Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

www.paypal.com

While my view is not shared by everyone, I have to admit that I’m a big fan of Paypal. Not only is it convenient to use, it’s great that they accept credit cards.

No, this blog is not “brought to you by Paypal”!!! I’m just making an observation that they are positioned really well to build their own business while they help you build yours:

For example, they enable the small business owner to accept payments from credit cards, avoiding the hassle and cost of merchant accounts.

I also like that Paypal offers free resources, such as a downloadable e-book on ways to build your business, or free marketing for all Paypal merchants so other Paypal users can find them.

What impressed me the most, though, was their free shopping cart you can use to sell your products.

Paypal isn’t just good for the small business owner; they’re smart. All of their free products are specifically designed to increase their business.

That’s something to think about for your business!

Related Link: Free credit report from all Experian, Equifax, & Transunion is offered with credit monitoring.

When we're out marketing our business, we'll do just about anything (within reason) to get some time with a prospect. What's more, we'll go home at the end of a busy day, exhausted from the hard work and wish we had more time in the day.

We do.

Last week I stopped in a restaurant to meet with a client. While there I saw a group of people sit down at another table. By their uniforms, I could clearly tell that they all worked for the same company… a company that gets its business from salespeople (these sales people) doing sales calls.

Instead of eating together, these salespeople should have been out entertaining clients. There were six of them at the table eating. They could have each had a solid hour of one-on-one time with a client over lunch. If the problem is at a company level (for example, no lunch reimbursements) a policy change should be considered, since six “person hours” of selling were just wasted that day.

Just recently my business passed a couple milestones I had set for it. That's always exciting, but business is not always good news. There are many times when things get rocky. Perhaps it's an unusual situation or an upset customer or a problem with a supplier. It's in those times that we need to keep a level head to make good business decisions but those are the times when we're least capable of doing it.

My advice? BEFORE a crisis hits your business, do some contingency planning. Dream up a dozen crazy scenarios (or just think back to some of the ones you've faced already) and establish a step by step best practice for when that happens. Write it down. Keep it handy. When the crisis hits (and it will) pull out your list and go through it step by step. Wherever possible, create proactive strategies to keep the crisis from happening.

Oh, and make sure that every crisis solution starts like this:

1. Keep your chin up. This is a temporary situation and you will get through it.
2. …