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Recently, a FeeFighters user asked:
After looking at the bids, our accounting team is concerned about the risks of the provider (a) going out of business or (b) for some other reason not giving us the money from our sales. We are handling high volume, so we need to be sure this side of our business is solid. How can I know that that is not going to happen?
Here was our answer:
We do have some smaller processors on FeeFighters, most of them are in the top 100 largest, but not top 5…although we are adding new ones that are larger very quickly. Neither of those is a risk because the processors are all underwritten by FDIC-governed banks. The processors on our site are backed by Wells Fargo, Chase, Harris Bank, etc. big, money-center banks that are very stable. Visa and Mastercard require all processors have that kind of “Sponsor Bank” for precisely the reasons that you highlight.
Common Startup Mistakes
The Wall Street Journal reported on the 10 most common startup mistakes recently. I noticed there was a pattern within the ten: being extreme on both ends of the spectrum. For example, one mistake was not having a business plan, while another stated that overthinking the business plan was a major mistake. Or, not getting enough funding, and getting too much funding were also common mistakes. How can you avoid falling into these extreme categories? Here are some ideas:
1) Evaluate your personality- Sometimes, it’s easy to become nearsighted and lose track of what is important in your business. Knowing how you operate as an entrepreneur will help you identify when you may be drawn toward an extreme before it’s too late to stop it.
2) Have someone call you out- This goes along with a couple of the other mistakes in the article: not having a partner or advisory board. Having someone who can call you out on your mistakes will make it much easier to stop before your business tanks. Often, this involves a deep level of trust and respect from both parties so neither will get offended or be afraid to get their opinion out there. Also, an advisory board with tons of experience will more readily be able to see when you’re making a mistake or about to…they’ve been there before.
3) Be humble- Know when it’s time to back off or admit you’re wrong. You’d be surprised how often entrepreneurs develop a big ego and turn renegade. The most successful entrepreneurs know that it’s important to stay grounded, hear others out, and take action on smart advice. Important also is to be thankful and never take any advice or extra help from others for granted.
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Why You Need to Outsource
Besides freeing up your time to focus on important things, outsourcing is usually a cheaper option than hiring on a full time person. If you can hire them on as a 1099 then you don’t have to worry about, “health and life insurance, as well as make contributions to retirement plans,” according to Wise Geek.
The OutsourceBlog goes on to say, “the United States Bureau of Labor determined the “true cost” for an experienced in-house administrative employee is currently $45.54 per hour. On average, the Virtual Assistant industry estimates the starting rate for a Virtual Assistant is $40.00 per hour. Five hours of in-house administrative labor will cost a company $212.70 versus $175.00 for retaining an Independent Virtual Assistant for the same time period.” Figuring out ways to keep your business growing without losing revenue is a must for start-ups. Outsourcing is a great option that more small business owners are taking advantage of. Being able to think ahead and realize you can’t do everything is a great step in the right direction.
Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on phone systems based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as VoIP service at Resource Nation
Image thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/24662369@N07/4386822005/
We are Fee Fighters. We are the ones who aren’t afraid to go out there and make sure you’re getting a good deal on credit card processing. We take those extra fees on confusing statements and turn them into completely transparent, lowest cost, great customer service processors who go through a tough screening process to be on FeeFighters.
We are still passionate about transparent financial services, and offer only that, but now with a kick as we move into overdrive to save you money.
Bottom line: We may be getting a face lift, but that’s the only change you’re going to see. Same great site, same value proposition, just a little more badass.
Small Business Travel Tips
Business.gov had a great guest post the other day with tips on travel for small business. I was surprised to learn that for every $1 spent on business travel, incremental revenue is $12.50. Wow! That’s a great return…however, travel can also be sticky, tricky, and somewhat undesirable in the modern age of Skype. Here are some ground rules to help guide your travel planning:
1) Do you really, really need to travel?- Are there alternatives to spending the money to fly to meet your potential client/partner. Could you both meet halfway in a desirable location where there is more opportunity for both parties? Can the meeting be conducted via Skype for now, and then plan a trip at a better time?
2) Make travel rules crystal clear- Though you may think employees know your sentiments on 5 star dining while on business trips, it’s better to clearly voice your expectations and set ground rules before you get a receipt from the Four Seasons.
3) Set agendas and expectations- Make sure travel time is optimized by seeing whether there are other opportunities other than the mandatory meeting to attend. There may be networking events, conferences, or other contacts in the area where you are traveling. Really maximize each dollar you spend by not wasting time on the road. A way to monitor this is to have a spelled out agenda which shows exactly what you or whoever is traveling will spend their time doing. Having an agenda makes it easier to set expectations for the outcomes to expect from travel meetings.
4) Make expense reporting easy- Expense reporting can be complicated and a waste of time. Luckily there are an abundance of tools and strategies to make it easier. Having a procedure that everyone is aware of will minimize questions about requirements. Or, you can opt to use what we use, Expensify, which makes expense reporting easy by having photos of receipts mailed in a pdf to automatically create an expense report.
Image thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/12734746@N00/427400947/
[Via: ZippyCart.com: The Best Ecommerce Software Reviewed]
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Revolutionary, irreverent and cool, Richard Branson’s Virgin has developed a brand so strong it speaks for itself. Branson recently shared some secrets to how he developed the brand in an OPEN Forum article.Here are the salient points:
1) Develop simple values- Virgin’s goal to attract customers when just a record store was to provide a cool place to hang out with low prices. Everything they did came back to the core idea of cool and low cost.
2) Stick to them- As Virgin’s empire began to grow and differentiate, sticking to the core values helped them figure out where their strong markets and products would be. They soon realized that the “fun” element referred to an excellent customer experience so markets such as consumer electronics were not as strong for them as experience oriented services.
3) Tell everyone about them- Virgin’s employees all learn and are constantly being reminded of their brand values. Making those values central to the work environment will reinforce their strength in outbound customer interactions.
Image thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/45522481@N02/4352056682/
Does your personality come through when you’re doing business? Or is your website/office filled with what I’ll call “flair,” random generic, expected materials that make your business look like just anyone else’s. I’m talking motivational business posters and copy infused with words like “thought leader and synergy.”
Well it’s time to stop following what’s expected and let your personality shine. Who do you think potential clients will remember more? The companies that look like everyone else, or the ones that focus on being original while delivering the best service or project? A couple of great example of companies with personality are Groupon (albeit annoying) and Copylicious.
1) Groupon- I hate the Groupon cat, and reading their convoluted descriptions of the daily deal. However, it’s a brilliant strategy to make them stand out and shine amongst hundreds of copycats (pardon the pun). Consider this: when the daily deal is usually a manicure, facial, or restaurant discount…who’s going to stand out: the company that describes each pedicure as “indulgent, relaxing, and luxurious” or a company that’s not afraid poke a little fun?
2) Copylicious- If you haven’t read Copylicious, do yourself a favor and check it out. The site is infused with creator Kelly Parkinson’s creative personality. Check out her About page which will have you smiling (but still be impressed) in no time. Even her picture shows a unhindered smile instead of a severe, corporate headshot. Making sure your personality shines through is also a way to filter the right clients: only the ones who want to work you fully knowing your expectations will oblige.
Bottom line: There is no advantage in being like everyone else. Whether your business personality is strict, fun, nerdy, or sarcastic, (Groupon’s case) highlighting your unique culture will help you stand out amongst blah competitors who speak in cliches and buzz words.
Image thanks to http://listicles.thelmagazine.com/2010/01/11-irksome-motivational-posters/
Over the course of 2010, there is one thing that visitors to ZippyCart.com keep asking us about, and this is which ecommerce software solutions have social commerce tools that they can use to better market their online store. At the beginning of 2010, the social commerce tools available to most merchants via their ecommerce solution provider were very limited, but now the top companies in the space are offering a good mix of social commerce tools. Ecommerce merchants are very concerned about marketing their online store, and they’re constantly on the lookout for the latest and greatest tools to keep them on the cutting edge. The best ecommerce software companies are aware of this desire, and this is why, over the course of this year, they have continued to introduce social commerce tools to meet the needs of their merchants. However there is still 4.5 months left in the year for these ecommerce companies to improve their tools so that they can be atop the pack in 2011 when merchants start to review if their current ecommerce platform is still the best choice to power their online store.
Why Social Commerce?
Social Commerce is a constantly evolving niche as new techniques and methods are being experimented with so merchants can figure out how to best way to expand the reach of their online store. Some of the ecommerce software companies leading the way right now are 3dcart, BigCommerce, Volusion, and CoreCommerce. These companies provide a variety of social commerce features, but two stand out from the crowd. First is the ability to include the addthis button on your site, so that people can quickly share your products on a variety of social bookmarking sites. Additionally they all provide merchants a way to setup some sort of ecommerce storefront on Facebook and other social networks, so that they can generate revenue from other marketing channels. The ability to sell directly on Facebook is different than just using a Facebook shopping cart app. Instead, all of a merchant’s Facebook sales directly integrate with their ecommerce platform, making it very easy to manage sales throughout channels.
Since the niche is so new, there is still a lot of room for innovation and improvement, and ecommerce software companies are all competiting to ensure that they provide the best social commerce tools possible so that their merchants can be successful. Two things that we see becoming key for merchants demanding social commerce tools, are more automation so that merchants can focus on other tasks, and more advanced ways to utilize Twitter. While it is great that ecommerce solution providers offer social commerce tools, merchants have little time to test out new strategies, and want things to be more automated so that they do not have to spend too much time managing multiple stores. Current Twitter tools from ecommerce software companies are a bit basic, and none that we know of have tools like Wishpot offers in their social commerce platform. They allow a merchant to sync up their product feed to Twitter, and define parameters around price drops, sales, and new items. After a merchant sets this up, they then can control the frequency of tweets, and the platform takes care of automatically tweeting products from the feed that match the criteria set by merchants.
The bottom line is that social commerce is now a must for most merchants, as they need to be able to engage with customers via a variety of mediums outside of pay-per-click search and SEO. As the holiday shopping season draws near, merchants should begin to examine how social commerce fits into their social media marketing strategy. If your ecommerce software does not have any social commerce tools, then you should request them now, and in the meantime review other 3rd party companies in the space to see what they have to offer.
About the Author: Nick Grant is the co-founder of ZippyCart.com, the Internet’s leading ecommerce software review website. Merchants in search of a shopping cart to power their online store turn to ZippyCart to read shopping cart reviews and compare the best ecommerce solutions in the industry and determine which option is best for their needs.
Image thanks to http://www.momisteaching.com/
Usually, hearing “no” is the end of the road when you’re making a pitch. However, being at the end of the road is infinitely better than being in limbo with a “maybe.” Who wants to have their time be wasted by prospective clients or investors who have no intention of working with you? Here are three steps, as recommended by HBR, to get a definitive “no” instead of a willy-nilly “maybe:”
1) Be crystal clear about the ask- Make sure to fully disclose what you’re asking for, people may say no because they’re simply unclear about what is being asked.
2) Set a deadline-This way, they know that their is a define time in the near future at which point a decision must be made. No buts about it.
3) Learn to understand silence- People hate saying no, and will sometimes opt to not say anything at all. Helpfully asking a question when you hear the silence will put the naysayer at ease, enough so that they can more easily express their genuine decision.
- Be clear about your request. People often say maybebecause they are confused about what you’re asking of them.
- Set a deadline. When meeting a prospective investor, buyer, or customer, explain when you need a decision. A deadline can yield a quicker yes or no.
- Know when silence means no. People hate to say noas much as you hate to hear it. When you sense that your audience is going to say no, but hasn’t built up the courage to express it, provide an out. Something as simple as, “I assume it’s a pass for now?” can help the other party be definitive about its decision.
Image thanks to http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/2009/07/constructive-criticism-works-put-downs-dont/
