Lesson 3 isn’t strictly a lesson on Ecommerce as it is a lesson for LIFE in general.

There is something to be said for dogged-determination. That stubborn stay-the-course-at-any-cost commitment no doubt was behind many a historical success story. What we rarely hear about in the history books, though, are those who plowed on to ruin.

Determination is a good thing to have in business. However, I submit that knowing when to stop forging ahead and take time to regroup is an even better thing.

Well now, that sounds like I’m telling you to anticipate failure, doesn’t it?  Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to do.  I want you to keep in mind that 80% of small businesses fail each and every year.  EIGHTY-PERCENT.

Now, smart people would NOT put all their Fabergé eggs on a plow that has an 80% chance on rolling over and smashing those precious gem-coated eggs.  I is just not smart, because that’s exactly what I did. I wish I had Suze Orman on my shoulder smacking me in the head as I plowed every last dime of every last savings account (401Ks, too) into the poorest odds ever.

Allow me to be your Suze Orman.

LESSON 3:  WHAT IS YOUR LIMIT?

Before doing anything else — before you write a business plan, before you fork over the fees for a business license, before you begin envisioning a write-up in Forbes on your success — you MUST SET YOUR LIMIT.  I don’t care how brilliant your business plan, how wonderful your product or service, how “fool proof” your idea is.  You’ve got to have a stop sign you can see from the plow. The limit you set now will be that stop sign.

There are many books out there that will tell you to “envision success”, “feel it”, “vocalize affirmations to yourself in the mirror as though they are real”.   Uh huh. You know what’s real?  Mortgage payments. If you don’t make them, the bank will take your house and kick you to the homeless shelter.  Why don’t best selling How-To books tell you that you must have an exit strategy?

I’m here to tell you that must set financial benchmarks so that you will be able to recognize failure when it’s staring you in the face.  AND you must have plans in place to deal with failure as well as success.

You’re probably thinking “Geez, Ms. Lovely. Can you be more negative?”  It’s not being negative. It’s being realistic. Must I quote that 80% failure rate again?

So, imagine Suze Orman’s voice as you read the rest of this:   How much of your personal fortune are you willing to risk?  How much CAN you risk?  Write it down.  That is your limit.  Do not go over it under ANY circumstances. When it’s gone, it’s gone and you’re done.

Does that mean you have to be done with Indiepreneurship entirely? Not at all!  To paraphrase Thomas Edison, it means that you just found one business that didn’t work for you.

For good or for bad, consumers prefer to carry credit and debit cards rather than cash.  Some do it for conveniences sake, others don’t like carrying a lot of cash for fear of theft or loss.  It doesn’t really matter why. What matters is that Indiepreneurs must have a method for accepting credit cards or risk turning customers away — a lot of customers away.

It’s important, first off, to get straight on the terminology when it comes to merchants and credit cards. A merchant account is the service of actually processing the credit card for funds — the bank transfer, if you will.

Getting and sending information to that merchant account to be processed is an entirely different service known as payment gateways. Yes. There are more and different fees for payment gateways. And, yes again. Those fees can be steep. You must 1) know all the costs to you for accepting credit cards and 2) you must factor that cost into your product(s) price(s).

An analogy that may help you understand a bit more is writing a check as a consumer.  The bank will process the check, sure, but you have to pay to get the checks printed with your name and account number.  The bank doesn’t supply you with checks, right?  Well, not FREE anyway … not MY bank!

While there are a number of options for accepting credit cards online (which will be discussed in an upcoming installment of Lovely’s Journal) where one can avoid the merchant account, it’s impossible to avoid when accepting credit cards in person. In fact, selling in person requires an additional pieces of equipment, credit card machines.

As a dealer in an antique mall, the antique mall has the machine and the merchant account — but if I want to accept credit cards at flea markets or antique fairs, I’ll have to have a merchant account and my own machine.

There are also different types of machines:

• Those that need to plug into a phone jack — a problem out in the middle of a field or barn.
• Those old paper imprint machines — a problem because cards are not instantly approved. You’ll get stung with declines, mark my words.
• And a new modern mobile version — apps that turn your iPhone or Blackberry into a machine. If you’ve got wireless, you’ve got credit accepting capabilities.

Merchant Warehouse is a good online (dare I say 2AM?) source to do research on the mobile solutions as well as standard credit card machines.

There are machines out there that accept credit cards and checks. For an additional fee (are you surprised?) you can set up your merchant account to process checks, too. Personally, I don’t find many people who carry check books anymore, so I find it an unnecessary expense.

Another personal comment, I have to admit that I hate credit card companies. I hate the rates they charge me as a consumer. I hate the fees they cost me as an Indiepreneur even more. It chaps me to no end that banks take a cut in practically every transaction between merchants and customers. Not only does it drive up the cost of goods and services, credit card companies are shysters.  Sorry, that’s just the way I feel.  Filling contracts with legal mumbo jumbo is just one example.  If you think consumer contracts are bad, just wait until you see the pages of fine print in a merchant account contract.

Nevertheless, if I’m an Indiepreneur who wants to turn a profit, I MUST accept credit cards. But I could always give customers who pay cash a discount. Maybe we can change consumer habits one discount at a time?

Here’s a business idea for an Indiepreneur … print cards.

No, not business cards or greeting cards.  I’m talking about those plastic gift cards, ID cards, employee badges, etc.

I’ve been poking around RACO and it sounds very interesting. The market has got to be just huge for this.

Think about the possibilities. How many small businesses need everything from gift card printing to ID card printing, but don’t have card printing devices or capabilities?  Indie coffee shops need reward or loyalty cards. Giving a good customer a discount card for their next visit encourages them to come back. It’s a great business builder.

Image borrowed from racocard.com

Who else could be possible clients for this sort of card printing? Well, gyms need membership cards, hospitals need employee IDs and access cards, restaurants, gift shops. It’s endless almost, isn’t it?

Although there are no prices on their card printers and ID card printers, so you’ll have to do your due diligence and call these folks if this sounds interesting to you. I’m not calling them for you!

My guess is that they’re expensive … otherwise every business would have one, right? That means those businesses would be willing to pay you to put yours to work rather than buying one to use once or twice a year.

Or, maybe these printing devices are less than I think, which would be even better. If others think they’re expensive (and they LOOK expensive, don’t they?), your potential clients will still come to you, but you’ll have a larger profit margin.

Looking around the site, I see some software for printing and encoding those black strips on cards as well as ribbons … which I’m assuming are the ink.

If you check into as a possible business for you, let us know. I’d like to know the details.

Every Indiepreneur I know works 14-16-18 hour days, plugging along into the wee hours of the night.

Raise your hand if you’ve been up at 2AM … making or tagging merchandise, writing a marketing piece, designing new business cards, plotting out a new website …  in your jammies.  C’mon. Admit it. We’ve all done it.  And, if you work from home chances are you’ve spent many a 24 hours working  ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT in the same jammies you wore LAST night. 

Marilyn Monroe ~ On top of the world in her jammies.

The WWW was made to bring the world to the door of Indiepreneurs.  You can set up your life so that you can balance your business’s bank account, get your printing done and order boxes all in your jammies at 2AM.

I strongly recommend you look into getting set up to do your banking online. It is a huge time saver. Check with your bank about any fees or if you have reservations about security.  Make no mistake there are some sneaky fees they slide in there. Get all the info before making your decision. But I’m telling you, having access to your account online can help you track when payments have gone out, when payments have come in from Paypal or your merchant account … and track that all important bottom line.  Sure beats having to get dressed, drive to the bank and wait in line.

With all that time you save banking online, you can design and print your marketing materials online, too. PsPrint lets you order everything from business cards, post cards, catalogs, hang tags (for those of us in the antique mall business), banners, even poster printing — you name it. Click on the Services tab on the top of their home page to find the free design feature.  Use one of their templates, or upload your own stuff.  You can get a quote on die-cutting and foil stamping for those really fancy promotions.  With two printing facilities — one on each coast — orders are processed super fast.

Did you know that you can order USPS Priority Mail shipping boxes FREE online?  It’s true. Not only can you order all that you need in every size they have, your friendly postal person will deliver them right to your door.  UPS, I’m told has a similar service.  I’ve never used it, so go check it out for your self.

Do you have a favorite online service or source?   Please do share … if it’s jammy worthy.

I’m compiling a list of Indie markets and fairs.  Please leave a comment here or email your favorite fairs and markets.  Leave as many details as you can.

• Name of fair, market or festival.
• Location.
• Days and/or dates.
• What makes it a good market for selling.
• What makes it a good market for buying.

Links to sites and photos would be great as would a contact attached to the market.