Monthly Archive for April, 2021

Can You Fit Serious Studying Alongside Your Day Job?

The internet is one of the most incredible learning tools that we have available to us. It’s an amazing way to study unique skills and there’s plenty of educational content out there that can transform our lives. However, most of us simply don’t have time to study while we work a full-time job.

At least, that’s what many of us believe.

In reality, you can achieve great things by studying alongside your day job. Making time for it is all about gathering the motivation to stay focused and also managing your time so that you don’t feel like you’re on a strict schedule every day. So how do you fit study alongside a full-time job? Here are some tips to help you out.

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Pick a course that fits your schedule

First, ensure that your study time doesn’t overlap with your job. Ideally, you should keep these things completely separate. For example, don’t try and watch a lecture while you’re at work doing something else. Trying to multitask like this isn’t going to end well because it just stresses out your brain. You’ll get mentally fatigued much faster and you’ll just end up having a bad time.

Choose something related to your full-time job or study

While a full-time university course isn’t considered a job, it does take a similar amount of time. If you want to learn something alongside your day job or your full-time studies, then you’ll want to try and pick something that is closely related to it. For example, if you want to enhance your clinical skills while working on your degree in medicine or physical therapy, then you may want to choose an online course that shares a similar subject. This will ensure that you’re not bouncing between two completely different sets of skills all the time. Granted, there are some people that would prefer this, but it does require a lot of focus.

You have to dedicate time to it

This might sound obvious, but you really need to dedicate some time to your studies if you’re trying to fit it alongside something else. This means you should actually take out 2-3 hours of your time a day and focus that on just studying. Don’t treat it like something you can do for 30 minutes before and after work and expect to progress at a fast pace. Yes, this does mean that you’ll eventually need to give up something else in your schedule. However, you may want to alternate your study and relaxation days. For example, you can keep Friday night free to hang out with friends and family members, but you should study the following morning when it’s your day off.

Don’t force yourself–temper your expectations

It’s not easy to study for 3-4 hours each day after an 8-hour workday. That’s just way too many hours that your brain needs to focus. You’ll eventually get fatigued and will need to take a break. Take it easy and let your mind relax, and don’t get upset if you find it hard to stay focused for a long time.

4 Things You Need To Start Your Own Cafe

If you’ve got some great cooking skills, a desire to keep people happy with your amazing food and a sense of entrepreneurship, then starting your own cafe or restaurant might be a great idea for you. If the idea of a restaurant seems too intimidating, why not try your hands at a cafe first? It’s more casual, you can have lesser items on the menu (and more of the snacky variety as opposed to mealtime dishes) and the expenses will also be less. 

So, if you want to start your own cafe, here are four things you need to consider.

Image Credit: Pixabay

  1.  A Venue

First and foremost, you need a venue to start your cafe. Based on what your bigger plan for your cafe venture is, you could look for a venue on a high street, in a park, in a retail area or in a mall. Of course, you will also need to consider your budget. But choosing a venue is the first step on your journey to opening your own cafe. 

  1.  Investment/ Capital

Next, you would need a certain amount of investment or capital to kickstart things. First and foremost, you would need the money to either buy or rent the cafe premises. But that’s just the start – you will also need to set up the cafe and that includes the kitchen appliances, raw materials for cooking, tables, chairs and other pieces of furniture. You will also need to think about other expenses such as electricity and water bills and employees salaries etc. So make sure you budget for everything beforehand.

  1. Theme and decor 

You might have a rough theme in mind for your cafe – for instance, if it’s by the beach front you might want to make it all about the ocean; or if it’s in a country park you would like to have a more rustic, natural look. Likewise, if it’s a more upmarket cafe serving high-tea and the like, you would like to be a bit more grand. 

The decor would depend on your theme obviously, and when you are looking for commercial cafe furniture online or in-store, you will instantly know when you like a particular table or chair or set; it will just click. You can either have a table and chairs set or different chairs and tables – again, this decision will depend on your overall decor. Make sure your furniture matches the wall paint, else choose your furniture prior to painting the venue. 

  1. Have a USP

While starting your own cafe might sound very exciting, you must realise that it is not a niche business – in fact, you will often find a line of cafes on any high street or town centre. So, if you want to make your cafe truly stand out – have some sort of USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Of course, your food will ultimately be the deciding factor on whether customers come back a second time (quality is key); but having something else that attracts them back or attracts new customers is a great idea. 

Maybe you could have a special weekend brunch, or a coffee-and-cake deal, or perhaps serve a speciality coffee you can’t get elsewhere? Think out of the box on this one.