If you have good mechanical skills, you can make some extra money by offering services to neighbors, friends and family. You could offer oil changes or any other service that you are capable of and for a reasonable price, you can supplement your income and may even enable you to be your own boss.

When you are dealing with finance and money management, there is going to be a lot of hype that you will have to try to avoid. Do your own research and try not to be influenced by friends and family. This will help you to form logical opinions and avoid simply going with the crowd.

Make a budget and stick to it. Many people make a spending plan for themselves, but quickly fudge on it or throw it out all together, when times get hard. Taking control of your finances means taking control of yourself and doing what needs to be done to stay within your means.

Figure out your taxes ahead of time. You will avoid a lot of stress if you file your taxes as soon as you can and will probably get your return faster. Keep track of your earnings, deductible expenses and put some money aside to pay your taxes if you need to.

When purchasing car insurance, be sure to ask a lot of questions and find an insurance agency that you can trust. A lower priced insurance is not always the best choice. Therefore, be sure that you are getting the complete coverage that you need. There are many discounts available (multiple car is a good example) so make sure to take advantage of those.

Always balance your checkbook so you can make sure that there are no mistakes on your bank statements. You need to become personally responsible for your own finances, instead of hoping that someone at your bank will notice any discrepancies. Creating a budget will make it easier to see any mistakes, as well.

Even the purchases we make on a day to day basis can ultimately spell the difference between financial success and financial failure. The tips provided above help us make the types of decisions that will make the difference. Investments, after all, come in all shapes and sizes. So too do money bottomless pits which always ending up costing us more than they pay back.

Learn more on ISO management consultants at www.dnvda-gateway.co.uk

This is a question that many, particularly small businesses, ask themselves once they know that they want certification. The question is, how much value will an ISO 9001 consultant add, and will it offset the cost of using one?

What can an ISO 9001 consultant do for me?

A good consultant will:

- guide you through the standard and show you how it should be interpreted for your organisation
- work with you to get your quality system to the required level
- advise you where you have gaps and help you fix them
- prepare you for an external audit
- explain what they’re doing and why, so you understand the management system you’re getting
- make sure you don’t do more work than you need to do to satisfy the requirements of the standard.

What will I get out of using an ISO 9001 consultant?

Consultants bring a lot of experience of putting the ISO 9001 standard in place within a range of businesses, and that knowledge can add a lot of value in the following ways:
- the time it takes you to implement the standard will certainly be reduced; that means you’ll benefit from having certification all the sooner
- the consultant will help you avoid pitfalls and will ensure you don’t waste resources during the implementation process
- a good ISO 9001 consultant will make sure that you get a ‘bespoke’ quality management system that’s appropriate to the type and scale of your business
- likewise, a good ISO 9001 consultant will make sure that you get a quality system that will be efficient and effective at raising the quality of your business.

How do I find a local ISO 9001 consultant?

You may know of a local business which would be happy to recommend an ISO 9001 consultant that they’ve worked with and thought highly of. Otherwise local ISO 9001 consultants can be found through the DNV Consultancy Gateway .

DNV Business Assurance is one of the world’s leading certification bodies. As a certification body, DNV cannot provide a consultancy service, however, we do get requests for names of consultants according to expertise, geography and industry knowledge. As a result we have created a directory of consultants that are local to you and have experience in your sector. It also lists consultants who can help with all the other major management systems certifications, including ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 27001. You can create a shortlist of consultants and open a job for bidding as well as much more.

ISO 9001 consultants really wouldn’t be in business for long if there was no need for their services. They pay for themselves by helping you build an efficient quality management system in the most cost-effective way.

Learn more on ISO 9001 consultants at www.dnvda-gateway.co.uk

In this environment, standards have a strong role to play because they reduce variability and therefore risk; they impose structures that help control costs; and they provide a road-map to develop more sustainable practices.

Here are our top ten reasons to go for certification:

1. The quality standard ISO 9001 opens the door to tendering for a lot of contracts that otherwise would be out of reach. Public sector contacts especially, which represent around 40% by value of all UK construction projects, will be looking for ISO 9001.

2. You don’t need us to tell you about the drive for efficiency and cost control in the construction sector. ISO 9001 supplies a route-map to streamlining processes and finding cost savings and efficient ways of working, helping you save time and money.

3. It’s no secret that construction is a hazardous environment to work in. Certification to OHSAS 18001 can help in establishing strategies that could radically reduce the number of work related incidents and accidents; therefore reducing the associated human and financial costs.

4. Certification to OHSAS 18001 will significantly reduce the scope for regulatory fines that can arise from non-compliance with legislation such as the Working at Height Regulations. This is achieved through setting up robust processes to evaluate your own legal compliance, and through regular reviews of legal compliance by the certification auditor.

5. From Building Regulations Part L to the Green Deal, construction is under a great deal of pressure become more sustainable. Certification to ISO 14001, the environmental management standard, is a way to demonstrate that your operation is systematically reviewing and reducing its environmental impacts. This can lay the ground for more sustainable practices if coupled, for example, with local community action and employment of a local workforce.

6. In the course of reducing environmental impacts, you’ll most likely be saving money by using ISO 14001. This is because the biggest impacts are often directly related to your biggest costs, so lessening impacts also cuts costs. Using the standard will help you to structure more considered procurement policies and lead to less waste and reduced materials costs.

7. To specifically address energy use, certification to ISO 50001 for Energy Management Systems will help your business focus on where cost (and carbon) can be cut. Certification will also demonstrate to stakeholders and employees alike that you’re committed to playing your part in limiting your impacts on climate change.

8. No business is immune from unexpected catastrophes. ISO 22301 for Business Continuity management specifies a methodology for identifying and prioritising the key systems that can keep your business operational, should disaster strike. It could help keep you afloat should the worst happen, and at the very least certification to the standard will give you, and your stakeholders, peace of mind.

9. Because the physical assets of your business are critical to achieving your business goals, PAS 55 for asset management will help you get the best value from your equipment, facilities and people, and to improve your risk management.

10. And finally, society is rightly concerned that businesses are acting in socially responsible ways and this concern is growing. ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility isn’t a standard you can get certified to, but DNV can give you help in complying with ISO 26000, which is a route to enhanced reputation and competitive advantage. It may also be used as a framework for establishing your sustainability strategy.

Learn more on ISO 9001 consultants at www.dnvda-gateway.co.uk