The Benefits of an ATM in a Business & Options for the Business Owner

The presence of an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in a business can be extremely beneficial in retail businesses that require or prefer that their customers pay with cash. Unlike vending machines or toy machines where a proprietor benefits solely from the rental of the space or from the direct profits of the machine, ATMs provide a host of other benefits to the proprietor. Here is a summary of those benefits:

Increased Sales. Studies show that an ATM can increase a business' sales as much as 8%.

Cash Retention. 25% of the cash withdrawn from an ATM is spent on the premises. This number can be as high as 75% for nightclubs and bars!

Control Bad Debt. Cash does not bounce. When a customer uses cash from an ATM it cuts down the charge backs, disputes, returned checks, and the stress associated with these incidents.

Security. By having an ATM there is less risk of robbery and employee theft.

Reduced Costs. By directing your customer to the ATM, you can greatly reduce the credit card fees you are currently paying. Credit card transactions cost between 2% and 3% of a purchase. Instead of paying Visa and MasterCard, make money instead when a customer withdraws cash.

Save Time. An ATM can save customer embarrassment and your employees time. An ATM also deposits funds directly into your bank account, which saves time and work.

Improved Image. By providing new and unique services for your patrons, your image is improved. One reason people patronize your store is value. An ATM only adds to the overall value to your store.

Increase Customers. Your customers will no longer need to stop at a competitor's establishment to get cash (and spend it there). Customers will instead stop at your place of business because you can accommodate their cash needs.

Added Source of Revenue. With surcharge fees, you can earn more then enough to cover the cost of the ATM. The real profit comes from the additional sales from the hundreds of extra dollars available in your customer's pocket.

Additional Facts & Figures

• ATM customers spend an average of 20% to 25% more than non-ATM customers
• 40% of ATM users go to the ATM machine an average of 10 times per month
• Placement of an ATM machine is the second most requested service for retail stores
• ATM users are "habit"-driven, using the same ATM repeatedly
• ATM customers prefer the convenience of a retail store to a bank

With these benefits in mind, there are a number of options a proprietor has when going about getting an ATM into his/her business.

Buying

The most profitable choice for the business owner, this entails owning the equipment by purchasing the ATM outright and owning the equipment. Typically the proprietor gets to retain 100% of the $1.50 - $3.00 surcharge that is collected per withdrawal. Cash replenishment is the proprietors responsibility. So, this arrangement works best for the hands-on owner who is often present at the business and has enough disposable cash with which to replenish the machine.

Cost of ownership of an ATM has dropped dramatically over the years, so this option has become much more affordable. New ATMs targeted for the retail market range in price from as low as $2,200 up to $6,000 for a Through-The-Wall unit. Most ATM vendors require that you sign a processing agreement. This is standard in the industry because the ATM vendor usually only profits off the backend processing while making little to no money on the actual sale of the equipment. A proprietor can expect a full return on the equipment investment from as little as 3 months to as long as 18 months, depending on the transaction volume of the location.

Leasing

This carries all the same responsibilities and profit benefits as buying an ATM. The fundamental difference is that the payment for the ATM is spread out over time. This can be especially beneficial if a proprietor has a tight cash flow situation and doesnt have the capital to buy outright. In addition, whereas an ATM would normally be depreciated over 5 years when purchased, each lease payment can be written off as an operating cost, providing a tax advantage.

A lease term typically runs anywhere from 1- 5 years, depending on your arrangement with the leasing company. A business owner must keep in mind that the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) will ultimately make the purchase price much greater. The proprietor can expect to pay between 10%-12% APR. The business owner must beware, however, as this is where a vendor can hike up the machine price with out the business owner realizing it. Many people have a difficulty in understanding finance, so a business owner should enter into the finance agreement with caution.

Placement Programs

For the business owner that wants no involvement with the ATM, ATM vendors will sometimes offer to place an ATM in a business for free and operate it entirely. This means no maintenance headaches, no concern with loading the cash, just the need to provide space for the machine and reap the benefits of its presence in the establishment. Usually the proprietor will even be entitled to part of the surcharge revenue, though the commission can vary greatly depending on the transaction volume of the ATM.

Often the ATM vendor will require a contract with the proprietor, but this is not always the case. When choosing an operator under this arrangement, keep in mind the quality of service. The ATM business is very competitive, so often an operator will give you anything to get their foot in the door. In the long run, however, this can be a mistake, as the number one service problem is that the ATM will run out of cash. Often independent operators are subcontractors who are part-time investors with a network of ATMs. It pays to shop around, but its important have an idea of what kind of service an operator will provide. References are a good way to ensure this. In the long run, if you get a bit less of the commission yet a more capable operator and better service, it pays.

Vito Mazzarino is Vice President of ATM Global, based in Los Angeles. He has been involved with ATM Global since 2001 and has expertise in both the marketing and operational aspects of the ATM industry. He is also author of the E-book The ATM Beginners Book, a guide on how to get started in and own an ATM business.

For more information, please visit http://www.atmglobal.net

You may also contact Vito directly at v.mazzarino@atmglobal.net

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How to Attract Venture Capital

Every year literally billions of dollars are put towards different projects by venture capital investors.

Have you ever wondered what makes some investment opportunities successful whilst others barely get off the ground?

Believe it or not is isnt necessarily the business idea, produce or service.

Often the vital difference between companies that attract venture capital and those that dont is preparation.

Here Are 9 Areas Your Business Plan Should Cover If You Want to Attract Venture Capital

1. Your Business Plan Itself. You would be amazed at how many business owners try to attract venture capital without having a business plan in place. Ask yourself: If YOU were a potential investor, what effect would it have on you if the business owner seeking YOUR venture capital didn't have a decent business plan in place?

NOTE: Make sure that your business plan has a professional presentation. You can get a complete corporate look and feel created for it at sites like elance.com or buy one 'off the shelf' at templatemonster.com

2. KPI's (Key Performance Indicators For All Management and Staff. According to Harvard Business School a staggering 40% of business failure is due to poor hiring decisions. Investors like tio see a business that has its bases covered in this area.

Your business will function much better when each key department and player has specific job descriptions in place.

3. A Detailed Strategy For Lead Generation and Lead Conversion. You may well have an awesome product or service but what an potential investor wants to see is how you plan to market it.

4. Business Strategy. The stronger and more laid out your business strategy is the better your chances of attracting venture capital. This is one area where hiring the right business coach or consultant can be a great benefit.

5. Research. Venture capital investors are not interested in 'We think so' or 'Our educated guess is' They want to see market research to back up your claims of a viable market.

6. Structure. I spoke with an accountant recently who told me he was facing a nightmare trying to get a company ready for investment that was a mash of about seven different trusts - each owning a different division of the core business. His exact words were that it was a 'Structural nightmare from an investors perspective' It always pays to get your business structured correctly.

7. The Offer Itself. So you want to attract venture capital ok but what will the investor receive in return?

An equity share in your business? If so what percentage? Are you looking for a passive investor or do you want someone who can provide any special skills?

8. Financial's. Investors want to see up-to-date financial's - profit/loss, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Note: This is where a business with financial control systems in place can gain a strong advantage over a competitor as they are working off recent financial and current MYOB files rather than figures that are 12 months old.

9. An Internet Marketing Plan. Being able to show a potential investor a detailed web marketing plan can go a long way towards attracting the venture capital you are seeking.

Some of the Points That Your Internet Marketing Plan Should Cover Are

1. Traffic Strategies. How you plan to get traffic to your website.

2. List Building. What will you do to build your online database?

3. Content? If you plan on creating an authority site (and you should) then you'll need to give serious thought to content. Will your website feature Articles? Testimonials? Podcasts?

These eight points, when addressed can help give you a serious advantage in your quest to attract venture capital!

Paul Wetton is an entrepreneur and venture capital specialist who helps Australian business owners prepare their businesses for potential investors with his unique 'Preparation For Investment' Audit. See Paul Wetton's Blog at http://AustralianVentureCapital.com

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Know Thy Customer

I have to laugh at some of these so-called "reality shows." Most of them are so scripted it's hard to believe they can get away with calling them "reality." The majority of them seem to be designed to highlight the darker side of human nature--lots of bickering and back-stabbing going on, but very little takeaway value.

One show I do enjoy is The Apprentice. As a former New Yorker, I think it's funny to see Donald Trump on TV, all pompous and arrogant, trying to find the perfect job applicant to help him run one of his many companies. Whether you like him or not, there's no arguing with the fact that this man knows what it takes to succeed in business.

In one episode last season, "The Donald's" two teams of candidates were assigned the task of renovating and furnishing the playroom of a recreation center for underprivileged children. Each team's design would be judged by the company sponsor funding the centers.

One team did extremely well because they targeted their efforts at creating a room that pleased the judges. The other team lost because, although the children loved their room, the design didn't hit the mark with the judges. According to Mr. Trump, the losing team failed because they didn't connect with their target customer--which was the sponsoring company, not the children.

At first I didn't agree with Mr. Trump's decision, but in the end, I had to admit that he was correct. The end user in this case--the children--were not the customer. The target market was the people who had contracted for the work to be done.

This is an important point to keep in mind when you're promoting your products or services.

For many businesses, the general public is the target market, but in some cases, the customer might be a company, not the end users or clients who buy from that company. For example, if you're a freelance commercial writer, your customers will generally be businesses who hire you to write their advertising or white papers. Your job is to please them, not win literary awards, which might mean writing copy that doesn't necessarily thrill you, but makes the customer happy.

Sometimes the customer will ask you to produce something in a particular way, which you might not agree with, but it's the smart businessperson who delivers what the customer asks for. After all, they are the customer, and you're in business to serve them.

Obviously this doesn't mean violating your own ethics; you can always turn down their offer of work if it conflicts with your own morals or personal standards. The key is to sit down with your clients before you begin a project and find out precisely what their desires and requirements are. You can:

• Ask questions and listen carefully to find out what's important to them.
• Take notes highlighting the points they make.
• Repeat to them, in your own words, your understanding of the project parameters.
• Make suggestions about how you think the task will best be managed.
• Encourage their feedback on your ideas to make sure you're on the same page.

Whenever possible, take the time to assess exactly what your customers want and need so you can gauge your ability and willingness to fulfill their orders, according to their specifications. Happy customers are repeat customers, and connecting with them is what business success is all about.

Angel Brown is the Founder and President of the Women's Business Gallery (http://www.womens-business.gallery.com), the ART of business specialists, providing women entrepreneurs and small business owners with the information you need to succeed.

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Alliances: What works, what does not

Why Alliances Fail

When do you know an alliance is falling apart?

An alliance will surely fail without good communication on both sides. It will also fail if the alliance partner is not capable of completing the tasks set out in the service level agreement. Service level agreements are usually put in place so that milestones in the process can be monitored. The agreement also helps to alleviate the number of complaints by the alliance partner (and also the complaints about the service being provided to the partner's customers). The basic premise here is that the products and services being offered are of excellent quality. If the quality is missing in the formula, your alliances will most definitely fail.

Finger pointing is one of the worst things that can happen in a relationship. The business relationship must be preserved at all costs. The saying goes "never burn a bridge as you never know when you need to cross it again". I had a partner that did not believe in that philosophy and, six years down the road, he found that he needed to deal with me again. Instead of repairing the damage, the information he needed was obtained by a mutual acquaintance. Since I did not burn bridges, I readily gave out the information. I still have not seen him again.

Alliances also fail because the return on the investment was not as promised. Relationships can be very fickle when it comes to money transactions. You need to build the relationship first and keep it intact, and then deal with the ROI. If the product or service does not live up to expectation, then a mutually agreeable term in the service level agreement should give an out to one or both parties. This will allow for an amicable departure and keep the relationship intact.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get peoples attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the Networking Queen. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com

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7 Surefire Ways To Advertise Your Website

Quality Product + Traffic + Conversion = Money. This is the cycle that must exist in order for you to make money in your business.

In this article, you are going to discover 7 ways to advertise your website and increase your traffic. Traffic is the first step after creating or obtaining a quality product. Traffic is what gets the whole ball rolling.

If you don't have a decent amount of traffic, it won't matter what else you do, you won't be able to make any real spendable cash.

7 Surefire Traffic Strategies:

1) Advertising with the search engines: This is also known as search engine marketing. Google's Adwords, MSN Adcenter, and Yahoo's Overture are the largest search engine marketing vendors.

In 2006, North American advertisers spent $9.4 billion USD on search engine marketing. This type of advertising showed more growth than any other traditional advertising. Although, with this surefire way to increase your traffic, it will cost some money.

While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative, in this case, to do so because Adwords, Overture, and Adcenter are a guaranteed way to advertise your site and increase it's traffic quickly.

You could see for yourself that search engine advertising method has reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of sites feature this advertising system, and many have signed on to reap those benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it using Google and Yahoo's advertising.

2) Link Up with other sites: Simply exchange links with other sites. In regards to exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you make to enhance your site's traffic. Now, I am not referring to the traditional "link exchange" where your link is buried deep into someone's site. That will only help to increase your link popularity, but will not bring you traffic.

What I am saying is to exchange links on a highly trafficked and visible page(s) on their website. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites, the more traffic you can expect.

3) Viral Marketing - "It's alive": Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs, or if any, only low costs. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company's name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article, gossip or buzz.

With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people. The key here is to make it easy to "spread the virus". You want to make it easy for your visitors to spread your marketing piece.

4) Search Engine Optimization: Search engines look for keywords on your web pages to put into their free search results pages. Then, when someone does a search, they will try to bring up the web page that they feel is the most related and the most popular in their search results first. So, there are two real parts to search engine optimization: On-page and off-page optimization.

On-page refers to the keywords on your page. Off-page refers to your link popularity. Together, they make up search engine optimization. You could write your own content and do your own SEO, or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Article Marketing for Traffic: Submit articles to sites and ezines (online magazines) that are related to your site. If you sell vitamins, write articles about vitamins, health, and supplements. Attach your site's description and services at the end of the article, as well as the link back to your site.

6) Social Networking for Traffic: Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you find a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site, and will pass it on to many people, thus passing on instant trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need. Go to forums, groups, and blogs and comment on posts and articles that have been posted in your area of expertise. Then, at the end, put your name and url to your site.

7) Newsletters: If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. As that traffic comes in, capture their contact information and send periodic newsletters out.

In these newsletters, you'll have good, interesting, related information, and links that point back to your site. Clicks on these links will increase your traffic...

...But they won't bring you any traffic if you don't do anything about it. You now have to get out there and put these surefire advertising and traffic strategies to work, and do it consistently for a period of time.

To your immediate and lasting success!

Advertise your website with us and increase your search engine ranking. Kenneth Jr. is the director of Blog-n-Butter a new blog network that provides great updated content, social interaction through blogs, and advertising opportunities for businesses with websites: http://BlogNButter.com

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For Me HBBO Spells the Good Life

It was a hot summer day in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1977, and I was driving to an assignment across town from The Charlotte Observer, the local daily newspaper, where I worked as a staff writer. I listened to a cassette tape by Zip Ziglar, one of my favorite mentors. The following statement from Ziglar triggered a process of new thinking that gave me the key to the good life. Ziglar said: "You can have everything you need and want in life if you'll just help enough people have what they need and want!" Quickly, I reversed the tape and listened to that statement once more before cutting the player off to ponder what Ziglar had said.

"So," I thought aloud, "helping causes having, and needs precede wants."

Now, 30 years later--during an oppressively hot summer in North Carolina--as I write this, I credit that shorthand version of Ziglar's assertion with being the key to the good life. Helping triggers having! Needs precede wants!

In this article, I will share with you the laws that define and govern the good life. I will also outline knowledge you need to live the good life. I will close with three questions to answer to determine if you're on the road to the good life.

I live the good life! Am I wealthy? Not yet, but during the past 30 years I have built a massive foundation to sustain wealth. Now I am ready to build wealth. But if I am not wealthy, how can I describe my lifestyle as the "good life?" First of all, realize that wealth, however you define it, will not make your life good. Money and other resources do not change your life. They simply allow you to be more of whatever you are. For example, if you are broke and violent, with money you can afford to be more violent. You see, being precedes doing, and money finances doing. Money will not change being, or who you are.

So let me explain the definition I use for wealth and the relationship between wealth and work.

Wealth is how long you can live a specific lifestyle with no new money coming in. For example, if I have $250,000 in the bank and my monthly expenses total $2,500, I am eight years and four months wealthy! In other words, your ability to manage resources, ie. money, determines your wealth, not how much money you have. Using this formula, a person with $100,000 and monthly expenses of $2,500 is three years and four months wealthy. A person, then, with $50,000, and the same monthly expenses is one year and eight months wealthy. I trust that these examples clarify the point. Resource management and time define wealth, not how much money you have. Conversely, lack of money does not cause poverty. Inadequate planning and money management causes poverty.

Yes, you have probably guessed it. I define work differently, too.

Work is a variety of ways you enjoy helping people have what they need and want and for which they're willing to pay. Every day I help people learn how to be successful. I define S.U.C.C.E.S.S. as striving until clear, comprehensive, empowerment secures stability. I will save a detailed explanation of that definition for another article. Suffice it to say that I teach customers to understand success as a lifelong process of serving others, rather than a retirement destination.

Okay, given that, if I apply these principles in my life, why am I not wealthy, and what makes this the good life?

I am not yet wealthy because I have crafted a wealth vision statement that says: "I will be wealthy when I can finance a $50,000 monthly lifestyle for 20 years, while giving $35,200 of those monthly expenses to others. I will give $22,000 each month to my former wife who hung in there with me for 22 years as I struggled to change. I will give each of our sons $5,000 per month so they can have a monthly "resource pool" for success. I will give two people who aided me during two years of homelessness $2,000 and $1,200 each respectively to demonstrate how much I appreciate their help. That is the $35,200 I will give away each month. My personal monthly expenses will total $14,800. To sustain this vision for 20 years requires $12 million.

I am on my way to wealth because I know how to accomplish this. Here is my wealth creation mission statement: "Between 2007 and 2012, I will help 400 individuals and families earn at least $200,000 each as home based business owners. I will earn a 20 percent commission for helping them, which totals $16 million. I will cap expenses for this vision as $4 million, or 25 percent. This means, in a practical sense, that for every $40,000 commission I earn for helping a person achieve $200,000 in revenue as a H.B.B.O., I invest $30,000 into the family foundation. When I have done that 400 times, I have the $12 million I need to finance the 20-year lifestyle I have envisioned.

Well, since I will be 65-years-old this year, will I live to be 70-years-old, which is how long I would have to live to accomplish this? Yes, I will! I will explain how I know that in a future article. Now, though, why should you care about this?

First, please understand that the good life does not just happen. You must plan it. Planning the good life means to learn, understand and apply the 12 laws that define and govern it. We begin with the five good life planning laws.

1. Acquire and use the key to the good life. The key says: helping causes having; needs precede wants.
2. Understand and plan for wealth. If you become a people helper before you are wealthy, when you are wealthy, you will be empowered to help more.
3. Help a large and expanding group of people to have what they need and want.
4. Learn how to organize your work into automated systems that function efficiently and effectively whether you or someone else push the buttons.
5. Write your good life plan because an unwritten plan cannot be followed. Those are the good life planning laws. Here are the seven good life operational laws.
6. Get started
7. Develop a powerful "why" statement for your venture into success and wealth.
8. Become and remain teachable and coach-able.
9. Learn and master systems and process thinking.
10. Learn to work S.M.A.R.T. (be Specific, do what is Measurable, always be Action-oriented, make certain that all you do is Relevant to your goals and objectives, always be Time-focused).
11. Learn to work hard.
12. Never quit!

I use three "road signs," if you will, to reaffirm that I AM living the good life on this journey to wealth.

1. Do I know where I'm going and have I planned to arrive?
2. Do I have a correct "map" to my destination?
3. Do I understand and apply the laws of this trip?

When you can truthfully answer a resounding and confident "yes" to each of those questions, you're living the good life!

I have spent almost 40 years mastering the principles of how to stay out of crime and prison. I am now an expert and I want to share this expertise with others. For more information, please visit http://www.miltoncjordansr.com/index.cfm?id=4901&fuseaction=browse&pageid=55

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Celebrating Independence

I've been telling people for years that, apart from technology, there's nothing new in business - we've been doing business for thousands of years. This point was reinforced recently when I visited Pompeii, the city in Italy that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

What was most striking to me about the city was the feeling that this was a city that could function as well today as it did nearly two thousand years ago. There were streets and sidewalks, pipes providing running water to the homes and fountains, houses with mosaic floors and courtyards and beautiful frescoes on the walls, and even shops selling that period's version of fast food. It was clear that this city wasn't created as a government project. The houses, the shops and the commerce were the result of people doing business with people. It was thriving and expanding at the time because of that commerce.

As taught in school, history seems to focus on the rise and fall of civilizations based on military prowess and the exercise of power. Yet, a large part of any people's strength is the accumulated wealth of commerce and its ability to finance acquisition and expansion. When broad economic forces control the decision-making, civilizations seem to thrive. As the decision-making and power migrate to fewer and fewer entities, progress seems to slow and civilizations seem to stagnate.

People still do business with people. They constantly declare their independence by the decisions they make about where they spend their money. The United States began when we decided how we would spend our money and how our government should treat us. I think those two factors are inextricably linked.

Here's to our independence.

Dave Ferguson is a coach and the owner of Lake County Business Coaching, Inc., a coaching firm dedicated to helping people in business become extraordinary, to realize their dreams by achieving their goals. More information is available at http://www.LakeCountyBusinessCoaching.com

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