Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

Categories
Success Attitude

Three Things You Gotta Believe about Your Business

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

What do you believe about your business?

Your business beliefs are the core values of your “how” in leading your relationships and managing the details. Have you ever taken four minutes and written them down?

Make sure you include these three things you gotta believe about your business:

Business Pace

When my daughter ran distance races, she trained her body to build endurance by putting in the necessary miles daily. She also exercised her mind to learn course management.

She discovered in her first races that adrenaline would push her out hard and fast from the start and carry her for a while. If she kept up that pace, she often led, but when she approached the finish, she had no energy left and fell way back. The only result that counts is when you cross the finish line.

She discovered how to pace herself, starting strong, settling into a comfortable, economical pace, with enough reserve for a powerful finish kick. Such a pace allowed her to compete and succeed.

Your business has a pace. Adjusting your intensity to reflect it is a key to Work Positive success. You run sprints one way. Maybe that’s your 4Q. You run 5K’s an entirely different way. That might be your 1Q.

You gotta believe that your business has a pace and rhythm all its own. Adjust your intensity accordingly and train for it.

Balance People and Tasks

You can focus your business efforts on people—employees, vendors, and customers—but when you do, you lose sight of your company goals.

You can focus your energy on accomplishing tasks—your goals and action plan—but when you do, you forget that its people who accomplish those tasks.

My grandmother gave me a chocolate bunny every spring for Easter. Some years, I bit into it to find only air inside. Other years, it was marshmallow. My favorite years were those when I discovered chocolate through and through.

Balancing people and tasks means you lead your business consistently—through and through. You lead people to accomplish tasks and focus on tasks for people to achieve.

You gotta believe that your business succeeds when you balance people and tasks.

Beyond the Obvious

You’re staring at your P&L and balance sheets for 2011 about now. What do you believe happened in 2011 in your business?

A pair of sisters enjoyed shopping in a Goodwill shop in Virginia. One of them saw a pearl necklace, found it attractive, and since it was only $.69, bought it, believing that it was just costume jewelry.

Wearing it back home in Arizona, a friend commented on how beautiful it was and encouraged her to get it appraised. She did and discovered that it was worth a little more than the $.69 purchase price.

Like $50,000 more.

As you look back on 2011 and forward into 2012, you gotta believe beyond the obvious. Believe that at least some of your investments in adjusting your business pace will pay off this year. Believe that by balancing people and tasks you will discover unimagined value.

You gotta believe in your business in 2012!

About the Author:

Best-selling author, speaker, and coach Dr. Joey Faucette shares how all of us working together create a more positive world this week. Adapted from his #1 Amazon best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World.

Categories
Branding

Fresh Ideas For Your Brand (That Won’t Freak Your Clients Out)

Article Contributed by Erin Ferree

Now, that sounds just like exactly what you need to get your business fired up and moving along! But then reality creeps in…

There’s the pressure of creating a fresh, interesting and new idea. You can’t just reach into a magic hat and pull that perfect idea out. Sitting and waiting around for that genius to strike doesn’t seem action-oriented enough for you. You’re ready to get started on what’s next… but you need the idea to begin with, plus the insurance and assurance that it’s a good one.

Then there’s the danger of introducing fresh ideas into your brand. You’ve worked long and hard to build your brand and nurture your fans and clients. So, naturally, you’re worried that you’ll come up with an idea that’s fresh, exciting, new and different, pour your heart and soul into developing it, and do all the incredible work behind getting that idea out into the world… and after all of that, your clients and fans won’t like it.

That they might freak out. What if they don’t like the idea you worked so hard on? Wouldn’t it be terrible if clients who were going to hire you decide, based on your new idea, not to?

Or, worse yet, that your chatty, happy and engaged clients and fans clam up, withdraw and become uninterested and disengaged. Clearly the opposite of what you’re looking for, and a sure sign that you’re on the wrong track.

Why are new ideas so tricky?

Introducing new ideas takes a special mix of ingenuity, bravery and finesse.

Here’s how they work together:

The ingenuity to generate an idea – OK, this is more like “a bunch of new ideas”… so you can have the freedom to create a bucket full of many less-fantastic ideas on the way to one fresh, new, interesting idea. And then you need the foresight, common sense and client-understanding to sort out the good from the not-so-good ideas.

The bravery to launch that idea and incorporate it into your brand and marketing. After all, your brand is precious and you’ve worked hard to build it. Launching a new thing can be both exciting and scary – exciting because you’re proud of your new idea and can see the possibility in it, and scary because you’re not quite sure how your clients and contacts will react to it. You can cut down on the scariness by selecting a few of your clients and unveiling the idea early, to see how they feel about it and what questions they have. That way, you can fine-tune your idea with their input, to make it make the most sense and impact possible.

The finesse to introduce the idea to your clients in a way that doesn’t freak them out. This is the part that takes the most discipline. You have to roll out your idea in a way that brings your clients along with you and your excitement over it – instead of making them slam on the brakes. That means keeping them comfortable before, during and after your launch – and letting them know whether this is a whole new direction or if you’re still offering the things they’ve gotten used to.

When you bring ingenuity, bravery and finesse along on your quest for new ideas, you’ll find yourself creating the kind of innovative, interesting and engaging ideas that keep your clients coming back for more.

About the Author:

Erin Ferree is a branding coach, design genius and strategic thinker. She’s been told that her right-brain, left-brain combination of creativity and logic is hard to come by… and that it’s what small business owners need to be successful. She loves connecting the dots between passion and profit, mixing strategy and inspiration and shaking things up.

She deeply enjoys working with entrepreneurs who want to help more people and look good doing it. Who want all of their branding and marketing to make sense and speak to their ideal clients. And who want an open, honest, inviting brand with integrity – instead of using icky, pushy, sleazy marketing tactics and trickery.

She’s branded over 450 small businesses in the last 10 years. She’s been published in so many books and periodicals that she stopped counting. She’s shared stages with some awesome people – like Michele PW, Linda Hollander, Lisa Cherney, Sheri McConnell and Kelly O’neil.

In the rare moments when she’s not obsessing about branding or design, she can be found hugging her corgi-dog Stanley, going for long walks, cooking improvisationally, or throwing parties so her friends can enjoy them.

Learn more at http://brandstyledesign.com

Categories
Online Business

Accepting Credit Cards Online

accet-credit-card.jpg

Accepting credit cards online is a great way to boost the success of any online business. Once your business begins to accept credit cards over the Internet, you’ll enjoy greater sales, increased revenues, and better cash flow, among other benefits. This article describes the main benefits of accepting credit cards online, and then presents an overview of the process and all the terminology and background information you’ll need to get started.

The Benefits of Accepting Credit Cards Online

Most business owners choose to begin accepting credit cards as a convenience to their customers, but they are often pleasantly surprised by all the other benefits that accrue to the business. Most notably, accepting credit cards online causes sales to increase. In a traditional bricks-and-mortar store, credit card users make impulse purchases more often than do customers who are paying with cash, because it doesn’t feel like “real money.” Online, this effect is multiplied by the fact that online shoppers can make their purchases within seconds of finding what they want to buy. In contrast, if your site doesn’t accept credit cards, the potential customer who is browsing your website has too much time to rethink the purchase during the time that he or she is calling customer service or filling out the order form and writing a check.

With greater sales, your business’s revenue increases. Even more importantly, your cash flow improves. When customers pay with a check, you may have to wait up to one week for the funds to be made available in your bank account. Credit card payments, however, are processed much quicker, giving you access to the cash you need to run your business.
Another benefit of accepting credit cards online is that you’ll have to deal with fewer bounced checks. The credit card’s available balance is verified at the moment of the purchase, so there’s no chance that you’ll make the sale and then subsequently find out that the customer didn’t have funds to cover the transaction.

What You’ll Need to Accept Credit Cards Online

If you’ve never accepted credit cards online before, initially it can be intimidating, but in essence you will need only four things: an online shopping cart, a payment gateway service, a credit card processor, and an internet merchant account. Let’s consider each of these in greater detail.

An online shopping cart is the platform though which customers make their product selection(s) and input their credit card information. It comprises the catalog of products that you sell, the “cart” to which customers add their desired purchases, and the checkout/payment page where customers provide their credit card information. The online shopping cart is the user-friendly side of things that customers see on the website. It needs to appear professional and secure, so that your customers feel confident entering their financial data on your website. The online shopping card automatically submits customers’ credit card information to a payment gateway service.

The payment gateway service collects that information and securely transfers it to the credit card processor (i.e., the acquiring bank) to request the transaction’s approval. The customer is unaware of the payment gateway service, as it is primarily a tool that allows your online shopping cart to communicate with financial institutions and credit card companies. When selecting a payment gateway service, be sure that it is compatible with your online shopping cart and pay attention to the fees and the level of security offered.

The credit card processor accepts the data from the payment gateway service and then contacts the bank that issued the credit card to verify that the requested funds are available. Once the transaction is approved, the credit card processor sends the results back to the payment gateway service, which sends the results to the online shopping cart system for the customers’ review. (Although the process described above seems long and complicated, it is fully automated and can be completed in just a few seconds.) The credit card processor also deposits the funds into your bank account.

The Internet merchant account, provided by the credit card processor, gives you the authorization to collect funds from your customers’ credit card accounts. All funds will either be deposited into a bank account of your choice or one that you will have to open at a bank designated by the credit card processor.

Unfortunately, if you are only accepting credit cards online (not in a traditional bricks-and-mortar store), many banks view your business as being more high-risk and therefore charge exorbitant fees for the Internet merchant account. The increased revenue of credit cards payments may or may not offset these high fees. Consequently, many online retailers opt to use the services of a company that specializes in e-commerce, as described below, rather than try to obtain an Internet merchant account on their own through their local bank.

All-in-One E-commerce Packages

If you aren’t experienced in the world of ecommerce, getting an online shopping cart, payment gateway service, credit card processor, and Internet merchant account can be confusing, overwhelming, time-consuming, and expensive. Fortunately, as online sales have grown in popularity, many full-service merchant account providers have arisen in the marketplace. They provide all-in-one ecommerce packages, allowing your business to quickly and easily obtain an online shopping cart, payment gateway, and even arrangements for processing credit card payments through a bank. In the long run, many of these companies’ fees are expensive, but the peace of mind is usually worth the price, at least during the first few years that you’re accepting credit cards online. Of course, there are affordable full-service merchant account providers so an investigation is warranted.

When shopping around for one of these all-in-one solutions, take the time to do your research. If a company doesn’t respond to your inquiries promptly, eliminate it from consideration. Ask about the application process and all the fees (application fees, setup fees, discount fees, transaction fees, monthly fees, etc.). Know what the total start-up cost will be, as well as your ongoing maintenance costs. Finally, be sure you know exactly what services you’ll receive and whether there are any limits on the volume or amount of your monthly transactions. Once you have all this information, you will be ready to select an ecommerce package and begin enjoying the many benefits of accepting credit card payments online.

Andy Lax has worked in the credit card processing industry for over five years and is now an Account Manager at IntelliCollect, a merchant account provider that enables business owners to accept credit cards and electronic checks.

Categories
Branding

Why Improving Your Business Signage Is a Must

Article Contributed by Martin Neil

Having an attention-getting sign is critical for your local businesses – no matter the industry.  Your business signage identifies your business and location and it establishes your business image. Your business signage is the core of your brand identity strategy, whether it is proudly mounted on the building, on your booth or display at a trade show, or on your company vehicles.

It’s also the most cost-effective advertising you can do.  The Small Business Administration says, “…signs are the most effective, yet least expensive form of advertising for the small business.”  Building signage is often taken for granted, but signs are always on the job, advertising 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

How Improved Business Signage Will Help You Brand Your Company, Communicate with a Highly-Mobile Society & Leverage Your Advertising Efforts

1        Your business signage is the only indicator that you exist and would like your prospect’s patronage.

2        A frequently-noticed business sign sends your message to more people per dollar invested than any other form of advertising.  For example, if you display a $200 sign for one year at a location where 10,000 cars pass every day, you’ve reached over 3.5 million people (not counting passengers), at a cost per person of less than $.000057. (Less than six hundred-thousandths of a dollar.)  Even a high-end, lighted or monument sign that costs $5000, still reaches those people at a cost of $.0014, or a little over a tenth of a cent each.

3        95% of retail business is location-based.  As consumers pass by your place of business, an attractive and effective on-premise sign will leave a positive impression. When the time comes to make a decision or purchase, consumers will be attracted to you.

4         About 40 million Americans move annually to a new home, all needing to buy goods and services, and looking for brands that stand out.

5        Enhanced sign technology allows sign faces to be easily changed to match evolving marketing circumstances.  New developments in lighting, plastics, digital printing resolution, and color profiling mean signs can now achieve the same visual effect as four-color magazine advertising.

6        Your company does not need to be a national franchise with a major advertising budget to “brand” your site with effective signage.  If appropriately designed and placed, your sign can develop top-of-mind awareness of your products and services, no matter the size of your business.

7        Many communities and cities have strict sign codes requiring that signage remains attractive and in harmony with the look and feel of the community, while encouraging business activities.  Advances in sign design and technology means that via signage, your company can communicate more effectively to potential customers in a way that enhances both your site and the community at large.

8        Purchase habits can be influenced with effective signage.  Pricing or product information can influence a purchase decision or prompt an unplanned stop, which is critical, since nearly all businesses rely in part on impulse visits.

9        A well-designed sign can provide a positive perception of quality and service and create the image of a leader, even for the smaller business.  For the national franchise or chain, on-premise signage reinforces all other media advertising, and maximizes advertising effectiveness at a low cost.

10    By adding your business signage to your car and “wrapping” your company vehicles with striking vinyl, you can generate over 600 visual impressions for every mile driven  At about $0.35 per thousand impressions for a typical vehicle wrap, the cost is almost trivial compared to $3.56 for outdoor advertising or over $20.00 for typical magazine advertising.

About the Author:

Orange County Business Signs Specialist Martin Neil contributes value to businesses and non-profit organizations across the United States by increasing their brand awareness with the very best sign solutions. He specializes in custom requirements for commercial building signage, vehicle wraps, office inside signage, trade show displays, promotional banners & flags, and large-size wall graphics. Improve your business signage by going to: http://www.Calibersi.com/Building-Signage.html

 

 

Categories
Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship – The Road Less Traveled

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

I believe that life is a journey, and just like any journey, it has some bumps in the road along the way. For me, those “bumps” came in the form of three layoffs in two years.  I drove home from my last job, the remains of its existence in a cardboard box beside me, and I received this message: “Why go to work for somebody else when you can work for yourself?” I literally looked around like, “Who said that?”  And then I realized: “This is my life. I need to create a way for it to support me and bring me freedom and joy.” So… I started on that journey of entrepreneurship.

I knew that the road to entrepreneurship would not be an easy one to travel – with fear, risk, and uncertainty lurking around every corner. But as I drove down that freeway, I also knew there was no turning back now. It was time to follow the right path, and for me, that path was helping others discover theirs!

That third layoff was a turning point in my life: a point in which I realized I needed to make a change. And that change resulted in helping others to make changes as well. In fact, this is a step in my “Stand Out, Be Juicy” program that I call Juicy Benefits – communicating how you change someone’s life. And we all do it! We, as entrepreneurs, all offer services that change people’s lives. You just have to realize it.

To illustrate this point, one of my clients, a professional organizer, wasn’t meeting her goal of making a six-figure income. While she viewed herself as an organizer of stuff, her clients were saying, “You’re so much more than a professional organizer!” She couldn’t see it. So I asked her: “How are people different after working with you?”

Like most people, she couldn’t answer. But I helped her find her voice, her answer, which was: “I help people get to the root of the cause of their clutter so it never comes back.” Ta-da! There it was. Her Juicy Benefits. She started charging more and hit her six-figure mark that year.

The answer to, “How are people different after working with me?” should roll off your tongue, but most likely, it doesn’t. For most entrepreneurs, this is the case.  My own dissatisfaction while working in corporate America should have been obvious to me, but it wasn’t. My point? We don’t always see what’s right in front of us. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to help us see what we should see, say what we should say, do what we should be doing. Juicy Benefits is just a piece of the puzzle, one curve in your road to discovery. Take the wheel for a moment, and let’s see where we can go!

About the Author: 

Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working
part-time.

Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.