It is really tempting to view Paypal as the ultimate payment solution when you’re starting out with your business. It’s easy. It’s quick and everybody uses it, or so it seems. But did you know that if you trade through a Family Trust, like many small and home based businesses in Australia do, Paypal won’t have anything to do with you?

I came across this issue the other day. As many of you know I bought Support a WAHP in partnership with my friend Erica. We set up our Paypal account as a partnership account and all was rosy. Late last year, Erica sold her share of the business to me as she was finding the workload a bit much with young children and I’ve been gradually working my way through all the red tape to change everything over to my name.

The problem is, when I went to close that Paypal account and set up a new one in my name, I ran into the issue with Trusts.

So, I thought, okay! I’ll just look at what else is available. I talked to the bank who wanted to charge me an astronomical amount in fees per transaction, in set up fees and licensing fees to establish a payment gateway and their packages were quite limited and not really suited to my needs. I talked to Eway, which a lot of small business people use but you have to set up a package with them and with your bank which increases your costs even more. The smaller your business turnover, the more expensive.

I spent much of yesterday looking at all the various payment gateways and third party payment options on offer and it became really clear to me that

• micro businesses and work at home businesses are severely disadvantaged when it comes to online payment solutions,
• all of the alternatives are WAY more expensive than Paypal (even taking into account Paypal takes 2.4% plus 30 cents per transaction) and
• most of the services creative entrepreneurs and the like use are linked into Paypal or US providers like Authorize.net which is quite limiting for micro businesses in Australia if you are set up as a trust.

Considering that 68 percent of Australia’s small businesses are home based, it’s shameful that there aren’t more services aimed at this market. There needs to be more support available for the small operators who are, let’s face it, propping up the economy but paying the highest rates for everything.

So, if you run your business through your family trust, what are the alternatives to Paypal? Below is a table summarizing the best services we found this week:

• http://www.2checkout.com/: based in the US but allows any legitimate business to set up an account. Their rates are higher than Paypal’s but lower than some other payment solutions.
• http://www.paymate.com.au: based in Australia, has a great reputation and is compliant with all e-commerce laws in Australia. Has very strict criteria for businesses and passes some of the costs onto consumers which would put some people off. You can opt to absorb the costs but they are quite high.
• http://www.eway.com.au/: Eway is a like a cross between the bank and Paypal. They process the transactions but you get paid directly into your bank account so you need to also sign up for a merchant ID with your bank. This makes it quite an expensive option depending on what your bank charges you for the online merchant ID.

Have you had any problems with Paypal for your small business? Do you think e-commerce solutions are overly expensive for micro businesses? What payment gateway solutions do you rely on and why?

February 5-11th, 2012 we are launching the inaugural International WAHP Week to celebrate and recognize the achievements of work at home parents/people.

 Here’s how you can get involved:

Local Media Coverage. Tell your story and boost your business credibility with a story in your local newspaper. iWAHP Week gives you the perfect opportunity to be loud and proud about working from home! We’ll give you a helping hand to get your work at home story into the media. Just fill out the form below (make sure you complete all fields) to submit your details, then we’ll draft a release on Support a WAHP letterhead and email it to you. You then add your phone number at the bottom of the release as a local contact and send it on to your local newspaper/radio station in the lead up to iWAHP week.

Tips:

• For local newspapers, it is best to call first and ask who to send the release to. Say “I’m participating an an international event for home based businesses” or something to that effect and ask who to send an email to.
• When you send the email, make sure you attach the media release.
• If you haven’t heard back within 2 days, follow up with a phone call to the person who you sent the release to and ask them if they got it okay and if they are interested you could offer to set a time for a photoshoot or send them a photo.
• If you secure an interview and photoshoot, draft a list of questions (we can help you with that, so email if you need assistance) and answers to keep for your reference. You can also suggest questions to journalists but don’t give them your answer sheet.
• In photoshoots wear colourful clothes and bright lippy if you wear makeup. Most newspapers are using colour photos these days.
• Email us or post on the iWAHP Week Facebook Page Wall with any Questions.

Send us a 15- 30 second video. We are putting together a video collage to celebrate iWAHP week which we’ll post on Youtube. Send us your video in .mov format for possible inclusion. Here’s an example of what you can say “Hi, I’m [your name], I’m a [your job/business] and I work from home because [reason you work from home]. One of the biggest challenges for me is [biggest challenge]. Join me in celebrating International Work At Home Person week Feb 5 to 11, 2012!” Imagine if we get lots of these. What an impact we could have with our stories. Email videos to info@supportawahp.com. If your video is too large to email, just let us know and we’ll add you to our dropbox folder for videos.

Spread the word. Tell every WAHP you know about iWAHP Week. Get the iWAHP Week badge from our website and put it on your website. Organise a local WAHP gathering and tell us about it. Let’s rock Facebook and Twitter with #iWAHP!

Work at home people are vastly underestimated when it comes to their contribution to communities. We tend to look to big business to prop up charities and community services, but there are many work at home parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents and kids who are doing amazing things in their communities and they deserve recognition and support. So, we’ve decided to give everyone an opportunity to tell us about the charities and support groups they support on our Facebook Page wall on Thursdays.

This year, Support a WAHP has chosen to support international charity Samuel’s House. And here’s why.

Last year, we were introduced to a little boy named “Ben” through our friends Cara and Shawn, who were two of the founders of Samuel’s House, a family-run home for abandoned and orphaned children, in Thailand. Ben’s parents were murdered when he was just a baby and he lived on the streets from about the age of two until he was taken in by Hannah Nahemee, who run Samuel’s House. Today he’s thriving, along with the other 11 children who live in this unique family-run home.

Hannah and Nehamee are Thai pastors with the House of Grace network of churches in Thailand. They started a church in 2002 in a village called Phayakkhaphum Phisai in the Maharsarakham province, North-East Thailand. They started Samuel’s House in 2006 and currently have twelve children in their care. They also help local village women set up micro businesses while running their own micro ventures to help provide the kids skills they can use to contribute to their community when they grow up.

There are currently 150 million orphans worldwide. Projected statistics estimate that by the year 2015 this figure will increase to 400 million. These children often suffer neglect, poor health and emotional trauma, turning to crime to survive.

You can be involved in this great work by sponsoring a child, volunteering, or donating to projects.”

Learn more about Samuel’s House here!

How we are going to help

Our family has been sponsoring Ben since early 2011. This year, I am going to Thailand to spend some time volunteering at Samuel’s House and to spend time working with local women and midwives in the village. Before I leave, I will be collecting donations of good quality children’s wear to take with me as clothes are always in short supply. Monetary Donations for medical supplies for the local midwives and other equipment for Samuel’s House would also be appreciated. To check out other needs they have, visit their website here.

If there’s a charity you’d like to let everyone know about, post about it on our Page Wall on Thursdays. What charities do you support?

***

Today is all about “Community” on the Support a WAHP Facebook Page wall. Here’s what’s on offer from Today’s Sponsors and Support a WAHP Volunteers.

WahmBay is for sale! WahmBay is a great concept–mums supporting other mums in business. This website has so much potential and could be taken to new heights by you! Contact admin@wahmbay.com.au if you are genuinely interested. W: www.wahmbay.com.au F: www.wahmbay.com.au

Foyster’s Communications offers a social media helpdesk service to any WAHP anywhere to get you unstuck when you can’t figure out what’s what on Facebook. Just $15 can get you 5 minutes’ support time and most problems only take 5 minutes to fix. Amanda Foy and I have also partnered up to offer social media workshops and a six month mentoring program. See the “Our Service” menu tab for more information. Amanda is away for a couple of weeks rest and relaxation. She’ll be back onboard after Australia Day W: www.foysters.com.au F:Foysters

All a Buzz’s Lynda Nel offers social media management and administration services to small businesses in her area of the UK and internationally. W:  www.allabuzz.co.uk  F: AllABuzz

Advisory Group member and Facebook group moderator for Support a WAHP, Lucie Battaini, from MultimediART,  is an SEO expert and a skilled website developer. If you need help with SEO, contact Lucie today! She also has a free report on SEO on her website. W:www.multimediart.com.au  F: http://www.facebook.com/multimediart.

Jenni Dinsdale from PIY Invitations & Design is one of our Supporting Members and is also one of the moderators of our member Facebook group. Jenni creates beautiful personalised invitations that you print yourself! W: www.piyinvitations.com.au F: PrintItYourself .

Talk about starting the New Year with a bang! Our Facebook Page finally hit 10,000 fans on Saturday evening and in the wee hours of New Year’s Day I was called to attend the birth of a beautiful baby girl (which didn’t happen till 2am January 2nd). Hence why this post is a few days late. It took me a good two days to recover from 28 hours of no sleep! It’s a good thing I only attend a few births a year. On the other hand, I simply love it! Women are amazing! Anyway, I digress! I need to announce the winners of our 10,000 celebration so here they are:

Congratulations to:

1. Amanda Wyatt – Enslaved Design
2. Denise Walker from Butterflybees
3. Tracey –Ignite Warehouse
4. Rebecca Z
5. Janet O’Brien from Funkyhooker
6. Mel Smith
7. Sammi Johnson
8. Jasmin – Jazzy Rose Designs
9. Paul White
10. Jenni Dinsdale – Print it Yourself Invitations

Winners were put in order of their blog comment and then 10 random numbers were drawn using Random.org. You have each won an In the Spotlight Interview and Supporting Membership of Support a WAHP. Those winners who are already members can upgrade to Professional Membership. I will contact you all by email in the next few days to provide further information. Alternatively, feel free to email me as well.

Important Facebook Page Update

After consulting with members I have updated our posting day guidelines to make it easier for businesses to post on the correct days. From now on each day will have a general theme. You can view the new posting guidelines here. Mondays are for posts related to lifestyle, Tuesday for family, Wednesdays for events, Thursdays for community and Fridays for Business to Business. Saturdays and Sundays are open posting days but we ask that you post any upcoming sales on those days too. If you have any questions please just email me at info @ supportawahp.com.

New In the Spotlight Competition

I have posted the January In the Spotlight Competition on our Facebook Page wall. You’ll find the link in the Left Hand column. Stage one of the competition is now open to fans only and will run from our Facebook Page wall via a third party app in compliance with Facebook Promotional guidelines. Stage two (voting) will still take place on our website. The first stage is open till January 31st so make sure you enter so you’re in the running to be randomly selected for the poll. For more information about the competition click here.

That’s all for now. Hope you’re having a fantastic New Year thus far! Until next time… Cas

Adendum: I made a couple of errors with the winners lists (must have been late at night). I have corrected above.

You’ve been in business for a while, but you’ve noticed that the customers who find you online are asking: “Where can I find you on Facebook?” When you tell them you don’t have a business page on Facebook, they say, “Oh!” and look at you like you’ve got two heads.

A recent study by ComScore* showed that 98 percent of the US online population (96 percent in Australia) is using social media. So, it’s little wonder that an increasing number of potential customers are looking for your business on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc.

You know the website your friend Barry set up for you is not cutting the mustard anymore and you know you want to take advantage of the amplified word of mouth recommendations social media can bring to your business, but who’re ya gonna call? How do you know if the person in the sponsored story calling themselves a “social media expert” is able to deliver what they promise?

There are currently no organisations or associations setting practice standards for industry professionals in social media marketing. A few years ago this wasn’t really a major problem but now that the vast majority of people are using social media to make buying decisions and recommendations, it’s important for businesses to understand just what a social media specialist can do for them and should do for them.

Industry standards have been a hot topic in the social media marketing community of late. So, I took this question about the need for standards to one of the social media marketing groups I’m a member of on Facebook and had this awesome response from Jessica Kupferman, a digital marketing, design and social media consultant from Philadelphia, PA (USA).

“I think standards would prevent a lot of annoying sales messages like spam, followers on Twitter that are going for quantity over quality, or other “consultants” and experts that are basically teaching no more than a client could find out if they just went to the help section of any social media channel. Standards would help weed out the seemingly smart from the exceptional and capable.”

I asked Jessica if she’s ever come across any dodgy social media operators, to which she replied: “Oh yes! Many, many dodgy people. It’s sad, actually, because there are so many businesses that really need to learn how to do things to improve their businesses and their reach, and so many people who claim to be experts but really just pontificate about the philosophy but have no idea how to really use the tools effectively.”

Jessica suggests businesses look for social media marketing professionals who have:

• active social media profiles,
• can write effectively,
• have testimonials or past portfolios from clients they’ve helped, and
• have engagement strategies and tactics.

“A blog is helpful to know if they are smart and capable. But having standards would help businesses find someone great” says Jessica.

In addition to Jessica’s suggestions, here’s a quick checklist to help you assess social media marketing professionals.

1. Does the consultant focus on numbers ie “likes” or  strategies to build meaningful “engagement” ie relationship building?
2. Does the consultant know what engagement means and can they explain it to you?
3. Is the focus of the business on graphic design (profile pics and landing pages) or strategy to integrate all of your branding and marketing?
4. Does the consultant have a well integrated, active and professional social media presence and website?
5. Does the consultant understand Facebook’s Promotional Policies and adhere to them?
6. Does the consultant understand how to interpret data from analytics in relation to your integrated social media marketing?
7. Is the consultant more focused on fancy apps and ads than on helping you develop your customer relationships?
8. Is the consultant focused on online marketing or are they focused on integrated solutions (ie marrying online with offline)?
9. Does the consultant stay up to date on the latest news, research and developments in Social Media?
10. Does the consultant provide training and helpdesk support?
11. Can the consultant deliver a turn-key solution for you? (ie. if your website and other marketing materials need further development, can they make it happen for you using quality web developers and graphic designers?)

Support a WAHP now offers social media strategy and training services to home based businesses in conjunction with Foyster’s Communications. To view our services and testimonials, click here. If you want to contact Jessica Kupferman, you can find her at baddassbiz.com.

* IT’S A SOCIAL WORLD: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed, ComScore, 2011.

In 2011, your votes helped a midwife win a $5000 grant from Sunsuper to fund a medical centre in the slums of Kenya. Your votes also helped make midwife Robin Lim the CNN Hero of the year for 2011. Now, and I realise this isn’t for as lofty a goal is saving mums and babies but, I need your vote to help me with the Social Media Examiner Small Biz Dream Contest. In 2011, Support a WAHP gave away more than $20,000 in free publicity and promotions to home based businesses and in 2012, I want to do so much more. You can help make it happen.

My entry “More time to bake” is about achieving greater productivity so that I can enjoy a highly successful business which is collaborative and fun without sacrificing the important things in life, ie. my family life. Achieving this is really important to me! If I have more time to bake cakes, ideas and collaborations, that’s the work at home life I’ve always dreamed of and having my tanks filled means I’ll have more to give others. If you think this is worthy of your vote…

Click here to vote! 

Voting ends 11.59pm Pacific Standard Time (US California)

Thank you for your support in 2011!

“I want to work from home but I don’t know where to start. Can you point me in the right direction?”

“I’ve got a Facebook page but how do I get people to visit my page and buy my products?”

or

“I’ve got lots of followers but no-one’s buying. What can I do to boost sales?”

These are the daily questions people ask me that prompted me to write my new ebook: Diving In: Practical tips for starting up and growing your home based business.

Starting a micro business from your dining room table has never been easier within the landscape of social media, but it takes more than a Facebook Page to turn your business into a viable and sustainable enterprise.

So, what happens is, people give up. Given that 68 percent of all Australian small businesses are home based enterprises, and that home based enterprises are the fastest growing economic sector in the global economy, this is a travesty.

After taking on Support a WAHP in early 2011, it became clear to me that there were few reliable and credible resources out there for people who work from home. I had to learn everything the hard way, (including how to write and publish an ebook), but you can get a massive head-start with the help of this book, saving you time and money.

Whether you’re a mum starting-up a small craft enterprise or an entrepreneur planning to be the next Richard Branson,“Diving In” provides practical tips and resources to empower the tiniest business to become a roaring success.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• how your reasons for working from home can impact on your success.
• what type of home based business is right for you?
• how to spot and steer clear of a scam or anti-social internet business.
• where to find legitimate work-at-home opportunities.
• how to ethically align yourself with other businesses.
• how to write a practical business plan that is not long-winded.
• how to establish your corporate culture.
• what factors you need to consider when deciding on a business structure.
• what factors to consider when looking for accounting software and what packages are available.
• considerations when you plan for growth.
• considerations for working around your family and lifestyle needs.
• how to identify your brand message.
• how to choose a name.
• tips for creating your elevator pitch, keyword tags for SEO and brand/corporate identity (trust me, these do relate to each other)
• reasons why you need to focus on creating a responsive culture?
• how to keep your great customers and clients coming back.
• how to planning for unforeseen events, catastrophes and service failures.
• tips for marketing your business online.
• tips for marketing your business in the real world.
• why networking is crucial to your marketing mix and how to go about getting yourself out there.
• why you should be generating publicity and tips on how to do it.
• tips for selling your products and services on and offline, selling on consignment and setting up your own online shop.
• the key social media marketing concepts you will need to be a social media success story.
• how to generate content and feed your followers’ appetite for original content.
• how to use social media as a networking tool.
• how to increase your engagement with followers, and generate more shares.
• why “likes” should not be your ultimate goal on Facebook.
• tips on interpreting data so you know when to post and how often.
• how to leveraging your page for sales.

All of these things I have learned through trial and error, reading, researching, formal and informal study. For just $10USD, you can jump-start your home based business, start your success story and save yourself time and money in the process. I look forward to your feedback and, more importantly, on hearing how this book has helped you.

Find out more about Diving In here! Download your free chapter here!

I’m a self-confessed Pinterestaholic! It’s lots of fun, as any good social networking site should be, but it is also great for small businesses who use social media and here’s why:

1. You can file all your favourite blog articles in one board via your pinned piccys. Everything you pin from a blog or website is linked back to that blog, including recipes, craft ideas, ‘how to’ guides and business tips.
2. You can create boards to promote a cause. If you are passionate about organic food, you can create a board dedicated to pinning about organic food, organic farming and more. If you’re into upcycling, you can have an upcycling board. I do! I’ve created a “My Work at Home World” board where I can pin stuff related to working from home and business. I’ve pinned some of my favourite products on there from Support a WAHP members, followers and sponsors as well as useful business tips, infographics and more.
3. You can share your pins on Facebook and Twitter! I often look on Pinterest for fun, cute and humorous quotes and pics to post on the Support a WAHP fan page and on twitter.
4. You can build community with your followers on Facebook who are also on Pinterest. Pinterest is an awesome tool for community building because you are getting to know your followers in a completely new and interesting way.
5. You can use Pinterest boards to organise your thoughts and ideas. I’ve been using Pinterest to establish what my home decorating style is, where I’d like to travel and what thoughts and ideas resonate with me.

Some rules of thumb:

• If you are going to have a board which is all about you and your stuff, declare it. Pinterest is primarily a curation site. So, overselling your stuff is not cricket. However, if you want to organise your thoughts or catalogue your stuff, so long as you declare it as completely self indulgent, nobody will care much–but don’t expect too many repins.

• Do repin from others you know and don’t know. It shows you’re interested in what others are finding interesting, which in turns makes you seem more interesting… Catch my drift?

• Don’t overpin. If something has been pinned on one board, it’s okay to pin it on another but not on every board. That’s just boring.

• Keep your keywords in mind when coming up with board titles. They’ll be easier to find in a search.

If you want to participate in a our WAHP cause on Pinterest, just create a board and use the words ‘work at home’ or ‘WAHP’ in the title so others can find it in a search. We’ll be pinning up a storm in February when we celebrate International WAHP Week (Feb 5 to 11). Join us! It’s lots of fun!

What are your Pinterest tips? Do you need an invite? Comment below!

Until next time… Cas. Find me on Pinterest!

If you’ve wondered how to add a whizz-bang landing page, contact form or mailing list subscribe form to your Facebook page join me for this FREE Webinar where I’ll be sharing my top 5 Facebook Business Page Apps. I’m also celebrating the launch of my new e-book, “Diving In: Practical tips for starting-up and growing your home-based business” and this is the launch party! Register now for your chance to win one of two copies of my new ebook! Places limited to 50! (Please note: time is Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time). The meeting will be recorded, so if you’ve registered and can’t make it to the session live, you’ll be able to view the recording at a later time.

To register click here!

I look forward to giving you some great tips on Facebook business apps on Thursday night!

Warmly,

Cas

Our fan page has nearly reached 10,000 fans! Now, I know that the number of fans isn’t all ‘that’ in the grand scheme of things. However, we do feel like this is a milestone worth celebrating! So, to celebrate, when we do reach 10,000, I’d like to give away:

• 10 Supporting Memberships to Support a WAHP including:
• Exclusive access to the online edition of my new book: Diving In: Practical tips for starting up and growing your home based business
• A featured listing on our business directory
• Access to our member-only Facebook group
• 1st option an all Support a WAHP promotions
• and discounts on advertising sponsorship packages, Support a WAHP sponsored events and more