Jim Carrillo

I posted a question to some colleagues in the National Speakers Association (NSA) Northern California Chapter regarding credit card processing.  I’ve been processing credit cards for over 9 years, using two companies – Nova and PayPal, but I didn’t have a clear understanding of everything that was involved.  Some of the responses I received from my colleagues made me realize that many of us don’t know what’s truly going on, and we just stick with whatever solution we started with.

I conducted some research on this subject, and created a presentation to explain it all.  Hopefully it will help you with the question of how to process credit cards.  By the way, now that I understand what’s going on, I’m going to change my provider and save some money!

Here’s a couple of articles I found with some good information at:

Taming the Beast

Payment Gateway Primer

Enjoy.

 

 Process Credit Cards: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ve always wanted to find a master mind group. It sounded so cool and so entrepreneurish. I was bummed when every organization that offered to set me up with one just didn’t come through.

So I talked about this with a friend of mine that I met through Toastmasters. We usually have a 15 minute conversation every week after the meeting.

This last week, as we talked for over an hour, it dawned on me – I found my master mind group! DUHHH. Richard encourages me to get off my but and stop making excuses. I shove it right back in his face. This week, Richard’s goal was to write an article. He sent it over this morning, and he did a great job. Read further, and check out his article – you’ll be glad you did.

Ever wondered what you should do for your business cards? As I create new companies, or even just new projects in my company, I always find my self in need of a new card. Either my title changes, I’m promoting a new product, or join a new organization. You shouldn’t have to print 100 cards when all you need is 10.

In this video, I explain exactly how I do this, and I even demonstrate how I cut the cards. You’ll learn EVERYTHING you need to print quality business cards

One of the top concerns of every entrepreneur these days is technology, and specifically, their web site.  In this presentation, I identify the different components you’ll need to consider when building your site (regardless of the size), and how much you should expect to pay as a small business.  Good luck with your site, this is the first image you present to many customers!

 

 Your Business Your Website: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Networking has been said to be the golden ticket for entrepreneurial success.  I do believe that, but I have to admit, I haven’t used it well.   In this podcast I talk about my experience with networking, my attempt at social networking sites to meet people, and a group I just found that has really helped me out.  This group is meetup.com.  It’s a social networking website with the purpose of getting people to actually meetup.

At one of the recent meetups, I was reminded by another member the importance of having a business card, and the difficulty for young entrepreneurs to take care of this.  I give my suggestions on how I solved this problem – and still use this method to solve it today.

Enjoy  -  Jim

 

 meetup [10:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

My current focus for my livelyhood is the Public Wi-Fi Project.  In this podcast, I introduce the Public Wi-Fi Project, and describe what makes it different from other Hot Spot wireless internet solutions.

 

 Public WiFi Project [2:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

At our last Pro Track meeting in April, we were tasked with preparing a maximum of a 5 minute speech. The topic was open to us. The largest difficulty I had in preparing a presentation was to present something meaningful in that 5 minutes – that was very tough. This introduction to the “Business Education Series -Learning from Life” provides a glimpse of a full day seminar where I help business owners and Entrepreneurs make sense of their world by looking for things that work in other aspects of life.

Our first meeting at Pro Track in January proved to me that this program was money well spent. We had a great presentation by Jenny de St. Georges. She talked about the things we should expect as speakers (as a profession, not a hobby). We also had the chance to provide the group with an introduction of who we are, and here’s what I had to say:

As a recent member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), I’ve enrolled in the Northern California Chapter’s Pro-Track series. This program is intended to help Speakers grow a business around their passion. While I’m comfortable with my business building abilities, building a business around me as a person (instead of a product or service) is a new venture. I’m amazed at the value that’s forthcoming – and I haven’t even attended my first meeting! As it turns out, NSANC (Northern California Chapter) allows all Pro-Track members to attend the monthly meetings at no cost. That’s close to $100 value per meeting.The first meeting I attended focussed on publishing a book. I’m interested in publishing my thoughts into a book, but I’m not sure the time is right for me now. Regardless, the people I met at this meeting, along with the conversations, were amazing. I look forward to the next 12 months – 23 more meetings, where I can learn, teach, and interact with my fellow Entrepreneurial colleagues.

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Jim