The Franchise King Blog

American Express OPEN Forum Launches Free iPhone App Focused On Small Business

(Disclosure; I write franchise/small business articles for American Express OPEN Forum) 

I really enjoy being associated with the American Express OPEN Forum site, and quite frankly, I love being able to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in small business, that write there, too.

They've done it again; they've just created a cutting-edge iPhone app, just for you.

What's YOUR Visual Of a Typical Small Business?

What do the words "small business" conjure up in the visual part of your brain? 

Do you picture a thriving specialty machine shop, with it's 2nd-generation owner walking through his shop, stopping occasionally to talk with one of his 50 employees?

Or is it a 4-employee hardware store, that's trying like heck to compete with the likes of Lowe's or Sears?

My visual of a "small business" used to be something that I would read about in one of Becky McCray's posts about small town/rural small businesses. Like this one.

It's different now, though. Can you guess why?

Business Owners; Do You Know About OPEN Forum By American Express?

 

The award-winning OPEN Forum By American Express site is "A community designed to help you grow your business." If you're a business owner, an executive, or a middle manager, and want to network and collaborate with like-minded people, I encourage you to spend some time on this American Express-owned website...

Does John Jantsch's New Book, "The Referral Engine," Get The Job Done?

Well, as that new celebrity from the great state of Alaska says, you betcha!

John sent me an advance uncorrected proof of his new book, The Referral Engine, a few weeks ago. I first met John...

Warning; Is Your Business About To Get Fined?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Do you know what PCI Compliance is?

If your business accepts credit cards, you have some serious responsibilities, the major one being that you must protect your customer's data.

It is the merchant’s responsibility to secure the technologies they directly and indirectly use to handle customer payment transactions.

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Last year, I was able to help several people get into business, including Steve Giordano, a Cleveland, Ohio IT executive. Steve purchased a TeamLogic IT franchise, and is proving to be a seriously forward-thinking man. I wrote about the launch of his new business, here.

In this guest post, Steve shares some very important information about merchant credit card compliance rules. If you accept credit cards, please read this.

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• Are your systems secure in accordance with credit card compliance standards?

• Is your bank or card processor applying non compliance fees to your invoices?

• Are you aware of the penalties for non compliance if a security breach occurs?