CompassCast™

OK, I know I do a fair amount of blogging about personal development, but as a business coach, I am not just concerned with the health of the individual but the health of small business.

I know it is a dry subject (for many) but this is an important subject -- especially for the small business owner.

There is a lot of concern about how the Durbin Amendment will hurt banks and speculation that consumers will pay the price when this legislation goes into effect.

If you haven't heard about the Durbin Amendment, you should take note because it will create a cap of 7 to 12 cents on most debit card swipe fees. This is a decline of about 80% of what businesses had to pay when people paid with a debit card. Projections from analysts vary but say that the Durbin Amendment will cost banks anywhere from $3.6 to $9.1 billion. Either way you cut it that is a lot of money. Speculation has it that banks and credit unions will make up for this lost revenue by raising fees for services or doing away will debit cards all together. (You can learn more about the Durbin Amendment here: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2011/durbin-amendment-explained/).

One would expect that businesses would save money through this proposition and that this will eventually trickle down to the person buying a loaf of bread with their debit card. In theory (based on an assumption that business owners will pass this on to consumers).

But there is another assumption that you don't see in all the hoopla about the Durbin Amendment: in order for all of this to work, credit card processors (the intermediaries between businesses and their banks) need to pass this savings on to the businesses themselves (essentially their customers). Unfortunately, many credit card processors pocket the savings and present business owners with statements that are so complex you need a Ph.D. in accounting to even begin to figure them out. Heartland Payment Systems seems to be the only credit card intermediary that cares enough about businesses to not only be straight up with them about how much they are making on their service but cares enough to pass on savings they get to their customers (business owners) which in turn benefits us all.

So if you own a business, make sure you take a look at your statements in the coming months and see if your payment processor is being honest with you.

(A good way to test this is to apply, what Heartland Payment Systems calls, the "Truth Serum" to your credit card processor; it's a page of questions to ask you payment provider to get them to tell you what they really are charging you; email Todd Vreeland, a colleague I have great confidence in; he can get you a copy).

What do you think of the Durbin Amendment? As a business owner is it easy to know what you pay for processing fees?

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scott Graham announced today that the business Mastermind Group in the Upper Valley is expanding to Tuesday evenings beginning June 7 2011. The new group will kick off with an 8-week coaching program built around the book, "Karmic Management: What Goes Around Comes Around in Your Business and Your Life."

"The primary idea threaded throughout the text is that by helping others succeed and grounding your business in ethics focused on helping others, your business will expand and flourish," says Graham, a business and personal coach.

To underscore this business approach Graham will donate all of his coaching fees for the program to the Haven in White River Junction Vermont. "The Haven's mission is to serve people struggling with poverty by providing food, shelter, education, clothing and support. This fits amazingly with the approach to business and life that Geshe Michael Roach, the Tibetan Buddhist Master who wrote the book, outlines," says Graham.

The Mastermind Group, a collaboration with Borders Books in West Lebanon, NH, will meet each Tuesday in June and July from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm for this initial series.

Graham points out that the addition of coaching brings the book to life. "It's much more than just reading a book and talking about it," says Graham. "Through masterminding you take action and are held accountable to the actions you commit to by others in the group."

The text, appropriate for both small business owners and mid- and upper- level managers / supervisors, includes a to-do list each week. Participants will get a practical, step-by-step plan that will help them adopt a more successful way of working and living. "Taking time for yourself to be calm and centered is a core concept of the text," adds Graham who has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1996, and currently participates in two 10-day Vipassana retreats each year.

True Azimuth, LLC, headquartered in West Fairlee, Vermont, began offering business, personal and relationship coaching in 2006. For more information about the Mastermind Group, call 802-380-1026 or go to http://Mastermind.TrueAzimuth.biz.

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The coaching-focused Mastermind Group in the Upper Valley of Vermont / New Hampshire will begin a new text on September 7th, 2010 that will help you expand your network, gain support and reach your goals.

The group, in collaboration with Borders Books, meets each Tuesday at 10:00 am in West Lebanon, NH. The new text, "Who's Got Your Back", by Keith Ferrazzi, provides an executable strategy for your most important plans without costing your sanity.

Many of us are caught up in the day-to-day struggle between work and family and fun and wellness. How do you do keeping yourself balanced? How do you keep yourself grounded? How do you keep yourself focused? How do you insure you reach your goals in a focused but mindful way? Ferrazzi's book explains a nine-step approach to building what he calls lifeline relationships.

With "Who's Got Your Back" you will learn to create meaningful and trusting relationships well beyond your success. You will benefit from reading this book regardless of whether you engage the Mastermind Process.

If you are like most people, however, just read books and don't engage them fully. Coaching brings the book to life. Through masterminding this book won't be another piece of information but will become an actionable strategy you can depend on being accountable to.

If you live near the West Lebanon, NH / White River Junction, VT area -- you owe it to yourself to check out the power of Masterminding.

"Who's Got Your Back" shows us that relationships are the key to our success in business. You will learn the kinds of relationships that really make a difference. Ferrazzi also shows us how to get further in setting your goals and staying more powerful in your career.

The Mastermind Group works through each book slowly - one text about every three months - so participants can easily keep up with the reading.

Have you read this book? Do you think it is as impactful as Ferrazzi's last book, "Never Eat Alone" (which we also covered in the Mastermind Group).

For more information about the Mastermind Group, call me at 802-380-1026 or go to http://Mastermind.TrueAzimuth.biz.

Yesterday Facebook announced Facebook Places which begs the question should I stop using Foursquare and start using Facebook Places, should I ignore Facebook Places and continue to use Foursquare-- what's a business owner to do?

Interestingly enough, most businesses don't even know what Foursquare is, let alone how to use it to grow their business.

Many of my business coaching clients are using Foursquare today because I strongly encourage them to (After all it's my job as a coach to look out for my clients) .

Foursquare is a great tool for your business. If you're not using it you should. In order to start using this tool you need to claim your business on their site. By claiming your business you can edit the type of business it is, add more information, and start creating specials for people to use in as they check into your business. The more times someone checks in, the better their rewards can get. You set up the specials you would like and the amount of times that someone needs to check in before being awarded.

Here are some ins and outs of Foursquare setups:

• You can only have ONE special live on people's phone at one time.


• When someone unlocks the special, they will have a special message on their phone they can show to you (the business) and get their reward/special that you have setup on the Foursquare site.


• You can create multiple specials for your business.


• Specials can be award related - i.e., for the mayor.


• They can happen once after a particular number - i.e., after 5, check-ins.


• They can be sequenced - i.e., every three check-ins.


• The can be crunched up - i.e., three check-ins in four days.

Examples of Badges that I think you can create in-house rewards for:

• Mayor- When you have checked in more times than anyone else. Example, you can reward someone for being the mayor by letting them cut the line. You can also solve the issue of your employee being the mayor in Four Square as well.


• Swarm - You can also use the following badge and reward your customers when there are 50 check-ins during the same time period. Check in to a place where 50+ other foursquare users are currently checked in. And yes, if you are number 49, you get the badge when number 50 checks in.


• Player Please - Check in to a place that has three members of the opposite sex currently checked in. They must be your friends.

As a business coach I educate my clients to not waste their phone specials on badges like mayor. After all you as the business owner can easily see who the mayor is. By creating an in-house reward that you tell your clients about, you create an opportunity to educate them about Foursquare and build brand loyalty.

Four square is a engaging tool that rewards users for their check ins and definitely gets people competing for the badges. It's a powerful tool for your business (if used skillfully) because you can reward your frequent customers to get the word out about your business. Four square posts can link peoples' check-ins to their Facebook page, Twitter therefore, creating free advertising for your business.

What do you think of Foursquare as a business tool? Essential? or just another internet waste of time?

Facebook is heating up the competition to penetrate websites outside of the Facebook platform by adding a number of gadgets / widgets / tools that can be added to a website, they have created pages from the interest section of your profile and they have replaced
“Become a Fan” with “Like” for business pages on Facebook.

What does this mean for the business owner or organization with a “page” presence on Facebook already? Confusion. What does this mean to your consumer / client / target audience?
Confusion.

What should you do about all of this? Wait patiently for the dust to settle.

To illustrate the potential mess, consider my coaching business, True Azimuth, LLC. I have a website, a
coaching blog and a Facebook Page. All are integrated nicely. When someone goes to my website
or blog I encourage them to become a fan on Facebook. When someone goes to True Azimuth’s Facebook page, they can see a feed from my blog integrated on the page.

Now I have a new Facebook Page for True Azimuth, LLC (which I can’t control – at least at the moment) that was
created from the employer listing on my profile. True, I could have chosen not to create the page – I am currently the only employee of my coaching business. But what happens to BIG companies with thousands of employees on Facebook? You guessed it – it only takes one employee to create the company page! What a mess – more on this later.

Now “Like” comes along. Facebook developers have changed “Become a Fan” with “Like” – a move which I thought I liked. But then they added these website gizmos to the mix – more things to “Like.” And guess what?
None of these are connected!

So, say I add the inline code to both my blog and my website to allow people to “Like” them. A person comes to my blog and clicks “Like” – that does not mean they are now a Fan of my business on Facebook – they just “Like” my blog. Same thing with my website. If a person “Likes” my website, that doesn’t mean the “Like” my blog or my Facebook page.
The result: complete marketing mayhem and utter chaos!

Thrown in with this mix is the ability to feed news from your website into the Facebook News stream of people who “Like” you. If you have a website, blog and Facebook page, it could easily mean your target market gets up to three duplicate messages if you have a consolidated / integrated web presence like I do.

Add to this these new pages created from Facebook profiles and you have a cluster of a mess to sort out.

My solution? I am waiting for this dust to settle before I jump into Facebook’s newest gadgets. BTW – you should be doing that anyway – meaning your social media strategy and your web presence strategy should be built on a solid marketing plan that you review and update annually – keeping you and your business from making impulsive, jump-on-the-bandwagon decision.
(That is what I coach my business clients to do)

What is your solution? Do you like Facebook’s new “Like”?