So, we're just about to move to a new merchant provider because we felt the time had come... And just as well! Yesterday I was hit by a barrage of emails by my usually happy customers saying they couldn't pay me. This is never music to anyone's ears. Why? Because Paypal did a cute little roll out without bothering to test it properly and evidently broke people's ability to pay. Oops.
I raised it with them and got this cheerful response:
"I apologize for the frustration this is causing. The issue you are describing, is currently a known issue in the PayPal system. There should be no request, or error concerning the CVV code. A CVV code should not be required for this payment type. Our engineers are aware of the issue, and working actively to resolve it. There is no estimated time for a resolve. I appreciate your patience, as we work to resolve the issue."
This payment type being anyone with a credit card or switch card (erm, pretty much everyone). Please Paypal, take your own sweet time on this...
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
How the littlest things upset the best laid plans
I hate printers. I lost 2 hours of my day today to trying to persuade my bloody printer to work. It is its sole function in life, it should be such an obvious thing for it to do that it can't get it wrong. And yet, I have never seen a printer in an office anywhere that does not cause inestimable amounts of irritation and cost inordinate amouts of time. I hate printers. I hope there is a hell for printers where they are tortured horribly by having their cartridges ripped out. Grrr.
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Why accountants are ace and lawyers suck
Today I went to go and see a recommended accountant about sorting out the formalities. As the title might suggest, they were ace. Assuming we go with them, it would seem likely that what we spend with them on services, we'll save in terms of tax, which to my mind is the hallmark of a good accountant (that and being willing to explain the rationale for what they're doing).
By contrast, most lawyers speak in terms of liability, potential risks, dangers, pitfalls, blah blah and rather than explaining things when asked prefer to patronise you as though it's black magic. It reminds me of bad Catholic churches where the congregation turns up for fear of what it might cost them if they don't go to church and you have this funny feeling about the donations plate...
(At this point I would like to add two heavy caveats:
1 - I am sure some lawyers are nice people, in fact I know a couple of nice lawyers, however I believe them to be the exception not the rule.
2 - Many Catholic churches are very good
By contrast, most lawyers speak in terms of liability, potential risks, dangers, pitfalls, blah blah and rather than explaining things when asked prefer to patronise you as though it's black magic. It reminds me of bad Catholic churches where the congregation turns up for fear of what it might cost them if they don't go to church and you have this funny feeling about the donations plate...
(At this point I would like to add two heavy caveats:
1 - I am sure some lawyers are nice people, in fact I know a couple of nice lawyers, however I believe them to be the exception not the rule.
2 - Many Catholic churches are very good
Monday, 5 March 2007
I love Gantt Charts
No wonder I've been walking around twitching slightly and behaving erratically. I just wrote my to-do list. 115 lines later, I feel hugely relieved to at least have written it down. Now I just need to prioritise it... Bring on Project baby
Saturday, 3 March 2007
Did you know you are breaking the law?
Oh yes, if you're in busines, I reckon the odds are you're breaking some bureacratic law somewhere and you don't even know it. I am feeling irritable about this tonight because it would appear that I need to review my business (which fortunately we're in the process of looking at anyway) regarding some inane bill that's been put through and now impacts upon it.
Now, we could ignore it. It's not like our government is particularly able at enforcing laws, but I'd rather stay squeaky clean. So I'll add that to the To do list.
Over the last year, we've had to make several major adaptions so as not to break the law. Here's an example:
Some of our tutors were international students. No problem, we thought. Good for them. Makes sense that you might want to tutor Mandarin and in doing so raise the nation's generally appalling levels of linguistic ability. But, international students apparently have horribly complex rules surrounding whether they are allowed to work on a self-employed basis. We're talking about £10 a week for an hour's tutoring. God forbid the taxman might lose out on that.
In light of said bureaucracy, we can't advertise in a number of desirable places for fear their students might get themselves in trouble. Leaving aside the fact that the other 90% of home students miss out on the opportunity because of said bureaucractic procedures and that their students are in fact, grown ups more than able to do adult things like pay them £3,000 a year or check their own visa, does this not strike you as ludicrous?
We even have a big button saying, "make sure you check your visa before registering." Tutoring is skilled work, great CV building stuff and stimulates the brain a lot more than working 4 hours a week in Tesco. But apparently stacking shelves doesn't break any rules in the knowledge economy.
Now, we could ignore it. It's not like our government is particularly able at enforcing laws, but I'd rather stay squeaky clean. So I'll add that to the To do list.
Over the last year, we've had to make several major adaptions so as not to break the law. Here's an example:
Some of our tutors were international students. No problem, we thought. Good for them. Makes sense that you might want to tutor Mandarin and in doing so raise the nation's generally appalling levels of linguistic ability. But, international students apparently have horribly complex rules surrounding whether they are allowed to work on a self-employed basis. We're talking about £10 a week for an hour's tutoring. God forbid the taxman might lose out on that.
In light of said bureaucracy, we can't advertise in a number of desirable places for fear their students might get themselves in trouble. Leaving aside the fact that the other 90% of home students miss out on the opportunity because of said bureaucractic procedures and that their students are in fact, grown ups more than able to do adult things like pay them £3,000 a year or check their own visa, does this not strike you as ludicrous?
We even have a big button saying, "make sure you check your visa before registering." Tutoring is skilled work, great CV building stuff and stimulates the brain a lot more than working 4 hours a week in Tesco. But apparently stacking shelves doesn't break any rules in the knowledge economy.
What kind of idiot startup are you?
Friend of mine just sent me a great link to a quiz called "The Idiot Startup." I recommend it for entertainment purposes... This is what it concluded me to be... I think my boyfriend would agree with the last statement ;) I laughed out loud.
Your Entrepreneur Type:
The Visionary
Creative, bold, and charismatic, you want to change the world.
Entrepreneurial strengths:- passionate
- charismatic and a team builder
- focused
- creative and able to envision the future
- may lack the pragmatism needed to achieve
- moody and inconsistent
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Last night I had an epiphany
It was a wonderful but wholly painful moment because I realised I'd had the same epiphany about two years ago and decided not to act on it.
Basically, two years ago when I looked at how to bring my tutoring business online, we'd surveyed various models and decided that the market (by which I mean actual customers in this instance) was ready for some of these ideas, but was not for others. So we put them on ice, until a later point when we could roll them out and see market adoption as a realistic proposition.
In the meantime, I got a full-time job working at another start-up and proceeded to have either ideas, not least influenced by the rise of social networking, etc. I decided one of these was half decent and asked to work with the Judge Business School to see if they thought it was any good. They said it was well on the way and the market potential was there, but if they were going to be honest, there was something missing. They suggested a killer app back then which would tie things together and last night I figured a good, elegant way to pull all of this together and make something beautiful but not contrived. I am feeling slightly sick, though reassured to see a VC backing a company who is thinking along similar lines.
So now I just have the responsibility of making it happen. Cup of tea might help methinks...
Basically, two years ago when I looked at how to bring my tutoring business online, we'd surveyed various models and decided that the market (by which I mean actual customers in this instance) was ready for some of these ideas, but was not for others. So we put them on ice, until a later point when we could roll them out and see market adoption as a realistic proposition.
In the meantime, I got a full-time job working at another start-up and proceeded to have either ideas, not least influenced by the rise of social networking, etc. I decided one of these was half decent and asked to work with the Judge Business School to see if they thought it was any good. They said it was well on the way and the market potential was there, but if they were going to be honest, there was something missing. They suggested a killer app back then which would tie things together and last night I figured a good, elegant way to pull all of this together and make something beautiful but not contrived. I am feeling slightly sick, though reassured to see a VC backing a company who is thinking along similar lines.
So now I just have the responsibility of making it happen. Cup of tea might help methinks...
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