Thieves Offer Home Security Tips: How to Make Your Home Less Appealing to a Burglar

Who knows better how vulnerable your home is to a potential break-in than those who do the breaking in? In an age of ever-increasing technology, from smartphones to smart homes, it’s not surprising that criminals are stepping up their game as well. More bad guys are taking a professional, ordered approach to burglary, casing homes for days and doing research about homeowners, neighbors and neighborhoods.

In order to keep your house and loved ones safe, here are some home security tips from burglars about what every homeowner should do to keep them out.

Lock It Down

Even though locking your house up tight seems like a no-brainer, there are many ways your home can remain vulnerable even if you think you’ve done all you can. A locked door is useless if you leave a spare key in an easily accessible location like under a flower pot or door mat. It’s much safer to leave a spare key with a friend or neighbor. And don’t forget about the windows. Leaving a window open even a crack can be an open invitation to a burglar. For added security make sure all windows are locked and add a wooden or metal dowel to the track to prohibit a bad guy from pushing their way in.

Clear the Way

While it may look lovely to have a hedge of bushes lining the front or side of your house, those decorative shrubs can be akin to leaving out a welcome mat for a thief. Robbers love to hide out in bushes under windows and near doors. Not only does it give them a place to remain concealed, but bushes also give ne’er-do-wells the perfect vantage point to observe your comings and goings and get a peek at all the goodies you have inside that they want to take. Make sure that any landscaping is well-maintained and designed to avoid becoming either a blind spot or hidey-hole. You don’t want your ability to see what’s happening outside your house obstructed by overgrown hedges and trees.

Think Outside the Sock Drawer

Believe it or not, burglars know that you really do hide your valuables in the sock drawer, freezer or empty cereal box, It’s surprising that even though such hiding places seem like overblown clichés, they are very common and some of the first places a burglar will look. Consider getting a safe or, better yet, move items you don’t need regular access to into a safety deposit box. The small annual fee to maintain a safety deposit box is well worth the peace of mind you’ll enjoy knowing Grandma’s pearls are safe and sound.

Be Less Hospitable

Dark perimeters and nicely paved driveways just beckon a burglar to take a closer look at your home. Outside lighting is crucial, and listed as one of the best deterrents for keeping thieves away. Look into flood lights that are triggered by motion – nothing’s more off-putting to a bad guy than being in the spotlight. In addition, a gravel driveway or pathway is another way to make burglars think twice. Since you can hear their footsteps, it might be enough to make them feel like your house isn’t worth the risk.

Fight Fire With Fire

The bad guys are getting more sophisticated and professional, so it’s time for you to do the same. One of the best ways to ensure ongoing security for your belongings and family is to install an alarm system. There are a variety of options available to meet your budget and security needs. From a DIY system you can set up on your own to a professionally installed alarm with round-the-clock monitoring, there’s really no reason to risk going without. And an alarm system is one of the biggest ways to tell burglars to stay away. With video monitoring and live links to local police, it’s just not worth it for a burglar to take the chance with a home that’s protected professionally.

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Getting ready to convert your garage?

Your garage is not only a place where you can dump your stuff which and park your car, but sometimes it can be a place where you can have the best of the party or do the most important work. Garage can be a multipurpose room for people who do not have a vehicle. There is a place in your house that can be converted into a useful place instead. Think what kind of a room you need and plan the room according to that.

Garage can be small or big but the amount of conversion you can do to that room can be enormous. Garage can be converted into a place to more than just storing stuff.

Things to do before conversion


Sort that dumped stuff: First thing first, you need to sort that stuff out. Keep what you need and dump the rest in the garbage. Keep in mind that if you haven’t used a certain thing in like ten years, you won’t be using it at all. So make sure you either give to somebody or throw it in the bin.
Measure your garage: You need to know the exact measurement of the garage before you think of converting it into another room.
Remove the old furniture: You need to remove the old furniture to make space for some new, or reuse it for the new room being created.
Fix the broken things: You need to fix the broken shelves, roof or anything that will look bad in the new room.
Mind that floor: When you have painted the walls, do not leave the floor. The floor will also need some renovation (like tiling, painting or carpeting).

Once you are done with repainting and fixing your garage, then you can start working on the room you decided initially. What are the options that you have with you for converting you garage?
Game Room: A game room is a fantastic idea if you want to have more fun time together with your family and friends. Game room can be become a really big attraction amongst your friends and family. You can be the centre of attraction for every weekend party or just a good game.
Gym: Fitness freaks can convert their garage into a gym. It’s a nice idea to have your personal gym in your house because at times you are very lethargic to go out and sweat. But if you have your gym in your home then you can work out at any point of time when you like.
Working place: Sometimes all you need is a place to work on important projects or simply read. Garage can be converted into one of those places. If you think that your garage right now is just a home for spiders and other bugs and insects then it’s to convert it into a workplace.
Party Room: A party freak all needs is a room and some music to get high. And your garage can become a perfect place for the party freaks. You need to put some extra things in the garage for the party room to look better, like, music systems, good lightening, mini fridge, or a small bar etc.
Laundry room: A garage can simply be used as a laundry room. It will provide some more space to keep clothes and your machine. Ironing board can also be kept there to make use of the area of the garage.

The garage area if used wisely can be very beneficial for the set up of the new room. It can either make or mar the environment of the room. You should first decide which kind of room want to go with. Then start fixing your garage and finally giving it the look you want. The options that we mentioned above are just a glimpse into the kind of choices you have. You can trigger your thoughts and come up with an innovative idea which can make the garage area look great and you can make more use of the area that had remained untouched for decades in your own house. Your garage section does need your attention, and it is saying I-NEED-TO-BREATHE! So listen to your garage and make it a better place not only for your car but for other purpose as well if you don’t have a vehicle.

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Trail Camera Tips and Tricks: Things You Should Be Doing But Probably Aren’t

The trail camera (for example: MOULTRIE PANORAMIC 150I ) is the single most important advancement in hunting whitetails in the last 20 years. No other item in your hunting tool chest can help your success more than a trail camera. In the right hands, a trail camera is incredibly powerful, but as with any tool, it is important to understand how to use it. Unfortunately, most hunters make small mistakes that keep them from realizing the full potential that a trail camera can provide. What follows are tips on how you can improve your trail camera use, enabling you to capture more useful information and move you one step closer to wrapping your tag around a mature whitetail this fall.
Orientation

One common mistake made when setting up a trail camera is simply facing the camera in the wrong direction. Always face your camera north. This ensures that the sun’s path will never move across the sensor, causing a false trigger. It also helps with your daytime image quality because the sun’s glare will also be eliminated.

If you’ve ever been frustrated by seeing only images of the back ends of deer, chances are you had the camera perpendicular to the trail.


The reason for this undesirable image is that your camera was too close to the trail for the camera’s “delay,” meaning by the time the motion sensor triggered something was moving and told the camera to fire, the animal had already moved through most of the camera’s field of view, leaving you with a picture of its rump. A better strategy is to place your camera at a 45-degree angle to the trail. This allows the animal to be in the camera’s field of view and detection zone longer, leaving you with an image of the entire animal as well as the potential of multiple images.

Motion Sensor

Knowing how your trail camera works is key to getting your desired results. Most trail camera owners believe that their camera emits an infrared beam and that when that beam is broken, it triggers the camera to take a picture. While this technology does exist, it is called Active Infrared (AIR), trail cameras employ Passive Infrared (PIR). PIR sensors differ from active infrared in that they receive information about motion and temperature. When the sensor detects a difference between the moving object and the surrounding environment, it signals the camera to take a picture. That moving object could be an animal, bird, reptile or even vegetation. Knowing what causes the camera to take a picture can aid you in planning to eliminate the possibility of “false triggers.”

Batteries

If at all possible, you want all of your cameras to run on the same size batteries. This makes checking cameras simple, as you don’t need to have several different battery combinations in your pack. I also like to use the same size batteries in the rest of my hunting gear. For example, all of my cameras take AA size batteries. My headlamps and flashlights also take AA batteries. If my flashlight runs dim in the middle of tracking a deer, I can simply go to my nearest camera and “borrow” a couple of batteries.

Battery type is also an important consideration. Alkaline, rechargeable and lithium are choices. Alkaline is the least expensive, but they don’t perform well in cold weather. I don’t recommend rechargeable batteries. They are expensive and their effectiveness declines over time, not to mention you have to remember to fully charge them before use. Finally there is lithium, which has outstanding performance in all temperature ranges and is a great choice for trail cameras. I personally run alkaline during the warm months and then switch to lithium when temperatures drop below freezing. This allows me to use more economical batteries when they perform adequately, and then switch to the more expensive batteries when you need the reliability of lithium in cold weather conditions.

Preparation

Think about your camera setup the same way you think about your hunting setup. This means everything from scent control to not “over hunting” an area. You wouldn’t walk to your favorite stand in your old tennis shoes, so why do you do it when checking cameras? Scent control should be top of mind. Use rubber boots and gloves when visiting your camera setups. If possible, drive to your camera location. A human invading a whitetail’s environment in a vehicle is a completely different level of alarm than one on foot. For whatever reason, deer seem less alarmed.

Don’t check your cameras too often. I never check my locations more than weekly, and more often than not, the interval between visits is two weeks or more. Just like hunting your favorite stand, the less you interrupt an area, the better.

Time-Lapse Mode

Most cameras today come with some sort of time-lapse mode. This means the camera will take a picture at set intervals of time regardless of it detecting motion. Some cameras even have the ability to perform time lapse and still snap photos when motion is detected. Time lapse is an important feature and something you should be taking advantage of in your trail camera strategy. With the time-lapse mode, I suggest setting cameras to monitor a larger area, with the goal to gain an understanding of where animals are moving. You can then deploy your cameras in normal mode to narrow your focus, capture individual images of the deer, and pinpoint opportunities for setting up your ambush point.

Security

Your trail camera is a key strategic tool in your hunting success. You need it to capture the information you seek, but also ensure the information it records ends up in your hands rather than other opportunists. You can buy steel lock boxes to place your camera in or lock the camera to the tree, but these methods are nothing more than a deterrent. A thief with a couple of simple hand tools can be off with your camera in a matter of minutes. Your best defense against theft is for the thief to never realize a camera is present.

All trail cameras come with a strap to mount the camera to the tree, and most hunters use it. This is a mistake. By using the strap, you are advertising a camera exists at that location from 360 degrees. That strap is visible from a hundred yards away in the woods. Instead, use a camera mount. A camera mount will eliminate 50% of your risk. At least the thief has to be on the right side of the tree to find the camera. Several camera mounts exist on the market, or you can make your own. Search the internet for “Do It Yourself Trail Camera Mount,” for instructions on making your own camera mounts.

Most trail camera users mount their camera chest high on the trunk of a tree. Hence a thief is looking for cameras in the same location. Mount your camera ten to twelve feet off the ground, preferably on a stout branch rather than the trunk. Incorporate the camera into an intersection of branches. This gets the camera above eye level and also takes advantage of natural “noise” to help conceal the camera better. Use tree steps that can be removed to access the camera to change batteries or cards.

Image Management

Now that you’ve got all these images, what do you do? Next to security, this is the biggest opportunity for improvement for most camera users. If you are like me, I used to bring the images home, upload them to a folder on my computer, and never touch them again. When I would talk to my buddies about a certain image, I’d search through my computer to find it, and after several minutes, give up. I’d realize the picture I wanted was lost in a mess of thousands of images. Once you compound several years of photos together, you quickly become overwhelmed with the mass of information at your fingertips and no real plan on how to manage it all.

The images you capture are pieces of a puzzle that need to be put together. And just like putting a puzzle together, you need a plan. This is where a service like DeerLab.com can make sense out of chaos. If you haven't tried a service like this, you should check them out. They can literally take thousands of images and start to develop patterns that you never knew existed. From weather conditions and moon phase, to time of day. In addition, DeerLaboffers a free trial to test out their services. Give it a try. Your eyes might be opened to what’s been there all along.

3 Essential Ways You Need to Allow Customers to Contact Your Business

When you provide a service or sell products to the general public, gaining your customers’ trust is incredibly important. This can be even more integral to your business’ brand identity and reputation when you generally sell to your customers online, because they have not had the personal interaction with a representative of your business when ordering from you that they would if you won their business in a physical shop or through face to face marketing. This means that you need to make sure your customers feel like there is always the facility to talk to a real person from your company should they have any issues. It makes them less nervous about buying, and gives a sense that they are dealing with a business comprised of helpful people rather than a faceless website.

Not all of your customers will ever need to contact you, but showing clearly that they can and giving great service if they choose to goes a long way towards giving your company credibility in their minds. There are lots of ways people can contact businesses these days, and as a small company, chances are you won’t want to have to support them all, so here are three methods of communication you should prioritise:

Technology Solutions Small Business Owners Must Own for Efficient Office

When it comes to managing your small business efficiently and cost effectively technology solutions can be your best friends. The advances in technology in the last few years have enabled small business owners to reduce cost, become more efficient and improve productivity of employees, in turn allowing them to generate higher sales and profit. In addition, these technological advances have enabled them to compete with their larger bigger counterparts on the same footing.



When you are managing business from a home office or small office it is essential to have access to the tools such as printer, scanner, fax, labeling printer, web conferencing and so on so that you are able to stay organized, provide quick response to clients and communicate with your employees and vendors efficiently. There are number of choices available in the market that will suffice your needs for office technology. You need to select the one that fits your needs, while at the same time doesn’t become a drain on your wallet. You need to consider several criteria when choosing the right technology provider. Three most important criteria to keep in mind are cost, customer service and quality.

Express Yourself – Ways to Give Your Small Business Personality

Getting attention from customers is something that all new businesses strive for. The brand identity that is established can be built upon, but if not managed carefully can actually be damaging. Building a brand doesn’t always have to come with a huge budget, as there are many cost-effective ways that can help build a brand. Here are some ways to do this and get noticed by customers

Signage or Banners

Showing personality in a small business’s signage or banner is extremely important, especially in a small town. People should be able to tell at a glance from signs or vinyl banners what a business does or provides. This can be one of the best marketing tools in a town where everyone knows everyone. Having updated and new signage shows pride in a business, as old faded signs might show character but they also show neglect from the business owners or staff. A prominent sign or banner can make a business get noticed quickly and even build rapport. Funny quips or a saying on a banner or sign can help humanize a business, which can improve its customer loyalty down the line.

Impressive Window Displays

A quirky window display or decorations for a certain holiday can create a buzz in small towns. Not only will this help save on the marketing budget, but funny or impressive decorations for each holiday will have people flocking to your window and coming into your store. If quirky doesn’t fit your business, then displaying something other than your products might be the best way to go. Most people know the product a business provides so placing something like children’s art for an annual competition will help bring favor to a small business.

Sponsor an Event

Getting a business noticed in a small town environment means the business has to be engaged with the community regularly. Sponsored events could be local fundraisers or something of that nature. Providing food and drinks for these can help boost business, and the fact that it can be written off as charity makes sponsoring an event look better in many small business owners’ minds. If your business doesn’t want to sponsor an event, at least having a tent or booth at most events helps bring exposure as well.

Build Relationships with Other Businesses

Building rapport with other local businesses is important because if you’re associated with other reputable local businesses, customers will feel they can trust you rather than be skeptical. Offering discounts to other business owners might lead to discounts for the business or owners. Many businesses will ask to keep flyers in your lobby or leave cards behind, but make sure that this is a reciprocal relationship and that they have your flyers in their businesses as well.

It won’t be easy to get a business noticed right away, but with the correct steps it can be done. Build a brand to be proud of and get noticed for the right reasons. This will impact a business immensely, so use these tips to get noticed by your customers!