“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that  would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing;  forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.”

-Orison Swett Marden

Sometimes we just need to take a day off and imagine what we can be, what we can accomplish and how great it would all make us feel.  So who do you want to be?  What do you want in your life?  Write it down and take massive action.  Mr. Marden says you will be blown away with the results and I know he’s right.

I am note sure where or how I found this blog but I have been very impressed with the content so far. The name written by the owner of the Nimbus West, Chuck Blakeman. On his blog he writes his business “…provides outcome-based peer advisory, coaching, and consulting for Business Owners, CEOs, and their growing businesses.”

Check out Chucks latest post:

Make more money - stop selling and let people buy

I also like a motto Chuck wrote about in an earlier post:

“Bad plans carried out violently sometimes yield good results. Do something.”

I hope you can see this guy is worth reading. Go to the blog home page here:

Teamnimbuswest.com

“In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.”

-Henry Valentine Miller

When I was younger I would not have agreed with this quote but after getting my butt kicked over and over again because I tried to take the “shorter and easier” road I have been cured of such foolishness.

I just saw a great quote that Tony, the CEO of zappos.com, posted on his Twitter account:

“Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.”

That sure makes a lot of sense to me!  I definitely feel more stable, wise and secure than ever and I think that is mostly due to my willingness to take risks and make mistakes.  The key is to this learning from those mistakes!  If you fail to learn you are screwed!

If you have the freedom to choose, or design, the way a company operates why not go with what would make you happy if you were a client, employee or vendor of your company?  I really believe this is the only way to go when building a business. One characteristic I would love to see as a customer of any business is transparency.

To me this simply means telling the truth about your business to every party involved.  Is your business young, small, under capitalized, struggling, in a law suit, etc. Let everyone involved know what really is happening.  Have you screwed up, made a mistake, even failed?  Then brag about your experience and tell people what lessons you learned.  In other words turn supposed weaknesses into strengths.  When you do your company will stand out as unique and special in a sea of half-truths and exaggerations.

We practice transparency by telling our clients what our costs are and what are profit is by having them as a client each month.  It is a simple thing to do but since no one else does this it makes us stand out.  I have noticed that standing out is usually a good thing.

Practicing transparency at this very moment, I will say that as I write this post it is 10:30PM and I am a little tired so I am going finish right here and go to bed.  I’ll pick this topic up in another post.  I will conclude by saying isn’t transparency easier? How about refreshing?  So why not give it a try?  I think you will like it.

I been noticing a clear trend in recent weeks - selling my services is getting much, much easier.  When I was an employee in the merchant account industry I worked for one of the best companies in the industry.  Heck, they are the ones that introduced me to “Straight Pass Through” pricing and “Interchange Plus.”  Even though we were always the good guys with no hidden fees and quality service, it was often a challenge to stand out amongst our competitors.

With my own company and a few adjustments to the way we do business things are almost getting easy!  As an employee our pitch was all about our pricing.  Now pricing is just one componant.  Today, I was talking to a business woman who’s company just purchased a hotel property that is part of a national chain.  During our conversation I listened to what I was saying and these are a few of the things that came out of my mouth:

1. We only price clients with Interchange plus (no hidden fees)

2. We want out clients to call us first; let us know the issue and we’ll get it fixed.  We don’t want you calling a call center and being on hold for one minute; let us be on hold in your place.

3. We have no contract term with a early termination fee; if we stink you can leave whenever you want.

4. My costs are…my profit margin is…so my company will make approximately…

5. Did I mention the funds from your transactions will be in your bank account the next business day?

6. From the moment I have your completed application it will take 24-48 hours to have you up and running.

7. No, I don’t need a personal guarantee.

8. No, I don’t need financials.

9. Of course I am familiar with your payment gateway company.

10. Ok, I’ll have the paperwork over to you with in a few minutes.

Man, I love being in control of how we operate!  No wonder adding clients to our roster is getting easier!

Bottom line: Be the very best you can be.  Be transparent, fast, fair and simple; then adding clients will get a lot easier for you.

I know yesterday I wrote I am not really into posting videos; I guess I have changed. Last wee ABC’s Night Line was at the offices of Zappos.com…you know the online shoe company? If you are not familiar with them now, you will want to be after watching the video NightLine produced.

The reason I am posting it here is because Zappos.com is a model of what I think a business should look like. If Tony Hsieh, can build a great company then so can others. I want to be one of those “others.”

Here is where to check out the video:

NightLine Video - Zappos.com

Here is Inc. Magazine article about Tony and Zappos.com:

How I Did It: Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com

• Finishing the last tasks of the first version of my biz web site. Here how it looks currently - http://tinyurl.com/5457lz. #
• Just posted a great little video, if you need something to smile about check it out http://tinyurl.com/583ql3. #

I received a call from a reporter at US News an World Report two weeks ago. His name was Matt Bandyk, a business writer for the magazine. He had found me through my other blog straightpassthroug.biz and he had some questions about how businesses could lower their merchant account processing fees.  We talked for over a half hour and the I provided him contact information for two of my favorite clients who he also interviewed for the article.  That is enough of my story, here is a link to the article:

How to Deal With Credit Card Mumbo Jumbo

I was just investigating a social media platform for this website and came across this video.  Now I rarely share video on any of my blogs so you have to know this is special.  It’s about an autistic kid who is a ball boy/manager for the high school basketball team.  This video tells the story of what happened when the coach decided to let the young man play in the last game of the season, enjoy:

The two things that stand out to me on this video is:

1. His passion and commitment created the opportunity to get into the game.

2. When the opportunity to play came went all out and held nothing back.

May we all live like this kid!