My last post sent me scurrying over to Pro Blogger for a much needed reality check. I know why I started The Solo Gazette and it wasn't to become a "template editing, program coding, get-it-while-it's-hot" wunderkind.
It was to provide tools I find useful, services that I find lousy, stupidness perpetrated as 'business' and have a great time arming you with good information to use in your business. Hopefully, I can continue to do that without some 'Bucket Head' shutting me down or listening to those people who 'Wish N Hope' instead of 'Get'er Done!'.
I will move The Solo Gazette to it's own home at Typepad (if you have been here a while, you'll remember the fiasco I had with Word Press). Cleaner, better for the way I write and guess what??? No Bucket-Heads!! Just for that nastiness to be gone I'm willing to pay for.
With that said, Let's get to it -
While catching up on my reading, I found this post on Bogus Credit Card Fees. I'm not going to write the entire article, here's the snap-shot of it:
Minimum Credit Card Transactions
You've no doubt seen these signs at your local market, convenience store, and other businesses: "No credit card transactions under $10." Merchants post them to avoid paying the credit processing fees that eat into their profit margins on low-dollar-amount sales. But, guess what? The merchant agreements they have with Visa, MasterCard, and Discover do not allow this practice. Mention it next time you're denied at the register.
You know how I detest Cheap People...but come on. It's a business expense when you accept credit card payments for your products or services. Why put people off by being a cheap bastard!
$0.50 isn't going to matter in the whole scheme of things when I pay for something, but you can bet I'm going to remember that when I look for that product or service again! So will your customers.
Here's the tip for those of you still half asleep: Eat the Fees! So you lose $0.50 in the short term, think looong-term value of that customer coming back and buying more next time. Cheap business owners get cheap customers!
Are you about sick and tired of hearing about the 'down economy' and 'high gas prices'? Me too! You want to know a secret? Unless you're living in a cardboard box in a Calcutta back alley, with open sores oozing pus and no medical plan - Life Is Good!
You either walk, take public transportation, car pool or ride a skate board to work instead of filling up your Mercedes. Simple.
You either increase your sales, cut your overhead and brown bag your lunch twice a week or you grab something at Trader Joe's. Simple.
The economy is what it is and if you want to drive a car, using some type of fuel for to move is what it will take (unless your name is Fred Flintstone and using foot power!).
Another Tip: Do what you need to do and live how you want. You Are Not In Charge! Get over it. My fantastic mechanics didn't give it a second thought when quoting me the cost of repairs on my Baby....I didn't miss a beat in finding the money for them to fix her either! Choices, remember. You're either working on a business or you have an expensive hobby.
Here's a Solo Entrepreneur tip for you 'old hands' who may think you don't need it and works for those just starting doing anything on the net. Get over here and grab as much 'hands on training' as you can stand.
Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge 2008 is smokin! Ok, I hear some of you groaning.....it isn't about doing any one type of business (even though affiliate programs seems to be pushed hard) it's about The Marketing Tools!
If you are techno-widget-twitter-Linkedin or all things Web2.0 challenged...like someone I know, then hustle your buns on over and register. I'm using because effectively marketing my business better makes me more money and keeps me a solopreneur (cute word, yeah!).
If you do nothing else, watch the video or read the transcript for Market Samurai. Any other tool you've used in the past is obsolete in comparison. I've used it to do a bit of keyword research for this blog, but it really shines in SEO and competition analysis.
So what didn't I like about it? The directions for figuring out what all the colors in the graph meant was a bit vague. The only way I learned to get any kind of meaningful information was reading the 30DC forum post of someone who was having problems finding their niche.
Take a look, see if it's something that will work for you and as always.....take what you can use and leave the rest.
That's it for today and I'll leave you with this:
"Trickery succeeds sometimes, but it always commits suicide."~Kahlil Gibran
