Just in time for National Small Business Week, Chase is offering elevated point values toward some coveted Apple products that could come in handy for business owners. From May 1 to May 31, 2021, holders of select Chase Ink cards will get more value for their points when they redeem them toward Apple products through…
The article Limited-Time Offer: Chase Ink Cardholders Get Elevated Points on Apple Products originally appeared on NerdWallet.
If your employees drive the company’s fleet vehicles long distances every day, chances are one or more of those cars or trucks has needed repair. It’s always good to have a basic understanding of vehicle problems and how to fix them. This is especially true for business owners in your situation. If you’d like to learn more, keep reading.
There are lots of reasons why a fleet vehicle might break down. The problem could be anything from a faulty battery, to bad tires, to a worn-out hose. Simply having a dirty engine can be enough to keep a vehicle from running properly, or a burnt-out clutch cable could be causing trouble. Moreover, if one of your drivers put the wrong kind of fuel in a car or truck, you could have a major problem on your hands.
While many fleet vehicles run smoothly for months and even years at a stretch, most eventually break down. We discuss some of the most common reasons for fleet vehicle breakdowns here.
Fleet Vehicles Can Have Alternator Problems
The most common problem with fleet vehicles comes from a poorly functioning alternator. However, a problem alternator is easy to fix. In fact, all you need is a little common sense and a little effort to fix it for good.
If you are experiencing an alternator problem in one of your fleet vehicles, you might even be able to make the repair yourself. However, if you lack the experience or inclination to work on the alternator yourself, take it to an expert. Generally speaking, alternator repairs are not very expensive.
All Vehicles Need Strong Batteries
Another thing that can lead to a breakdown in one of your fleet vehicles is a faulty battery. In this case, you might be able to give the vehicle a jump start and recharge the battery. However, it’s probably best to just purchase a new battery for that car or truck
Maybe It’s the Car’s Computer
Sometimes fleet trucks and cars break down because of a glitch in the vehicle’s computer. This could be in the diagnostic monitor, the security system, or some other area of the vehicle’s electronic brain. For example, the monitor might not be working properly or responding the way it’s supposed to. If one of your fleet vehicles is having computer problems, it’s best to get expert help.
Check the Little Things in Your Fleet Vehicles
A worn-out spark plug could keep one of your fleet vehicle from working. Most of the time, this can be repaired easily. Always make it a point to replace spark plugs when they wear out.
Regularly inspect a vehicle’s rearview mirror to make sure it’s not showing any sign of damage such as distortion or scratches. Ensure there is no dirt on the backup cameras, if the car or truck has those. In the same manner, check the spare wheel cover to make sure it is not damaged.
Look to see if there are problems with the starter or the glow plug, which which would make the vehicle difficult if not impossible to start. As always, seek advice from the experts if you don’t know how to fix these sorts of problems.
Also, keep your fleet vehicles clean. Surprisingly, clean cars are safer and they run better than dirty cars, for all kinds of reasons.
Preventive Maintenance Is Better Than Costly Repairs
Always remember that prevention is better than cure. So learn all you can about fleet vehicle maintenance and other fleet care. Educate yourself so that you can take proper care of your fleet vehicles. However, even when you take all preventive measures, sometimes fleet vehicles will simply break down.
But here, too, you can take measures to safeguard your company’s cash flow. That is, you can keep the cost of repairs down by purchasing an extended auto warranty. Keep in mind, however, that a Subaru’s extended warranty cost will be less than a BMW’s. It can be helpful to understand this so that you can negotiate better terms for an extended warranty. A vehicle’s original warranty covers a car or truck up to a certain number of miles. But an extended warranty will cover your repair costs for the length of the warranty period.
Whenever one of your fleet vehicle breaks down check to see if the problem is a faulty battery, bad tires, worn hoses, a dirty engine, or any of the other issues discussed in this post.
Finally, when you’re purchasing new vehicles for your fleet, check for problems before you buy. Purchase quality vehicles and you’ll experience fewer breakdowns with your fleet.
Digital consultancies Alpha Particle and Flowspoke have acquired the Kanban for WordPress plugin, a tool that puts Kanban boards into the admin to measure progress on a goal. The plugin is used for agile project management, sales tracking, editorial scheduling, and other planning purposes.
WordPress developer Corey Maass created Kanban for WordPress in 2015 but struggled to market it enough to grow beyond 2,000 users. In 2020, he saw Alpha Particle CTO Keanan Koppenhaver post on Twitter that he was looking to acquire a plugin business and jumped at the chance to sell Kanban for WordPress. Koppenhaver wanted a plugin that already had $1k-$12K annual revenue and wasn’t tied in with Beaver Builder, Elementor, Divi, or any other page builders. Integration with WooCommerce or other third-party software was a plus.
– A business selling a WordPress plugin or a collection of plugins
– Between $1k and $12k annual revenue, ideally recurring
– Ideally runs as its own entity, or has its own account with any payment processors
“I’d burned out on the project so I’d thought about selling for a while but didn’t do anything about it,” Maass said. “When Keanan posted he was looking, I inquired because I’d met him and knew he was solid. After a chat I knew he was the right buyer because his approach to WordPress was similar to mine – not too detached, not too dogmatic.”
Maass had monetized Kanban for WordPress for the past five years through a $149/year pro version (the most popular price point) and a $499.00 lifetime support license. He said revenue had peaked around $20K/ARR but had dropped to about $10K/ARR due to his minimal involvement. During his peak revenue months there were some weeks he would work 40 hours and some that he would work no hours at all.
“I applied the ’12-18 months of revenue as a selling price’ rule, and sold it for $15k,” Maass said.
He also commented on the difficulty of finding a non-technical partner in the WordPress world. Maass searched for someone to market the plugin while he concentrated on the product but never found a match:
I interviewed non-WordPress people. No luck. I’ve found a few people in the WordPress eco-system, but most already have one more products they’re growing. It’s one of the quirks of the WordPress world – there are more devs than non-devs. Most everywhere else in the tech-business world, it’s the other way around. And of course most of the success stories of WordPress are tech founders that pivoted to marketing/biz dev, which a lot of devs can’t do, myself included.
The teams at Alpha Particle and Flowspoke saw potential to grow the Kanban for WordPress plugin business with their combined design, marketing, and development skills.
“As WordPress continues to become an even more full-featured platform, we think there’s a demand for great applications to be built inside WordPress,” Alpha Particle CTO Keanan Koppenhaver said. “And Kanban is a perfect example of that. It’s already proven useful for a lot of people and we want to take even more of the features from other project management tools and integrate them tightly with tools WordPress folks are already using, like the Block Editor and WooCommerce, to help add to that unified WordPress experience.”
Although Alpha Particle and Flowspoke already have in-house products they are working on, they wanted to acquire a business where they could immediately start experimenting.
“With a plugin that already has some traction, it just makes it a lot easier to try new things and get quicker feedback on new features and new ideas,” Koppenhaver said. “Since there’s already an engaged user base, we saw the opportunity to take the things we tell our clients to do with their projects and apply them to a product of our own. I think that long-term this wouldn’t be the only one we acquire, but we’ll be on the look out for the next right opportunity. We’re excited about the long-term roadmap we’ve laid out for Kanban, too, and ready to put in the time to focus and make that vision a reality.”
Alpha Particle and Flowspoke plan to release the long-awaited version 3 of Kanban for WordPress in the near future. It has been completely redesigned and rewritten from the ground up. They will also be building in tighter integration with WordPress where users will be able to link posts to cards and automatically have cards moved to the “Published” column after publishing. Kanban for WordPress already has integrations for Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms but the team has more third-party integrations on the roadmap and is also taking suggestions.
Hey Divi Nation! Thanks for joining us for the next installment of our weekly Divi Design Initiative where each week, we give away brand new freebies. Recently, we shared a brand new Classroom Layout Pack. To help you get your website up and running as soon as possible, we’re sharing a global header & footer template that matches this layout pack perfectly as well! Hope you enjoy it.
Check Out The Classroom Global Header & Footer Template Below
Download The Global Header & Footer Template For The Classroom Layout Pack
To lay your hands on the free global header & footer template, you will first need to download it using the button below. To gain access to the download you will need to subscribe to our Divi Daily email list by using the form below. As a new subscriber, you will receive even more Divi goodness and a free Divi Layout pack every Monday! If you’re already on the list, simply enter your email address below and click download. You will not be “resubscribed” or receive extra emails.
Join the Divi Newsletter and we will email you a copy of the ultimate Divi Landing Page Layout Pack, plus tons of other amazing and free Divi resources, tips and tricks. Follow along and you will be a Divi master in no time. If you are already subscribed simply type in your email address below and click download to access the layout pack.
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How to Upload The Template
Go to Divi Theme Builder
To upload the template, navigate to the Divi Theme Builder in the backend of your WordPress website.
Upload Global Default Website Template
Then, in the top right corner, you’ll see an icon with two arrows. Click on the icon.
Navigate to the import tab, upload the JSON file which you were able to download in this post and click on ‘Import Divi Theme Builder Templates’.
Save Divi Theme Builder Changes
Once you’ve uploaded the file, you’ll notice a new global header and footer in your default website template. Save the Divi Theme Builder changes as soon as you want the template to be activated.
How to Modify The Template
Open Header Template
To modify the global header template’s elements, start by opening the template.
Update CTA and Link URLs
This top header bar and dropdown header content has multiple buttons/CTAs and links. Open the settings of each to update the link URL to the destination of your choice.
There are even some modules that will need a link URL for each as well.
Open Footer Template
Continue by opening the global footer inside the default website template.
Update Email Optin with Email Account/List
Then, update the Email Optin with an Email Account and List.
Update Contact Form Settings
Then, update the Contact Form settings making sure to add the email address where you want messages delivered.
Update Footer Content
You will also need to go through and update the content of the footer, including adding your own text and link URLs where needed. Don’t forget about the copyright text at the bottom of the footer as well.
New Freebies Every Week!
We hope you’ve enjoyed the Classroom Layout Pack and the Header & Footer freebie that goes along with it. We look forward to hearing your opinions in the comment section below. Make sure you check back next week for more freebies!
Ready for something completely new under the sun (or beneath the glitter?) Check it out: I have met, interviewed, and have spoken with more entrepreneurs than I can count, but co-founders of TheGlitterGuy.Rocks, Jason and his wife Sara Lively, told me something I have never, ever heard an entrepreneur say before: “We wanted to start […]
