had 20,000 subscribers when HMNY acquired their majority share. HMNY slashed the monthly membership price from $50 a month down to $9.95, and the subscribers flowed in. By June 2017, the service had more than three million subscribers.

Burning Cash

The company was burning through its cash holdings faster than it was generating revenue. A filing with the SEC revealed that MoviePass was running a cash deficit of $21.7 million per month from September 2017 to April 2018. Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities famously said the company was “giving away dollars for quarters. “Because most movie tickets are priced below the $9.95 per month membership fee, MoviePass found it impossible to turn a profit with the new business model. The company repeatedly said that it wasn’t going to rely on subscriber revenue as its main source of income. Instead, HMNY is hoping to use the MoviePass aggregate data in the same way that Spotify collects user data about how its users interact with music. This user data can help sell directly targeted advertisements to help drive more box office revenue.

New Revenue Models

The concept was novel enough that many investors were intrigued by the idea. MoviePass owners HMNY became one of the most talked about stocks on the StockTwits platform. A quick StockTwits review found that many investors had questions about how long the company could stay viable while shedding money hand over fist. Many analysts believed that MoviePass launched with a price that was too good to be true and the subsequent price hikes on services caused customers to flee the service. The hype around MoviePass also caused competitors to take notice. AMC Theaters announced their movie subscription service through its Stubs program to let moviegoers see up to three movies a week for only $19.95 a month. The service is twice as expensive as the MoviePass offering with more restrictions but has steadily gained subscribers.

Since AMC operates theaters all over the United States, they don’t need to pay the entire price for each ticket. Instead, the company only needs to fork out about 54% of the ticket price. That means AMC only pays around $11 for the moviegoer seeing two movies a month, while MoviePass would lose $10 for the same two movies per month. AMC’s A-List option is slowly choking the life out of MoviePass, which has reorganized its subscription model at least three times since 2017.

Street Talk Advisors: Investment Tips

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In order to discover a few investment tips that will help navigate the world of investing, simply continue reading!

Street Talk Advisors: Investment Tips

  1. Make sure to check on your investments at least twice a week

Many investors fail to check on their investments regularly which is a mistake as if individuals who don’t keep an eye on their investment portfolio may find that some of their investments may decrease in value significantly.

Whereas if individuals check up on each of their investments at least twice a week, they’ll see any changes to their investments’ values sooner and will be able to conduct invaluable research to see whether or not they should hold on to their shares or sell their shares before they plummet further.

2. If your shares’ value decreases ask yourself a simple question

If you’re never quite certain whether to hold on to your shares when their prices dip or whether to sell off your shares quickly, there’s a simple question which you can ask yourself in order to make a wise, informed decision.

Simply ask yourself, would you purchase shares in the company in question at their current price? If so hold to your shares, whereas if you think that a company’s stats and performance show that they are unlikely to recover in the future, you may want to consider selling your shares in the company in question.

Just remember, that it’s not a wise move to hurriedly sell shares in a company which you believe will be worth a far higher amount in the future.

3. Before you invest in a new company check its past performance

Before you invest money into a new company, check how its share price has performed over the years, to see if the company in question offers solid, sustainable growth. Especially if you plan on purchasing shares which you’ll hold on to for years to come.

4. Make sure that the online share trading accounts which you use offer low management fees

It’s well worth comparing the management fees of all of the various online share trading accounts which you currently use to ensure that you’re putting your money into funds and trading platforms which offer low management fees and which offer you as an investor phenomenal value.

5. Don’t make emotional investments if you want to make a large profit in the future

One mistake which many investors make is to make investments based on emotions. Instead, make sure that every investment which you make is based off facts such as dividend yields and growth. If you learn to make investments which are free of emotional, you’ll be far more likely to successfully invest in businesses which will earn you a lot of the money in the future.

6. Don’t be put off investing if you notice that the share price of some of your shares increases and decreases

Share prices change due to a variety of different factors such as political influences and changes to the way that your business’ industry is run. So don’t be put off if you notice share prices ebbing and flowing.

If you take the advice listed above to heart, you should find that investing isn’t as difficult as you first imagined it would be.

Invaluable Tips on Owning a Local Business

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If you’re the proud owner of a local business, continue reading to discover must-read tips on running a successful local business.

Invaluable tips on owning a local business:

  1. Make sure to get involved with your community

If you plan on running a successful local business, you’ll be far more likely to succeed if you make a genuine effort to get involved with your community. Some great ways to get involved in your community are to sponsor a local sports team or community group or to sponsor a community event such as a fair, festival, parade or fun run.

Not only will choosing to get involved with your local community help increase your business’ brand awareness and significantly increase your business’ sales and profits figures but you’ll also feel great seeing what a difference your business can make to the members of your community.

2. Offer regular sales that your community will want to take advantage of

As an example, if you own a restaurant you may want to offer two meals for the price of one meal on a specific day such as Tuesdays in order to draw patrons into your restaurant.

Alternatively, if you run a boutique style store, you may want to create a buzz around your business by offering half-priced days, when any item which has a yellow sticker is 50% off its recommended retail price. Which will allow you to sell stock which you’re looking to get rid and will encourage customers who wouldn’t normally visit your store to walk in and take a look around.

3. Offer a loyalty card that will encourage locals to visit your business on a regular basis

It’s human nature to want something for nothing, so if you’re able to offer your repeat customers discounts for visiting your business on a regular basis, locals are bound to flock to your business. In the hopes of getting a percentage discount off their shopping or to receive a free product.

4. Create new jobs for locals

If your business grows from strength to strength, you’ll have the opportunity to create more jobs for locals, which will garner more attention for your business. As an example, you may be able to get an article about your business featured in a local community newspaper, which could increase your sales statistics.

5. Treat every customer like a VIP

If you give your customers surly service, customers are highly unlikely to shop at your business again. Which can be extremely damaging when you operate a local business. Worse yet, the disgruntled customers who you upset may tell their friends and family members to avoid your business, which could cost you hundreds of dollars of revenue in the near future.

6. Consider operating an online store as well as a brick and mortar store

In order to increase your customer base, it’s well worth setting up an online store as well as a brick and mortar store.

So if you take the six tips listed above to heart you should be able to build a following for your local business, which will guarantee that your business stays in operation for years to come.