With the economy in such bad shape, more and more establishments are resorting to underhanded tactics to extract additional money from your wallet. In just this past month alone, I’ve been deceived several times into paying a little extra for something that I didn’t even intend to purchase.

Sometimes these little extra charges go unnoticed, but now that I’ve fallen prey to these tactics more than a couple of times, I’m now more careful about scrutinizing my receipts and recognizing these methods. Have any of these things ever happened to you?
Getting Charged For Something You Didn’t Really Order

Photo By Toasty Ken

The other day my wife and I decided to dine at a semi-fancy restaurant that was highly recommended for its food and ambiance. It wasn’t a special occasion per se, but we wanted to treat ourselves for getting past a busy week.

While we were perusing …

Are you a loyal customer of a particular store or business? Are there any services or restaurants that you would go out of your way to recommend to friends? What do these businesses do to attract repeat business and referrals?

In a previous article, I discussed ways that stores and businesses alienate their customers with their poor business practices. This time around, it’s only fitting to discuss businesses and services that have made me a loyal customer for life. Here’s who they are, what they did and why they have my repeat business.
New Fashion Hair Design: A Simple Demonstration of Generosity

Photo By Viajar24h

When I first moved out from Maryland to California for college, one of the first things I did was to look for a new barber to cut my hair. Most people have different priorities when they move to a new location, but for …

Even though I am born and raised in the United States, I still encounter certain phrases and figures of speech in the English language that I’ve never heard before. So when I had to call this customer in order to clarify his order, I was totally caught off guard by what he had to say.

This customer in particular ordered a custom hanky from our online store with the bride, groom and wedding date embroidered on the handkerchief. What was odd about his order was that the wedding date was for a Tuesday. Since I found this particular day to be somewhat unusual for a wedding, I decided to give him a call to confirm the wedding date.

We don’t normally do this but I’ve learned from past experience that it’s better to clarify possible mistakes with the customer to avoid any potential problems ahead of time. While …

I’m not sure whether it’s because retailers are cutting back on their expenses and customer support, but lately I’ve had a rash of poor shopping experiences both online and in person. At a few of these places, I was so annoyed that I will never shop there again.

Since my wife and I run a store ourselves, I thought it would be a good idea to make a note of these annoyances so that we never make the same mistakes. Some of these things are subtle and probably wouldn’t bother the average person, but I’m pretty anal when it comes to customer support. Here are some of my pet peeves.
Stores That Reply With A Terse Email

Photo By Katie Bate

So I’m in the market for a new digital SLR camera. The other day I sent an email to an online camera store wondering if they …

I am proud to present a guest post from Julie Broad, author of www.revnyou.com. 8 years ago, Julie and her husband set out to free themselves from their J-O-B’s. Starting with just $16,000, they bought their first investment property. Today, they are real estate millionaires and Julie officially retired from work at age 31. They now own a small business around helping other people achieve their real estate investment goals.

Martin, our money man and main investing partner, emailed us last night and said simply “I’ve pretty much lost it all”. We’d been shopping for a commercial property to buy to diversify our investments. Martin has partnered with us on four different residential properties, and had agreed to once again partner with us on this commercial property.

But, that was before. It was before the markets crashed and Martin lost his six figure down payment! Now, sitting on …

Most people start their own business hoping to find the answers to a few key questions. How can I be my own boss and make money doing things that I enjoy? How can I be in control of my own destiny? How can I become wealthy and rich?

Don’t get me wrong, these are all very important criteria when deciding to start any business. But with these goals in mind, many first time entrepreneurs don’t fully appreciate the hidden benefits of starting their own venture. The emphasis is often placed on the results and not on the journey.

Photo By Southgeist

After all, what could possibly be more important than making money and being your own boss? The hidden benefits that I’m talking about are not related to the outcome per se, but the experiences and valuable skills that are developed in the process of running …

These days, television is all about sex, drugs and action more than anything else. There aren’t many educational shows at all let alone shows about entrepreneurship so I was pleasantly surprised to discover the hit show “The Rise To The Top” hosted by David Siteman Garland the other day via the web.

The Rise To The Top is a show designed to motivate you to pursue your passions and start your own business. There are only 2 episodes available thus far, but from what I’ve seen, the show has the potential to inspire and motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to take control of their own destiny. The show is tailored to 20-30 somethings but has broad appeal for viewers of all ages.
What’s In The Show?

The show covers a wide variety of entrepreneurial topics and always invites a guest speaker to tell his/her start up story. This guest entrepreneur is …

Ever wonder whether the people who brag about their small business wealth are really living the high life? Most of what you read on the web about starting your own business tends to be over glorified because everyone is always trying to sell you something. When all you see are get rich quick tag lines everywhere, it’s no wonder that many people have misconceptions about what it’s like to run your own business.

I’ve already given you a sneak peek into my glamorous life as a small business owner. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m absolutely 100% pro-entrepreneurship and pro-small business. But while I strongly advocate giving entrepreneurship a chance, I don’t think it’s the right choice for everyone.

Photo By H.Koppdelaney

There are many trade offs involved. Depending on what you value in your lifestyle, these trade offs may or may not be worth it to …