Tidbits from this month's Inc.

Inc., "The Handbook of the American Entrepreneur," is one of my favorite magazine's right now.

While this month's issue's main focus was on "Going Global," I found a few other tidbits worth passing on to other small business owners:

1. Do you understand your credit card merchant statements?
One would think there's an easy answer - Yes. Yet, if I look at my business bank account which I check all the time, there are "Deposits" but there are also items labeled "DISCNT" and others labeled "Collections" and I realized I don't really understand the difference. There was a small 2-page article where they looked at many companies statements and attempted to roll them into one for anybody. While not necessarily applicable to your own card statement or mine, I will be pulling one out and calling the merchant company today and get an explanation for all the line items there. I'm a little embarrassed to say that after almost 5 years, I haven't done this before - I've always taken for granted that money shows up in my account and that the fees removed are straightforward. The message: if you're like me and not so sure about your merchant statements either, pull them out, call up the company and have them explain it.

2. "Many obstacles stand between a customer and a sale. Your job is to remove them."
This was the title of an article adapted from a new book: "Threshold Resistance" by A. Alfred Taubman. After starting a successful real estate development company, specializing in building malls, Mr. Taubman bought Sotheby's and transformed it in the 1980's. The article is interesting, but the title alone is what made me, and should make you think. This nice thing about it is that it's applicable to *any* business. We all have customers - what's preventing them from giving you their money? It could be anything from an unenthusiastic or ill-trained employee who's greeting them in your retail space to having to go through too many clicks on a website. The message: Read that title line again and just think about it in terms of your business.

Just a few things to think about. Have a great day!