CS, Author at crowdspring Blog

Small Business Spotlight of the Week: LLWorldTour

CS — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:59:44 +0000

I am so over this Winter in Chicago so, naturally, when I saw a logo project on the site for a blog about traveling the world I had to take a look. Little did I know, there was so much more to the blog than just world travel. Lisa Lubin, the Magellan behind LLWorldTour, is a three-time Emmy-award-winning television writer/producer/editor with more than a decade of experience in television production. She produces a variety of broadcast specials, including food & restaurant segments for WGN-TV. For about ten years, Lisa produced a weekly lifestyles and entertainment magazine show on ABC Chicago. After 15 years in Television she quit the TV life and spent three years traveling and working her way around the world. She writes about travel and has readers and subscribers from all over the world. Lisa posted a logo project on the site and awarded esyu! I got a chance to talk to Lisa about her life’s adventures and she has some great advice for you guys… 1. How did you get things designed before crowdSPRING? In my professional career as a TV producer, I was fortunate enough to work in broadcast facilities and stations with their own graphic design departments to do any and all graphics, animations, websites, etc. It was a luxury. Now as a freelancer if I have a need for my own website, I have so far just done simple things myself. This is my first project for myself in which I am paying to have something designed. If I didn’t use crowdSPRING, I would have just hired one designer in my price range. 2. Why in the world did you decide to use crowdSPRING?! A very good friend of mine, who used to work for Feedburner/Google, suggested it to me. She is actually the person that got me going on a WordPress blog in the first place nearly five years ago. She is always in the know of all things web-like and I trust her advice, plus I liked the fact that they were a local start-up. I’m a fan of all things Chicago and it does mean more to me to use a company that I know is right here. 3. What’s the single best small biz resource that you’ve found (magazine, website, blog, etc.)? So far, I am really impressed with crowdSPRING’s business model (especially if you are a buyer) and would recommend it to other small business owners. I also just started using an amazing resource for entrepreneurs called SCORE. It is a free counseling service from the SBA and is wonderful. In my web business I work with a lot of people virtually and while it’s amazing to be so connected to people all over the world, I LOVE being face to face and need and crave that. So sitting down with a counselor is a wonderful thing. 4. If your best friend told you they were going to start a business, what’s the ONE piece of advice you’d give..

How To Get The Best Merchant Account For Your Small Business

CS — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:11:38 +0000

A few years ago, one Saturday afternoon, my car broke down in the middle of Chicago. Stranded—and unwilling to leave my car parked on an expressway overnight—I had the car towed to the only shop still open for the day. The homemade sign hanging on for dear life above the front door as I walked in told me the place was shady—I knew I was about to be taken. A mechanic looked under the hood and told me that the {something} was broken and that {something, something, and something} would have to be repaired. My back was against the wall—he knew everything, and I knew nothing. Given the timetable and location, I could not verify his assessment independently. After a short discussion, he quoted me around $1,500 for repairs. Feeling uneasy, I paid the tow truck driver $150 to take my car to a shop 20 miles away. I relay this story because the situation correctly represents the buying process of merchant services. The credit card processing industry is inherently complex; vendors use their information advantage for their benefit. The industry is notorious for its trickery and purposeful deception. Today, however, is your lucky day because I will help you become an informed buyer of merchant services or at least make you dangerous. Find a good fit for your needs It’s worthwhile to invest adequate time upfront to find the right merchant provider. Too often see, merchants make rash decisions based on advertised fees (which are typically misleading). Too many unknowns, even for those with previous payment experience, could cause serious problems. To accept credit card payments, you’ll at least need a merchant account and payment gateway. The merchant account, which is not a bank account, requires approval through an underwriting process. The payment gateway is the software that communicates with the financial institutions issuing the cards you accept. You may also need recurring billing, remote credit card storage, and unique solutions for Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance. Some providers package all these services in a bundle. In contrast, others only offer one or two, requiring you to assemble your vendors, maintain multiple relationships, and potentially manage the relationships between your vendors (in this situation, good vendor contract management is essential). If you can find a vendor that can offer you a bundled solution, take it; otherwise, try to limit yourself to two or three providers who already have working relationships with one another. Get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about your fees Once you have narrowed your options, then analyze the price. It’s not uncommon to receive a quote of 1.99% and $.20 to process an online transaction, but that’s akin to me offering you a long-distance calling plan of $.05 per minute, with fine print that clarifies calls outside your regional calling area will be $.10. Press prospective vendors to disclose all fees. Specifically, to get the conversation started and signal to them that you know what you’re talking about, ask about: Rates for..

Choosing Technologies for Your Web Startup (Part 1)

CS — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:28:40 +0000

You have a great idea, a viable business model, and investors lined up. Now, you need to build your website. You’ll likely start by hiring a consultant or consulting firm. Consultants can be valuable resources, and good relationships with them can be key to growing your company. The unfortunate flip side is that bad advice can lead to a stalled product, unable to scale and compete. Worse, you might find yourself locked into an expensive, tense relationship, with the consultants being the only ones who can get you out of the mess they put you in. Because development cycles for web services are measured in months if not years, you cannot afford to make mistakes. In this series of blog posts, I’ll offer advice on interpreting what consultants tell you and on better expressing your needs. One important point to always keep in mind is to be conservative. Consultants will attempt to pull you into newer technologies for various reasons that are attractive to them and possibly attractive to you. The risks may not be entirely obvious. Part 1: The Myth of Productivity The word “productivity” should be a red flag for you. Let’s unpack it. It seems to mean “the ability to produce results quickly.” Anything “productive” seems good, and you should strive for more. Who wouldn’t want to move more quickly from product design to finished product? However, “productivity,” as used in this context, can lead to the opposite. To understand this, we have to ask: What exactly is slowing down the process in the first place? Is it, in fact, slow? Part of the confusion is due to the process being obfuscated. Software engineers are extreme specialists, and outsiders have little clue about what goes on. Software projects are fertile ground for buzzwords to take root. As an outsider, what you need to know is that there are components to the development process – drafting, prototyping, debugging, deployment, and testing (all of which happen before integrating the product into its social environment) – and that together, they compose a “cycle,” such that development moves back and forth between components. You might want to explore different software development methodologies for a deeper understanding of these cycles. Incorporating security into this cycle, such as through a DevSecOps maturity model, can ensure that security is built in from the start rather than tacked on later. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address The slowness could mean three things in this context: 1) Some components are slow. Coding used to be the target of such complaints. Older programming languages and environments are often accused of being complex and error-prone. From this criticism, we get “visual” coding tools and IDEs (Integrated Development Environments). What you need to know is that this criticism is entirely subjective. There’s no objective speed advantage to..