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I recently received a call from a young designer who I met when she was in art school. I reviewed her portfolio and several years later at a local graphic design group meeting, she reintroduced herself and thanked me for being kind and helpful in that review. She became an avid reader of my articles on the design business and while telling me on that phone call about a job from hell, she said she needed to “borrow (my) bastardness.“
I’ll be the first to admit – being able to pay for things with my cell phone still boggles my mind a little bit. Just a little. But mobile payment is becoming a huge trend, and rightfully so. It’s easy, convenient, and relatively low cost. Small businesses in particular have benefited hugely from the advent of mobile payment capability.
In the past, the ability to take credit cards has been a pretty big cost to businesses. Some businesses are cash only,
due to the cost of taking cards. This has affected small businesses in particular, because credit cards fees would put the business in the red. Taking cash only may drive down sales as well (because fewer and fewer people are willing to deal in cash when other options are more convenient).
Another obstacle to traditional credit card machines – mobility. Many newer small businesses are mobile – think food trucks or art galleries. Having the ability to take payment via mobile device is beyond convenient.
There are tons of services that now offer the ability to pay with a mobile device – be it making a payment or taking one. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, here are some popular apps and services that offer this capability:
– Square is one of the original services to begin offering the ability to take mobile payments. Square is one of the simplest mobile payment services to use. They do not charge a monthly fee, but rather a transaction fee of 2.75 percent per sale. While this might be a little steep, Square is perfect for occasional users. Square also sends the actual card reader (a little square – get it? – that fits into the headphone jack of your device) for free.
– Pay Pal is one of the most popular online payment services. Some websites actually relegate their customers to only paying via PayPal, or use the company as their preferred way to pay (think Ebay or Etsy). PayPal has jumped on the mobile payment bandwagon. You can order their payment taking device, or you can simply transfer money to another PayPal account via the mobile app.
And a shoutout to my favorite business that takes payment via mobile device –
– The Starbucks app offers a much easier way to pay. Using their app, the barista scans your phone and your drink is paid for. You must register a Starbucks gift card in order to use the app, but once you have done that, the app offers several ways to reload your card on the go. I’m guilty of ordering in the drive-thru and then reloading my card while I wait in line. It’s so easy!
Mobile payment can be an awesome option for all kinds of small businesses. The impact of accepting mobile payments can be a revenue booster for your business. Paying via mobile is also something that you can look into as a consumer, as well!
Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.
PROskore kicked things off in early October 2011 and ranks professionals worldwide. PROskore is a spin-off from former online business network Fast Pitch, which was launched in 2006. I heard about it after my friend Anise Smith had posted it on Facebook. It takes about 20 minutes to input your information and connect to all your networks. The networks include: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, Google +, and yes Klout. You can also link your blog. From what I’ve read there are many comparisons to Klout because PROskore, as the name indicates, does indeed give you a score. I think the score is the only similarity with Klout.
PROskore is about what you provide as a business, and what you need as a business. I work for an organization that provides IT Networking / Security, so when another user is looking for IT Networking / Security I’m alerted via a Leads box. It is up to me to contact them through a message via this process. One of the services “I am Looking for” is Web Design. So after I registered I received a handful of messages from other PROskore members that provide Web Design services. That is the crux of PROskore. You can see the value if you are providing or looking for services.
So I love the concept, and can identify the value. It’s just too quiet right now. The Sarasota, Fl based company has said there are over 125K users. My guess is a decent chunk of these users are dormant Fast Pitch participants. I’d be interested to see the active users (logged in last 7 days). The only other thing I would suggest is improving the search. It is clunky at best. Finding someone in another geographic location is not seamless.
I think PROskore has a lot of potential and would highly suggest taking 20 minutes to register if you provide or are looking for business services/products. PROskore is free, but does offer a $19.95 monthly PRO+ subscription. I went for the paid account last week and it better positions you to obtain leads, increases your score (by 8 for me), and improves your SEO (we’ll see). PROskore has received plenty of very favorable press in the last 7 weeks, including positive articles from Mashable and TechCruch. A list of these articles can be found here – PROskore Articles Keep in mind they’ve been PROskore for only 7 weeks. They appear to be doing all the right things to get the word out, and seem very interested in adding to the platform and really making it solid.
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