Every business should have PayPal
PayPal Merchant Services
The great thing about innovation is the ease of use and the low price. I remember operating my two computer training centres in Dee Why and Gordon where I paid the National Australia Bank $30 per month to have the use of a terminal at each location. Then there was the cost of paper, the need for a dedicated phone line and how hard it was to initially get the “credibility” to have the privilege of having one of these machines. I was happy with the machine for a while, but could I use this machine to receive payments at my website? No. That was a whole new process and another department within the bank to “negotiate” with.
I started using PayPal when I wanted to make training courses available for enrolment online and when I realised how easy it was (just like cutting and pasting a link to a YouTube video) the functionality and enabling power of PayPal become evident.
Now, I use WordPress websites, online form builders and enrolment services and all of these solution providers link seamlessly with my PayPal business account. When you consider that there is no monthly fee and I only pay a percentage of each sale you can see why it is too hard to speak to my bank for a merchant account.
Recently I read about PayPal’s new service of issuing VISA debit cards in the United States and I realised that having a PayPal account is very similar to having an ING Direct account (without the high interest you earn though). It’s all the more reason that I am starting to use my PayPal account more and more.
Read MoreEven Google staff make mistakes (in Australia)
Google Apps
I recently received an invitation to attend a training seminar about Google Apps at the GooglePlex in Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. I accepted the invitation and put the event in my iPhone calendar, with a reminder. A week before the event I received an email asking me to confirm that I will be attending, and to my horror I saw the names of hundreds of other people in the CC field. It made me realise one important aspect about business — that they are managed by humans who can make mistakes.
On a more positive note the training was excellent. I already use Google Apps so I was familiar with much of the tools, but what I found fascinating was the Google Apps Spreadsheet. I am familiar with functions in Microsoft Excel, but true to Google’s nature, they displayed a spreadsheet which contained figures that relied upon “live” information about the population of countries in the spreadsheet. The fantastic part is that when the information from the source changes (in this case Wikipedia) then the figures in your spreadsheet will change. You can’t get more live than that!
In summary, although Google Docs might not display information as well as Microsoft Office applications, the fact that your files are stored “in the cloud” and the level of sharing and interactivity with team members (and of course the cost) makes this a very exciting suite of programs to work with.
Read MoreShould you be hiring a virtual assistant / remote worker?
A lot of the services you need as a small business can be completed remotely, take for example your bookkeeping. I have recently come into contact with a group of virtual assistants who can help with most aspects of managing a business, but the person who really stood out is Wendy Field based in Balmain. She is a certified MYOB consultant with experience with several online accounting programs and she provides online consulting for business owners who need help with their business. Wendy’s personnel have the skills to outsource your accounts department to the point of providing you with a virtual phone number and answering calls in your company name to handle accounts inquiries.
Other services which can be outsources to a virtual assistant include typing and creating professional documents using programs like Microsoft Word, website design and blog editing using programs like WordPress and of course receiving telephone calls and outbound telesales projects. If you know someone who is interested in finding this type of work they can register with EzyLearn for their Remote Contractor service.
If you are interested in seeking the help of a virtual assistant please send an email to sales@ezylearn.com.au with the job/work specifications and we’ll send it along to our virtual assistant contacts to see if they can help. I am currently working on a project with virion voip phone systems to help provide Australian businesses save money on their telephone costs.
Read MoreThe clouds are heating up for online accounting alternatives to MYOB
On my whirlwind tour of CeBIT in Darling Harbour today I came across some great people who started an online accounting solutions business that offers some great tools for small businesses. They use the best model I know of for getting businesses to love their technology: Give the base product away for free and when people get used to it and like it they can pay if they want to use all the features. It’s the way that most successful online services are offered.
SAASU is an accounting solutions that’s based in the cloud which means the datafile is accessible to you and anyone you choose to have access to it (like your accountant) no matter where you are. SAASU are even developing an iPhone application so you can invoice from your smartphone when you are on the run. The best feature about these accounting programs is not that you can use them from anywhere (because you are usually in the office when you do your accounts) but because you can give other people access to your accounting file at the same time you are using it. The best way of describing this benefit is come end of year when you need to give your MYOB accounting company file to your accountant for them to make journal entries and adjustments. During this time you can’t make changes to the file otherwise you’ll have two different files in two different locations! arrgh!
I mentioned a New Zealand based public company called Xero in a post I wrote about how companies offer their products as trials for people who want to get to know the product (Xero unlimited free trial). I’ve also been watching their share price by the way (and it’s shot up when MYOB’s founder, Craig Winkler invested in them). Well, SAASU have gone a step further; They are offering a consultants version of their software (up to 20 invoices per month) for free… forever. This way you can get started for free and continue in a small way without the extra overhead of accounting software costs. But best of all their pricing for those companies who want to use more features is much better than Xero’s. Their beginner package is $25 per month for unlimited transactions, which is the same price that Xero charge for their consultants package (5 transactions a month!) and you can see their list of features at this link: SAASU Online Accounting pricing. To see the less attractive Xero pricing, visit Xero Pricing Plans.
Either way you look at it, it’s great to finally have an alternative to MYOB with more features and flexible pay by the month pricing.
Read MoreManage your Contacts in the Cloud
You may have noticed that I have written several articles about CRM options, that Customer Relationship Management. I’ve also had an iPhone for close to 2 years and love the fact that you can get applications for that phone that enable you to have all your information at your finger tips.
The reason for this post today is I have found a blog post that has summed up the user experiences of quite a few people who are looking for a “hosted” contact management solution. Before we move on though, I should probably explain that I am moving away from being tied to costly software that I can only operate on my computer, but also want an online solution that many fellow workers can access from all across this wide land.
My latest research has brought me to a combination of the Software as a Service (or cloud based applications) called HighRiseHQ by 37 Signals and Gmail. They appear to be the best and easiest way to manage a project that I am working on. If you are interested in learning more, please visit this link and read the comments section after the post… Excellent reading
Read MoreThere are plenty alternatives to SalesForce.com CRM
I recently wrote an article about my negative experience with SalesForce.com, the commercial Customer Relationship Management software as a Service that you access from the Internet, cloud computing they call it. You might remember that I didn’t like the monthly fee that they explain and then tell you that you need to pay it yearly in advance…..
The good news is that in my search for an alternative (because I am a huge advocate for cloud computing) has come up with a large number of alternatives and most of these new alternatives have the tradition try before you buy offer, with a low payment by the month feature. Best of all they integrate with a lot of other popular cloud computing applications.
Here’s a list of a couple online CRM packages that I will evaluation over the forthcoming month to assess the one I believe to be the best:
http://www.cloudcontacts.com/ (doesn’t look so feature rich)
If you happen to know about a good cloud based CRM product, please let me know so that I can review it.
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