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Using Square To Accept Credit Cards

September 10, 2011 By Tim Hicks 4 Comments

Square helps businesses and individuals accept credit cards

We all know that accepting credit and branded debit cards is important in business. The tough part is figuring out which payment processor to use. Up until now, I have been using Virtual Terminal from PayPal for my credit card processing. This allowed me to accept credit card payment over the phone/web, through the mail and in person. PayPal charges $30 per month whether you process a single charge or not. In addition, they also charge 2.4-3.1% plus 30 cents per transaction. There … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finance, Front Page Tagged With: Credit Card, Merchant Account, Square

Home Business Idea: Start A Local Magazine

August 27, 2011 By Tim Hicks 2 Comments

While many dream of owning a global business, some home-based entrepreneurs are finding success right in their own back yard by publishing a local directory or magazine. Remember a few years ago when everyone saw the Internet and had dreams of starting businesses that could be global right from the start? It was a big deal and why not? Up until then, it was very difficult (not to mention expensive) to start a home-based business that stretched much beyond your backyard. The Internet changed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Ideas, Franchises, Front Page Tagged With: Local Business, Magazine, Publishing

Don’t Do It: Why Putting Drop Cards In Magazines Is A Bad Idea

August 21, 2011 By Tim Hicks 6 Comments

Today, our family made a visit to a local bookstore to do a little shopping. While there, I decided to pick up some business opportunity magazines to use for "opportunity" research. Let me tell you, there are a lot of flaky biz ops out there, but that's a story for a different day. While looking through one of the mags tonight, I noticed what looked like several folded $100 bills. In actuality, it was a "drop card" with the image of money on one side and an advertisement on the other. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising & Promotion, Front Page, Promoting Your Business Tagged With: Advertising, Business Card, Drop Card

What’s In A Name

August 14, 2011 By Tim Hicks 2 Comments

When you start your business, you have lots of things to think about. One of the most important is the name of your business. After all, this is how people will know your business and it is what you will build your brand around. Obviously, choosing the proper business name is quite important. Before we go too far, let me explain that your business will actually have two names. One is the legal name of your company and the other is the business you do business under. Allow me to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Front Page, Legal & Taxes, Starting Your Business Tagged With: Business Name, Doing Business As, Trading As

Is Network Marketing The Right Business For You

August 10, 2011 By Tim Hicks 1 Comment

I often get asked if Network Marketing (aka MLM or Multi-level Marketing) is a legitimate business opportunity and, if so, which company should they choose. Wow! Those are some tough questions. Since I've been in Network Marketing for almost thirty years, you would probably expect me to shout a resounding "YES! JOIN TODAY!" Yes, you might expect that, but that's not what I'm going to do. In fact, I'm going sort of in the opposite direction. Allow me to explain. Yes, Network … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Ideas, Direct Sales, Front Page, Network Marketing Tagged With: Direct Sales, MLM, Network Marketing, Ponzi Scheme, Pyramid Scheme

Should You Use PLR Articles In Your Blog

August 4, 2011 By Tim Hicks 2 Comments

Should you use PLR content on your blog?

Writing a blog is not always the easiest thing in the world to do. After all, no matter how much you love to write and how passionate you are about the topic, sometimes the ideas just won't flow. That's when a lot of people start considering the use of PLR (private label rights) articles on their websites. For those of you who may not know, PLR articles are written by a ghostwriter and offered to you for your use. You are usually free to do most anything with them, such as attach your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Content Creation, Front Page Tagged With: Blog, Content Creation, plr, Private Label Rights, Writing

Beware of “Business In A Box” Pitches

August 2, 2011 By Tim Hicks 2 Comments

Beware of home-based business shell games

Recently, I heard a newscaster talk about the criminal case against Don Lapre - the youthful looking infomercial king who is now facing 25 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines for selling worthless home-based business opportunities. I don't want to comment on Lapre's case specifically because, after all, this is America and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. I do, however, have to say it made me think about all of those scammers and schemers out there … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Ideas, Front Page, Scam Alert

How To Get Started In Affiliate Marketing

July 24, 2011 By Tim Hicks 2 Comments

People often ask me what the best home-based business is for someone with limited business experience and little or no start-up capital. Without fail, I point them toward affiliate marketing. Put simply, affiliate marketing is a business of selling other people's stuff. Well, actually, it is pre-selling. Affiliate marketers allow the merchant to do most of the "heavy lifting" when it comes to making a sales presentation. How Does Affiliate Marketing Work? Here are the steps, in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing, Business Ideas, Featured, Front Page Tagged With: Affiliate Blogger Pro, affiliate marketing, Blog, Rosalind Gardner, super affiliate handbook

Blog Your Way To HomeBiz Success

July 19, 2011 By Tim Hicks 2 Comments

Looking for a home-based business that is fairly easy and very inexpensive to start? Try blogging! It should come as no surprise that I recommend blogging as a home-based business. After all, blogging makes up a large part of my home-based business. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the term blogging, it is derived from the term "web log" and it is basically an online site made up of individual posts. Originally, blogs were used as online journals, but their uses changed and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Ideas, Front Page Tagged With: Affiliate Links, affiliate marketing, Blog, Internet Marketing

A Sweet Way To Promote Your Business

July 19, 2011 By Tim Hicks 1 Comment

Do you like M&Ms? Of course you do. Just about everyone does. In fact, I know of few people who can pass a bowl full of those sweet little chocolate bites without snagging a few (or a few dozen). Even the worst day is made better by a handful of M&Ms. You may be asking yourself what this has to do with promoting your business. Well, let me tell you. Imagine if you could give your customers (or prospects) some M&Ms with your logo printed on them, instead of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising & Promotion, Front Page Tagged With: Advertising Specialities, Promotional Items