Popular Locations to Live in Croatia

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Popular Locations to Live in CroatiaCroatia is a country of contrasts, with mountains and hills in the north and developed Adriatic coast home to thousands of dreamlike islands and lovely islets with the unspoiled authentic landscape.

Croatia has experienced a surge in popularity as a Mediterranean getaway destination, which has attracted foreign investors. The demand for coastal property for sale in Croatia at an all-time high, and the real estate market here is very active. If you’re wondering whether now’s the time to invest in homes on the coast of Croatia, we promise that it’ll be well worth your while.

Istria

The Istrian peninsula, with its beautiful coastline and proximity to major European countries, is popular with foreign buyers. Istria is a southeastern region in Croatia with a whole wealth of diversity, from the undulating landscapes with vineyards and olive groves, to the blue of the endless sea. Properties for sale in Istria Croatia are amongst the most expensive due to high demand and its proximity to the rest of Europe. The Istrian peninsula has a total of 445 kilometers of bays, coves, islands, and shoals. It is a homeland of antiquities, an emerging culinary scene, beauty, and health. Istria is often called the Croatian Tuscany for its picturesque coastal towns Novigrad, Umag, Pore?, Rovinj, and Pula.

Are you looking for houses for sale on the beach in Croatia? The following are the most popular areas to search for seaside property.

Southern Dalmatia

Southern Dalmatia, a region to be appreciated by wine enthusiasts, history fans alike, and beach seekers, is located down the coast from the Makarska Riviera. Dubrovnik, Croatia’s most notable city, is a shining gem in this part of the country, but there are several other lovely destinations as well.

Some of the most famous destinations in Southern Dalmatia include Plo?e and Metkovi? as well as Cavtat, Plat, Milni down to the border with Montenegro. Many of Croatia’s top wines are from Southern Dalmatia. The Pelješac Peninsula, which includes small picturesque towns Ston and Orebi?, is renowned for its excellent wines. One of the greatest pleasures is to go on a wine tour of some of the region’s wineries. The islands of Korcula, Mljet, and the Elafiti islands are among the most beautiful islands to visit and enjoy over there.

Kvarner Riviera

The Kvarner Riviera is a lovely area located on the Croatian coast between Istria and Dalmatia. It is centered around the city of Rijeka, the third-largest city in Croatia and the busiest port of the Adriatic. The beautiful islands of Krk, Lošinj, Cres, and Rab, as well as the lovely towns and beaches within them, are all part of the Kvarner region. All sites in the Kvarner Riviera may be easily reached thanks to a straightforward transfer. Krk is an island linked to the mainland via a bridge.

The most well-known resorts in this region are Opatija, Crikvenica, Lovran, Kraljevica, and Novi Vinodolski. Both classic and contemporary villas can be found in Lovran and Opatija, Croatia’s luxurious resorts that offer some of the best residences in the country. These resorts were constructed for the Austro-Hungarian nobility in the 19th century due to their moderate climate. Their style is defined by the fountains, palm-studded parks, grand villas, and original art deco hotels.

Northern Dalmatia

The coast of Croatia is a popular holiday spot and an excellent location to settle down in, owing to its mild winters and pleasant summers. The lengthy, scooped-out shoreline with a number of lovely islands like Dugi Otok and Pašman offshore in the Adriatic. Zadar, Šibenik, and Primošten are the most popular cities in Northern Dalmatia, known for their crumbling, intricate architecture. This region has three of Croatia’s finest national parks: Paklenica, Kornati, and Krka.

3 Interesting Investments to Round Out Your Portfolio

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | 3 Interesting Investments to Round Out Your PortfolioInvesting brings with it great potential for financial growth, but it also carries built-in risk that the investor must be aware of and manage well. The most basic and crucial lesson you will ever learn in managing investment risk is the importance of “diversifying your portfolio.” This simply means spreading out your wealth to a variety of investment categories so that no one type of investment can do too much damage to your portfolio’s value in the event that it suddenly tanks. Here are three interesting ways to invest your money and round out your portfolio.

Music Royalties 

For some people, there’s almost nothing more personal than the music they listen to, and there’s no better way to invest in that music than buying royalty shares. Investing in music royalty shares essentially means you are purchasing one or more shares of the royalties generated by a given song (which is different than purchasing the rights to the song itself). Royalties for the song (or songs) you’ve invested in are generated over several weeks and months through its use on streaming apps and other platforms, and then those royalties are divided up and paid periodically to the investors by whatever broker they went through to buy their shares in the royalty stream. Investing in these royalties can be a great way to add a unique (and even personal) touch to your investment portfolio, and the returns can be similar to those yielded by investment in securities like bonds.

Cryptocurrency 

Cryptocurrency might immediately remind you of risk, and therefore it can be difficult for some to be willing to invest any money in it. But while it is certainly true that most cryptocurrencies experience a high level of volatility, they also offer the potential to skyrocket in value, especially because of their growth in popularity and the continued interest in them that even larger financial institutions continue to show. Cryptocurrency is also tied together with a technology called “blockchain” that has great potential in itself for growth over time as it is further developed and used.

Art

Investing in art gives you a unique opportunity to really enjoy your investment in a tangible way. Art has the potential to hold value and increase in value over the long term, and in the meantime, it can freshen up and enhance your home or office for your own and others’ enjoyment. You can generally expect a return on your art investment similar to what bond investments would yield. But again, it’s critical not to over-invest in art (or any other aspect of your overall portfolio). International banker Julio Herrera Velutini writes that “it’s best to build a diverse, well-rounded portfolio of investments, with art accounting for just a small percentage.” Also, keep in mind that selling art can take more time than selling stock or other investments.

There are plenty of creative and fulfilling ways to plant your hard-earned money and see it grow over time, and these three unique opportunities can help get you started rounding out your investment portfolio. Don’t let fear or laziness get in the way of experiencing the joy of investing; get started today!

Six Ways To Help Your Employees To Develop

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Help Employees to Develop|Six Ways To Help Your Employees To DevelopWhen was the last time you looked into the activities that foster happiness for your employees? One of the most important things that you can do for your employees is make sure that they are happy with the way you are running things and managing them. Those in management shouldn’t be in management at all if they are unable to look after their staff, and that’s on you to do that.

The way you run your business is important but it’s so much more important to make sure that the people who work within it are able to feel confident and calm in their roles. From using techniques to improve your performance management skills to ensuring that the people working for you are growing in their careers, you need to do all that you can to help your employees to develop well. So, how can you do it? Below, we’ve got six ways to ensure that you can do just that!

  1. Put your money where your mouth is. If you want to do more for your employees, you need to think about funding performance growth. Personal development funds will help you to ensure that you can help each individual person working for you to grow into their role. You could push that money to training, education and classes, but you can also push it into pottery classes and gym memberships, too!
  2. Always be flexible. Your business is important, and your employees are important for your business to continue working. If you want your employees to be happy, flexibility will really help you with that. Be the employer who says yes to flexibility and working from home. Trust that your employees can get their job done and that you are behind them 100% of the time. The more flexible you are, the happier your staff will be and the more loyal they are as a result.
  3. Add more incentives. Do you have staff members straddling giant student loans? You could add tuition reimbursement as an incentive to the salary program that you offer, and you’ll be able to see that your employees will be bringing new knowledge and skills to the workforce because they will be happy to be reimbursed.
  4. Offer training. Offering the right opportunities to educate your employees will make a big difference to their future. Performance management is much easier when you are helping your employees with a step up from time to time. Staying up to date on the best possible training is vital for their wellbeing, and it’s going to advance their careers at the same time.
  5. Give people choices. If you offer your employees their own participation in their learning and growth with your company, you can do better for them. Taking different learning styles into consideration is vital, and you can provide many different options while you allow your staff to work at their own pace.
  6. Ask what they need. One of the best things that you can do to help your employees to develop is to ask them what you can give them to make their working life easier.

3 Reasons to Not Let Your Doubts Keep You from Pursuing Your Dream Career

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Pursue your Dream Career|3 Reasons to Not Let Your Doubts Keep You from Pursuing Your Dream CareerMany people out there have a “dream career” in mind. Something that they would really love to do, and would find deeply meaningful.

Far too often, though, doubt ends up getting in the way and we end up settling for “safer” options, instead of putting ourselves out there and earnestly pursuing our dream careers. This is in spite of the fact that there are now many platforms and services out there which can streamline the process of getting started in your dream career, such as Preceptor Tree.

Here are just a few reasons not to let your doubts keep you from pursuing your dream career.

Because your thoughts about things may be deeply mistaken, and direct experience gives real perspective

Although you may feel as though you have a pretty clear insight into the potential obstacles that stand in the way of you achieving your dream career, the fact of the matter is that your thoughts may be a lot less accurate than you may think – even when you feel as though you’re being very logical.

In order to make predictions about how things are going to turn out, and in order to create “logical projections” as well, we all need to make certain assumptions on the basis of our past experiences and biases, and on the basis of the mental maps that we have constructed.

In many cases, though, direct experience ends up proving to be very different than what we had thought about a given situation.

This is a pretty clear reason why it’s important not to let your own self-defeating thoughts prevent you from taking steps to pursue your dream career. There’s a good chance that those self-defeating thoughts are mistaken, or are in any case not providing the full picture.

Because striving to achieve something that you find meaningful can enrich your life in all sorts of other ways.

Even if you don’t necessarily succeed in achieving your dream career, simply striving to achieve something that you find genuinely meaningful can enrich your life in all sorts of other ways, ranging from granting you a great deal more motivation and enthusiasm each day, to showing you all sorts of options that you had never considered.

The momentum that pursuing your dream career can give you, and the process of discovery that comes from working honestly towards a dream in this way, can be fundamentally rewarding, and can be game changers in and of themselves.

And, at the end of the day, you won’t have to sit around thinking “what would’ve happened if I had just tried?”

Because the more proactive and engaged you are, the more opportunities will arise.

Being proactive and engaged, in general, tends to generate a lot of opportunities along the way – whereas simply going through the motions and remaining in your comfort zone, at a day job that you don’t much enjoy, doesn’t tend to generate many opportunities at all.

Pursuing your dream career– like all other proactive endeavours – has the potential to open many doors.

A Guide For Creating A Happier Workplace For Your Business

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A happy workplace is one that will improve the satisfaction of staff, increase productivity, and ultimately help your business achieve greater success.

If you are a business looking to create a happier workplace, use this guide for all of the best and effective tips.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | A Guide For Creating A Happier Workplace For Your Business

Offer more engagement

Offering more engagement in the workplace will help employees interact more, which will help create better workplace relationships. If your employees do not have a great relationship it could cause tension or delay problems getting fixed. When a problem arises, it is much easier solved when staff is friendly with one another. They will be able to talk through the issue and find a resolution.

Increased employee engagement is important as it will encourage a happier workplace environment, make every member of the team feel involved, and create better relationships.

Show staff your recognition

When staff does something above and beyond or expectations or achieves their work goals, it is good to show them recognition and praise them.

Praising employees will only make them feel more appreciated, which will make them more confident and happy in their job. It could be as simple as giving them a bonus in their monthly paycheck or hosting a lunch to celebrate their success.

Make meaningful conversations

It is common for workplaces to create meaningless conversations to simply continue relationships. Yet, meaningful relationships are what create a happier workplace.

Therefore, it is crucial to create meaningful conversations so that relationships become meaningful. This means to talk about emotions and personal life as much as it does work. Although you might not want to get too personal with your colleagues and employees, it helps to create closer connections so that you can maintain happiness and create trusting friendships.

Reward staff

From time to time, it is a good idea to reward staff (but only those that have shown effort) to show them you appreciate them. It will encourage them to do better and maintain productivity, which will provide benefits for your business.

As much as you will want to reward them with financial benefits, it is a good idea to reward them in other ways. Besides, you will be offering them financial gains to show them recognition when they have achieved something (as mentioned above).

Rewarding staff with longer lunches, in-office parties, and social events is a great way to help them feel encouraged to create relationships and feel appreciated. Small rewards go a long way and will push staff to be productive, motivated, and maintain happiness.

Upgrade the workspace

Giving employees an upgraded workspace will not only help them feel a new sense of excitement to work, but a purposeful workspace will help them stay productive and comfortable.

For instance, adding standing desks and new comfortable chairs will enhance comfort and help people maintain focus for longer. It will also help employees avoid back pains, which will keep them happy.

Likewise, adding brighter lights, larger windows, and decor will make the office a more exciting place to be.

Offer social events

A social workspace is one that is bound to make employees feel happier. The less communication and fun that goes on, the fewer work relationships there will be.

You will want to encourage workplace relationships for the sake of staff’s mental health as well as the success of your business. Staff that communicates will one another can resolve and overcome issues as opposed to feeling tense when an issue arises. The friendly staff will work together to jump over hurdles and come out better on the other end, which will boost their efficiency and offer more success for your business.

Encourage better health

Healthier staff will equate to happier staff. Therefore, it is important to encourage better health in the office. For instance, standing desks is a great way to help people stretch and feel more encouraged to move around while working.

Furthemore, offering staff in-office lunches might help them make healthier lunch choices.

Encouraging staff to go for lunchtime walks or offering discounts on gym memberships will influence them to maintain regular exercise.

All of these things will contribute to better health and can make staff feel more energetic and happy while at work, as well as in their personal life.

Offer learning sessions

Some staff enjoys extra learning so that they can attain new skills to apply for job promotions or simply feel more capable of their everyday role. Therefore, it is a good idea to offer extra learning in the workplace so that your staff can attain more skills and knowledge.

You can do this by offering after-work learning or asking certain members of staff to take on a new responsibility that will help them learn on the job. The more equipped staff are with skills, the happier and more confident they will feel in the workplace.

Or, you could pay for them to take external courses that will benefit their skills and qualifications for their current job, or a role up that they want to apply for internally.

Identify weaknesses

Identifying your business’s weaknesses will help you improve your business, which will likely make the workplace much happier. For instance, you might not offer enough social support for your employees. You could identify this by asking your staff for feedback. Therefore, you can use the feedback to improve your business and offer more social support.

The more feedback you attain from your employees, the better you can make your business, which will make for a happier workplace.

Likewise, identifying the weaknesses of individual employees can help them improve. You could talk to them about their weaknesses and offer to help them improve. Make sure to be gentle with how you tell them and let them know the benefits of working on the weakness. You can let them know that you have your own weaknesses and tell them how you overcome them, which has helped you improve at work and therefore, helped you achieve greater success.