6 Steps to Remove Chaos from Your Work At Home Day

Marsha Collier back in the early 90s © The Collier Company

I've been at this "work from home" thing longer than most. Before I started my online career of writing books and speaking, I ran my own marketing agency for close to 15 years as a single mom. I converted my two-car garage into a dropped-ceiling office with extra electricity, computers, phones and desks.

Back in those days, it wasn't common at all for people to have “home offices.” You had to have an office in a building or storefront and if you weren’t in a proper office, very few would take your enterprise seriously.

One of our clients was the United States Air Force, we had a contract designing magazines (Flying Safety, Road and Rec and the TIG Brief). Before I began that year long project, they sent someone from the Inspector General’s office to check us out and be sure we were a “real” business — because certainly no one could run a business from a garage, right?

I ran my business then as I do now, showing up at my desk every morning (after I took my daughter to school) and locking the office at night. Just as I did when I worked in a corporate environment.

The business was incredibly successful due to the fact that I put every ounce of energy I had (outside of Mom duties) into it. I was successful enough to give it all up to start writing and speaking when offered the opportunity. I learned some hard lessons along the way.  The key to success is developing positive work habits.

1. Develop routines that work. Life, clients and family all have ways of grabbing your attention, pulling you off task. It may seem inevitable, but it’s not. Take steps to set a schedule. Involve your family too; be clear that the time you’re work hours need to be sacrosanct. By setting (at the very least) some loose schedules; you will feel more in control and laser focused.
2. Organize your day the night before. Envision how your next work day will function. Lay it all out in your mind or in Evernote without overloading the “to-do” list. I keep a Notepad window on my desktop with notes from the night before and I add to it during the day. Set long range goals during quiet time; take action on them during business hours.
3. Don’t let email run your life! Have set times in the day when you address your primary mail box. Use filters to segregate the fun stuff. The fun email can be dealt with at the end of the day on your tablet.
4. Schedule your Social Media time and set controls for notifications. Your concentration won’t be worth spit if you keep hearing pings or getting random texts and calls. If you have a Google Voice number, forward your phones to that number and read the transcriptions of messages when you are ready. Return calls when its not crunch time.
5. Find apps that save you time.  Technology saves you time, so why not use apps?  I mentioned Evernote above — great one! It helps me organize my thoughts whether I’m at my desk or in line at the market. Consider also Bufferapp to schedule social media posts for sharing and set up PayPal so you can take credit cards (their reports are second to none). Also, using Skype saves you time on quick calls.
6. Outsource once you can afford it. The entire purpose of your business is to make enough money to keep you and your family comfortable. Expect to do a whole lot of unsexy chores. As soon as you can afford it, the best investment will be someone to do your bookkeeping.

Start with these six routines and they will soon become habits. Positive habits become part of your life and become the difference between winning and failing.

Transaction Problem on eBay or PayPal? Enter Twitter Customer Service: Why It's Time

Huzzah! eBay and PayPal have taken the steps to give customers a place to easily reach them on Twitter: @AskeBay and @AskPayPal. I find the Paypal account to be anxious to please and it's good that they post their availability hours, but they often work past the posted times. The current PayPal Twitter-team includes includes Adrian (^AM), Olivia (^OJK), and Frank (^FG). The @AskeBay account has been online since December 2011 as part of eBay's push into social media.

My email has been deluged for the past 15 years with email from readers and eBay members who want me to help them. I help most everyone who emails me, but the intrinsic problem is, people don't understand that I don't work for eBay. I can't get into existing transactions. What I can do is give you best practices both on Paypal and eBay, but I have no "inner connection" to anyone at the company.
It's serendipitous that @AskPayPal has been active on on Twitter since 2009. Around the same time, I blogged  Social Media Marketing? Learn from Successful eBay Sellers and eBay Founder, Pierre Omidyar re-Tweeted the post. That's when I knew I got it right. That's when I knew that I had to expand my books to include customer service.

Customer service is the key to success for any eBay seller or brand. I've been beating this drum for over a decade and it is great to know others finally agree. I wrote a book (aimed at small business) The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide: How to Connect with your Customers to Sell More and gave examples of small business successfully conncting online.

On Twitter we have a customer service chat every week and we've been discussing the importance of this outreach for almost two years. If customer service is important to you or your business - why not join in? Tuesdays 9p ET/6p PT hashtag #custserv

My personal brand of customer service is refelcted in my writing. All my books are written from my own experience and research. I have never recommended any tool, app or product that I haven't used myself satisfactorily. Writing these books, is a responsibility; one I owe to the people who read them. I've never charged people for help because I feel we are in a community. You read my books, we chat online and we are connected. That's how I connect.

I wrote the first eBay For Dummies in 1997, and the 2017 edition just published. If you want to do business on eBay, it just might save you some panic-filled tweets.

eBay Sellers: In 2011, PayPal will be required by the IRS to report sales information. Understanding IRS 6050W

NEW TAX LAW FOR ONLINE SELLERS

Everything you need to know about IRS 6050W

Starting in 2011, all U.S. payment providers including PayPal will be required by the IRS to report sales information about certain merchants to the IRS. We want to help you understand these changes.

•   Applies to merchants receiving over $20,000 in gross sales volume AND 200 payments or more
•   Applies only for sales beginning on January 1, 2011

Questions? Log in to your account or call 1-888-221-1161

• FAQ's

• Links

via cms.paypal.com

What Is IRS 6050W?

Under the new legislation, PayPal will be required to report to the IRS the total payment volume received by PayPal customers in the US who:

* Receive more than $20,000 in gross payment volume in a single year, AND
* Receive 200 or more payments in a single year.

The IRS changes will apply to all payment providers, including PayPal. They will take effect on January 1, 2011, with the first reports going to the IRS in early 2012. Our goal is to help PayPal merchants to understand and comply with the new requirements.

If you meet the stated thresholds, you will be required to verify your identity by adding a SSN/TIN/EIN to your existing account.

Be sure to read more on PayPal

PayPal Quietly Announces Price Changes

At the outset, I have to admit that I'm a big fan of PayPal. I've used PayPal long before eBay purchased them - even before they were PayPal when they were x.com. (Now you know where the PayPal X comes from). I'm grateful that they enabled me, as a small business, to accept credit cards. (They also have awesome transaction downloads that make record keeping easier). I even wrote the introduction to PayPal for Dummies.
eBay's integration of PayPal made becoming an online seller simple for millions of people.

So you can imagine, that when I went to read the PayPal blog, I was shocked. They announced, with no fanfare or apologies, that they are making "changes" to the way they handle some of their charges:

1. Refund Prices – Starting August 10, PayPal will retain the transaction fee (typically $.30) when a seller issues a refund (U.S. and Canada merchants).
**** Without eBay having a shopping cart, sellers often eat multiple transaction charges when a customer buys two items. Now, should they have to refund an entire order based on multiple sales, PayPal makes money, and the seller's already low profits are eaten up.
2. Chargeback Prices – Starting August 24, we’ll be increasing chargeback costs from $10 to the typical industry rate of $20 (U.S. merchants only, eBay merchants enrolled in the PayPal Preferred program are exempt).
**** Chargebacks are issued by PayPal when a customer calls in and complains about the merchandise received from the seller. PayPal refunds the money to the buyer and takes a chargeback fee. In my experience PayPal has been fair when making chargeback decisions, but I've heard opposing views. The complaining customer gets their refund, and is not required to return the merchandise to the seller. So now the seller is out even more.
3. American Express Card Acceptance – On July 13, PayPal and American Express will enter into a new card processing arrangement that requires merchants to establish a direct contractual relationship with American Express. You’ll need to accept a new agreement with American Express if you want to continue to accept American Express cards directly through Website Payments Pro and Virtual Terminal. PayPal will continue to service American Express transactions.  As part of this new agreement, American Express pricing will change to be on par with their typical industry rates. This only applies to taking American Express credit cards directly. There’s no change if a consumer chooses to pay with PayPal, no matter how the account is funded.
**** OK, American Express has always stood behind their customers so if sellers wish to accept American Express directly, I guess it's fair that they have to play by Amex rules.

I'm disappointed that in this economy, PayPal has to raise charges -- especially without sending emails to their customers. Customer service is what it's all about -- they could have put a kinder spin on this.

A $5 Investment Against Phishing

This new device can help protect you against online scams and theft.

How safe do you feel with all your online accounts? I know when I really think about all the financial data I have on the web--technically accessible to anyone--I get a little queasy. I try to never click the links in e-mails to secure sites. But just when you think you're being careful--and lulled into complacency--an e-mail comes along containing a link that you click on. You realize you've just logged onto a financial site and the panic sets in.

I've done it myself--caught by a phishing e-mail. Should this happen to you, the best thing to do is immediately log out and close your browser window. As fast as you can, open a new window, type in the website URL--whether it be PayPal, your bank or your investment advisor--and log in again. Change your password and your heart will stop feeling like it's about to jump out of your chest.

Always make sure your wireless network at home is as secure as possible. I recommend using WPA over WEP, since WEP can be hacked by a junior high school student. Someone can pull up to the curb in front of your house and pick up your signal, log your keystrokes, get your passwords and drive away.

These are all pretty scary scenarios. But, VeriSign, previously known as the worldwide clearinghouse for credit cards and cash, has developed a new technology. VeriSign Unified Authentication provides two-factor authentication credentials through a one-time password token.

PayPal has embraced this technology through a new device, aptly named the PayPal Security Key, which looks like a small pager. PayPal generates a new--and different--security code every time you log in to your PayPal account. Just enter the security code displayed on the device's small screen after you enter your user name and password, and you're in.

Can anyone else pick this number up from your wireless network? Possibly. But the key code changes every 30 seconds, so even if someone does get the code, it will be invalid within 30 seconds.

If you're like me, the first question you have is: What if I lose it? You can still log in to your PayPal account if you can't find or break your Security Key. Before you can log in, though, PayPal will ask you questions to confirm your account ownership.

The device is available for $5 from PayPal. If you'd like your own Security Key, visit the security key area of PayPal. This technology will surely catch on with other financial sites, and technically, the device could handle codes from other companies. But only time will tell how this technology will progress.