Take Five: Finovate, Manilla, Small Business Advice, Loosecubes, Fab

August 4th, 2011 Nichelle

Street Art in Montreal

Finovate Fall is coming soon to NYC.  Early bird registration ends August 12.  I will be there as press this year.

Small Business Accounting Advice:  The New York Times has published a great  guide for entrepreneurs about basic accounting. Bookmark this!

Manilla organizes your utility bills,  travel reward programs,  Hearst magazine subscriptions, credit cards and checking accounts in one place.  It’s a cool tool for people who travel a lot for business.  It reminds me of a product that Citibank had many moons ago.

Working from home and looking for a work space? Check out Loosecubes to find office space. Founder Campbell Mckellar was on ABC talking about her business.

Site I really like right now.  Fab.com

 

 

Small Business: From Pop Up Dream To Actual Reality

August 2nd, 2011 Nichelle

Robicellis At Dekalb Market

Yesterday, I read this post on Forbes, “So You Think You Can Cook, Test Your Skills and Open Up A Pop Up Eatery“.  It gives some good advice which is very similar to the outline in my cupcake business class but  it reads so “easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy”.  I especially question the wisdom of this advice:

Come up with a quirky theme, such as creating a meal around a certain period in history, or an event, or be inspired by a famous person – the more eccentric, and more outside the box, the better.

Later I read Allison Robicellis’ account of her reality as a small business owner.

You may think I’m my own boss, but you’re wrong- every single one of you is my boss.  Every store, every customer, every single person who walks down the street that may potentially buy a cupcake one day or write about us on Yelp- all my boss.  And no matter how stressful it gets, or how many balls I have up in the air, I know that my priority is making all of you happy every day, because honestly that’s what Matt and I live for and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

I don’t mean to shatter the dreams of anyone out there who fantasizes of being an entrepreneur, but I think it is so important to be honest about the fact that it is not just a job, but an entire lifestyle change. I’ve seen peoples marriages and relationships crumble, perfectly amazing women unable to go on a date or socialize because they work all the time, nervous breakdowns, burnouts and bankruptcies. It’s wonderful to be able to survive these things and come out on top, but it doesn’t always happen, and it takes a very special type of person to do it. And that person is completely, utterly, and madly insane.

Lately I have been thinking that people who want to start their own business believe it is all so easy.  I am not trying discourage anyone because I am big fan of  entrepreneurial spirit.   I just want people to know that the truth and choose to dive in anyway.

Don’t Quit Your Job!

July 28th, 2011 Nichelle

DO NOT QUIT.  I mean it. Unless you plan on being an entrepreneur or working for yourself.

If you hate your job, but want another one, stay at your current job. Use the time at that job to look for another one.

I say this because many employers are not hiring people who are unemployed. Did you know about the recent report from the National Employment Law Project which said that unemployed workers continue to be excluded from consideration for job openings? In fact many job sites have ads conspicuously stating that job seekers “must be currently employed”.

If you want learn new skills, then do it. Learn on your employer’s dime. Take classes while you still collect a paycheck.

If you do quit, prepare to have at least six months of living expenses.  As you look for another job, reach out to your network of friends and colleagues, but don’t expect them to find work for you. Do the heavy lifting yourself, especially since you now have the spare time to do so.

Online POS Systems

July 26th, 2011 Nichelle

I was talking to Matt of Robicellis and he mentioned that he was looking for a good and inexpensive online POS (Point of Sale) system.

Yesterday, I did a little research and found a couple that would be good for small businesses.

Imonggo: The basic version is free and the premium version is only $30/month.

Shopkeep: The basic version is $49/month and the plus version is $79/month. The baisc version works on iPad.

Intuit has a POS which is $19.95/month with the first two months free.

Eight Least Evil Banks

July 19th, 2011 Nichelle

CNN.com has a list of the “eight least evil” banks. I doubt Capital One and PNC qualify to be on the list, but most credit unions around the US are pretty good. Will ING Direct stay on the list after the merger with Capital One goes through? I wonder…

Betterment Lowers The Hurdles Of Investing

July 12th, 2011 Nichelle

betterment

Last fall I met Jon Stein, the founder of Betterment at Finovate East. A few weeks ago I met with Jon to talk about Betterment. Initially I thought it was a dashboard for all your investments similar to Mint, but Jon explained that Betterment is more than that. It is an investment portfolio that any US resident can join. There is no fee to join and no transaction fees. There is no minimum balance. Think of it as an online investment club that which allows you to sign up in a matter of minutes.

You can have the Betterment account as well as your 401k, SEP IRA or other investment accounts. They are not mutually exclusive. The investment portfolio is diversified. Presently there are 6,000 users but it is growing about 20 percent monthly.

To learn how the investment portfolio is doing, emails are sent quarterly to account holders as well as for each transaction. You can transfer money from you bank account to deposit into your Betterment seamlessly.  Quarterly rebalancing of  the investment portfolio is done automatically.
betterment

Betterment can be used for long term and short term investing. You can save for short term goals like weddings or vacation as well as long term goals like retirement. Allocation of based on your personal risk tolerance.

Now why use Betterment? For me, the short answer is “no financial planner, no worries.”  A lot of people have not been keen on their financial investments because they are afraid  they are going to do something wrong and/or it will cost too much money.  Betterment is a  simple way to diversify your assets as well as get your feet wet if you are new to investing.

From Jon Stein,

Betterment helps customers overcome investing inertia by breaking down traditional barriers and getting rid of unnecessary steps. In five minutes, you can be set up with a smart, set-and-forget, long-term investment account. It’s the way investing should be.

 

Girl Power: ING Getting Real About Financial Empowerment

June 29th, 2011 Nichelle

From the Forbes Woman blog:

The ING Foundation has designed a program aimed at reaching girls to teach financial literacy.

Through the ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge, girls are given a direct investing experience with a stake in its outcome. The program launched in 2008 after a survey conducted with Essence magazine about black women and their spending habits convinced ING to do something about the dismal state of financial education among minority women. From the outset, ING Foundation President Rhonda Sims identified the need for making financial education personally relevant to the participants. According to Sims, this prong is key to the program’s success.

The End Of The Second Quarter Is Near

June 28th, 2011 Nichelle

Blue Drink at The Rum House

How is your business doing this quarter vs. first quarter?
What adjustments should you be making?
Do you have to file quarter taxes?

Things to think about as the holiday weekend approaches!

PayDivvy: An App For People With Roommates, Friends

June 23rd, 2011 Nichelle

One of my comedian friends, Jenny Rubin,  has a joke about birthday dinners.  “You can order a spoonful of mustard, and you end up spending fifty dollars.”   Birthday dinners, splitting utilities or other expenses can be annoying.  PayDivvy takes the torture out of splitting a bill fairly by letting everyone settle up online.

Anyone signed up to use the service can easily transfer money to another user. For example, If you’re in charge of the bill, just tell PayDivvy who owes what – and the site will collect automatically and deposit the cash in your account.

Are Prepaid Cards A Terrible Product Or A Viable Alternative?

June 22nd, 2011 Nichelle

From the grio:

Prepaid debit cards now represent the fastest-growing segment of the payment industry, and consumers are expected to load $552 billion onto prepaid cards in 2012, according to the research firm Mercator Advisory Group.

I think prepaid debit cards are better secured credit cards. There are a significant segment of consumers who are young, immigrant, or low income who don’t have a bank account.  Yes, there are fees, but most checking accounts have fees.

In fact, Pew researchers last month found that the average checking account in America has:

an $8.95 monthly fee

an overdraft penalty fee of $35

an overdraft transfer fee of $10

and an extended overdraft penalty fee of $25 every seventh day the account is overdrawn.

All told, Americans are going to spend a record $38 billion in overdraft fees alone in 2011.

Free checking is not usually FREE unless you do online banking or a member of a credit union.

 

Is BankSimple The Tumblr Of Online Banking?

June 22nd, 2011 Nichelle

Reading this article about BankSimple in Fast Company:

BankSimple plans to one-up them all by offering checking accounts, debit cards, and more. The twist: Rather than handling cash, it partners with “back-end” banks, so employees can prioritize user satisfaction. “Our core brand value is ‘Don’t suck,’ ” Reich says.

At first glance, BankSimple’s sparse, elegant platform looks more like a Tumblr than, say, a Chase.com.

This is interesting as ING Direct is about to be folded into Capital One.  Ally is the only other online bank worth noting.

 

Capital One To Buy ING Direct USA

June 16th, 2011 Nichelle

From the New York Times:

Capital One Financial says it’s buying ING Direct USA in a deal valued at $9 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, Netherlands-based ING Groep will receive $6.2 billion in cash and $2.8 billion in the form of about 56 million shares in Capital One, based on a share price of $50.07.

Capital One says the deal will make it the fifth-largest depository on the country.

ING Direct USA will hold onto the company’s “orange ball” branding and use the ING Direct trademark for a transitional year. The sale is part of ING’s restructuring plan that was filed with the European Commission in 2009.

 

I love ING Direct! I knew someone was going to buy ING Direct, and it hope doesn’t affect service.  Both my mom and one of my friends have accounts with them.

Also, I’m surprised that it only went for $9 billion. With $81.6 billion in deposits, you would think ING Direct is worth more.

Read this article from NetBanker about Capital One’s purchase of ING Direct.

 

 

Seven Ways To Help Entrepreneurs Help the Economy

June 16th, 2011 Nichelle

Entrepreneurs across the country are quoting Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire and saying “Help me, help you”.  They know the key to the economic recovery to help small business owners grow so that can hire more people.  There’s an excellent article on The Atlantic.com site which offers seven ways to help entrepreneurs.

  1. IMMIGRATION REFORM It would be good to offer “entrepreneur class” visas to immigrants who start companies, ramp up revenues, take investments, and make hires. This plan costs nothing and creates jobs.  [I personally know an Italian tech entrepreneur who wants to develop his business in the US, but visas may prevent him from doing so.]
  2. FREE THE PROFESSORS! Give faculty innovators the same freedom to choose their own licensing agent for their innovations. Today, if you’re a faculty member with a great new idea that you want to license to IBM, you have to go through the university. This creates a bottleneck as the school’s office is inundated with professors seeking credit for their ideas.
  3. TAX BREAKS FOR ANGEL INVESTORS. Being patient should have a reward to angel investors and could unclog small business investment.
  4. KEEP REFORMING HEALTH CARE The average age of a high tech start up entrepreneur isn’t 25. It’s 39.  Affordable healthcare is necessary.
  5. CREATE A “COMMON APP” FOR ENTREPRENEURS. To streamline the legal process, there should be a single page on the federal government’s website for filling in information to start a company. [Amen! This one especially resonates with me as I have witness so many people get  hung up on how to obtain a business license.]
  6. EXTEND THE STIMULUS FOR THE SELF-EMPLOYED. First, it should extend the tax deduction on health insurance premiums for payroll tax purposes. Second, it should permanently increase the deduction for start-up businesses  from $5,000 to $10,000. This is a great idea that I champion, as I am self-employed.
  7. MAKE FASTER ZONING LAW DECISIONS. For new restaurants and shops, zoning law can be the difference between the space you want and no space at all.

BillShrink Offers Online Bank Deals

June 14th, 2011 Nichelle

I have been fan of BillShrink since I saw them demo at Finovate two years ago.  BillShrink helps consumers find the best deals on mobile phone plans, credit cards and even cable service.  Now, they are featured in a New York Times article about their new service, Statement Rewards.   Under the program, online bank statements may include deals and discounts for bank customers based on their recent spending.

Read the full article on New York Times

 

What Aspiring Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Lady Gaga

June 13th, 2011 Nichelle

Lady Gaga By Molly Crabapple

Illustration by Molly Crabapple

The Wall Street Journal has a blog named “In Charge” which is about the challenges of being an entrepreneur.  A recent article talks about how  Lady Gaga represents a business success story that just about any aspiring entrepreneur can learn from.

  1. It doesn’t take a silver spoon to succeed at a young age.
  2. You don’t have to spend money to promote yourself online.
  3. Supporting a popular cause can make you popular, too.

The Takeaway:   You don’t need a trust fund to start your business. Build your business by spreading the word online.  Support a cause you are passionate about. People will support you in turn.

 

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