When I first thought up the name of this blog as "Straight Pass Through" (SPT) my focus was merchant accounts alone. It was all about exposing the truth behind interchange and how it affects a business’s bottom line.
However, in the year this blog as been up my understanding of that phrase has been expanding. SPT [...]
In recent weeks I have come to learn about a business person who works in one of my key industries – wine. His name is Gary Vaynerchuck and he owns a retail wine business in New York and is the world famous host ofwinelibrarytv.com.
I was recently watching an interview of his where he spoke [...]
Source: WikipediaAmerican Express has begun advertising a new website they call “Open Forum – Networking, Ideas and Expertise for Business Owners.” Before I visited the site I thought it would be cheesy – I was wrong. They recently shot a bunch of videos at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas [...]
Business, as a practice, is neutral. It can be used for profit, power, financial survival, personal expression and even making the world a better place. The truth is, the typical business is used for all of the above and more. What I am wondering out loud is why I [...]
You may have been with your merchant account provider for years. Your account representative may be a close personal friend. You may think your bank will give you the best price and service. You may be wrong; you may be paying too much; you may deserve a better rate and better service. [...]
I was just reminded of a very provocative book I read a few years back, The Superman Syndrome, by Gene N. Landrum, PH.D . On the book’s back cover the "superman syndrome" is defined as "a series of common behaviors that permit an otherwise average person to rise above the norm."
When I read a [...]
I have a confession to make: I love Tom Peters!
To clarify I love his mind, what he writes and what he says. If you do not know who I am talking about it is about time you learn. Tom is by title a business consultant and author. You may recall what may [...]
Normally I wait until I finish a book before recommending it to others. In this case I have to make an exception. I bought this book written by Tim Sanders , Yahoo!’s Leadership Coach, several years ago and it set on my bookshelf until a few days ago. The title of [...]
Ah yes, college football season is upon us. The team I was raised (brainwashed) to love, the USC Trojans, play the weak and feeble, University of Idaho Vandals this Saturday. I will be there, at the L.A. Colosseum, rooting my team on and hoping for a complete slaughter.
The first USC game I [...]
Not having straight pass through for your merchant account is just plain wrong!
Simply put, straight pass through is receiving all of your merchant account surcharge fees at "true bank cost." This means that when you have a transaction that is not "normal," such as rewards, commercial, business cards or if the card is [...]
I love Google! Almost every day they send me various e-mails with lists of web page and blog offerings for words and terms have previously selected. It is called Google alerts – set your alerts up here.
Anyway, since I work with merchant accounts, one of my alerts is for “merchant accounts.” Lately [...]
Today was a very rough day. When I went out to lunch (chicken bake at Costco) I took several books along to read, primarily to freshen up my mind with some new thoughts. The book I ended up reading was Seth Godin’s Small is the New Big. I randomly turned to page [...]
Each day Google sends me a list of blog posts written about merchant accounts. Today I followed a link to the Fashion Incubator Blog. Below is a portion of what the blogger, Kathleen Fasanella, wrote about working with on-line shopping carts and merchant accounts:
“I signed-up for the recommended merchant account provider and was surprised to [...]
I stole the title for this post from Seth Godin’s book “The Big Moo” which was a follow up to his previous title, “Purple Cow.” I just looked at some reviews for this book on amazon.com; here is some of what Publisher’s Weekly had to say,
“This means you have to toss out everything you [...]
