Dexter Rich Financial

Are you losing money with FREE?

When I got into marketing, the top priority for me was saving cost. As a result I quickly found myself lost in this world where everyone was offering free this or free that and all of this "special" priced stuff and the list goes on.

I quickly found myself joining affiliate programs and marketing links and trying to drive traffic and getting tons of emails about the next great joint venture. The sad reality is that a lot of people, who would have been qualified customers, are scared of being scammed and losing their shirt.

It's really overwhelming for everyone involved, especially nowadays where everyone claims to be an expert. Let's face it, everywhere you look you'll find tips, advice and articles claiming "this really works" and "I made x amount of money in x amount of time using these simple steps" and a bunch of hype.

When in fact it's a front - they're not making any money, they haven't studied anywhere so we know they aren't experts, and the majority of the time they don't even have a product or service of their own.

At this point I'm going to stop and let you all know exactly who I am. My name is Dexter Nelson, (yes that's my real name, not some alias) and while I don't claim to be an expert, I have seven years experience operating two businesses (which were self-starters), I have further education and certified in several fields including programming, engineering and business.

I'm also a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) and have special studies in economics. I am a published author, composer and a music teacher, (one of my businesses is music-based). And yes, all of it is verifiable information.

Ok, back to the topic at hand, losing money with free. So are you?

No one would contest that free adds a certain value to a product or service. What I'm talking about though is your value or that x factor to the customer or client in reference to you that makes them say, "Ok, I can take out my wallet and spend it on you."

There is this big misconception that the more value to a product the better it will sell, which is true, but not true by itself.

Have you ever noticed that people almost always look up a seller before they buy? There is a reason why EBay and Amazon and most other services keep track of seller and buyer ratings. People want to know who they are buying from and if they can be trusted to deliver.

What does your potential customer feel about you? Are you projecting the same value of whatever you're selling onto yourself or your business as well?

If you're not, you're losing money.

Put yourself in a customer's shoes. You go to a website and it's one of those free sites with advertising banners everywhere, filled with affiliate links and sales pitches would you buy? You probably wouldn't. You know why?

In your mind, just from visiting that website you already have an idea about the person behind the site you just visited.

Now look at it from the other side of the coin. You go to a website and it seems decently done. It's organized, but not totally professional. There is some advertising on it, an affiliate link or two, but not all over the place. Overall it's straight forward, detailed, and has information about the owner, even a couple genuine pictures and more contact information than an email address. I would buy, and have on many occasions from such sites.

So what's the point?

When it comes to making a first impression on your customers, it isn't the product or service that they buy so much as it is you that they buy. The headlines may get them to your site; however it's your first impression that will more often than not be the deciding factor whether those leads turns into a sale.

This is where free can hurt you. Like I first mentioned, one of the most important things for me was saving cost. The mistake I made was to go with free. Free hosting, free tools, free advertising, free this and free that. Trust me, I paid for that dearly.

As I said I quickly became side tracked into buying advertising software, joining affiliate programs, and promoting everything else but my own business. It seemed that almost everything took attention away from my business.

I won't lie, there were times that my family paid the price for it. So now I'm here to help you avoid making the same mistakes that I did, so you don't have to pay the price like I had to.

Points for Success from Experience:

First, avoid the "free" hype out there and invest in the core of your business or website with quality before you sink money into trying to bundle up your product or service. This is your first impression. Ultimately you are the one that qualifies customers with your first impression, so it's on you. When someone goes to your website what are they going to think?

Secondly, put your effort into your business and don't get side tracked! I can't stress this enough. You have to learn to throw out and filter out all of the junk that's floating around out there. The next time someone advertises "Grow your business fast!" and you click on that link and they're not talking about growing your business or trying to get you to buy a product or buy into a system that has nothing to do with your business? Close the page!

Learn that you don't need some fancy software package, "revolutionary system" or "hidden" tactic or "secret that they don't want you to know about" to make your business work. You don't!

Know that when you go to a site like that, those people are marketers by trade. It is how they make their money - when you buy their product or service – marketing. They're in the business to sell marketing, not to help you make more money from your business.

Thirdly, joint ventures work, but only when they compliment each other. People are smarter than many realize. Do not… I repeat, DO NOT promote or market or try to sell something that doesn't fit with your business. "Hey I'm a web developer, we've got great affordable solutions that can help you, now click on this link and buy some cosmetics!"

Don't do it. It is business suicide, plain and simple.

Fourthly, people can smell hypocrisy a mile away. They really can. I know this because you can and I can. If you don't use the products and services yourself, don't expect anyone to put out money on it.

This goes back to your value. You are the best representative for what you advertise. If you don't use it yourself, why would I spend money on it?

Fifthly - save your money and spend it wisely. When setting up your business or website, save both time and money and do it right. Here are a few suggestions to help you do that.

1. Pay for a real hosting account. This is the most basic requirement. There are tons of free website tools where, if you put in the time, you can build your own website. The one I recommend is a company that, when all others couldn't handle the traffic and grow with my businesses, they upgraded to meet my needs.
   
   They aren't the cheapest out there, but they have the quality and value that's my business deserves. Here is my referral link for them. They have a 90 free trial, it's worth it.
   https://ssl.jumpline.com/order/?c=56Y3QR8C
   
   
2. Get a real merchant account. When starting off, free services like PayPal and others have their benefits but they also have their vices. For example those services are not banks and your money isn't protected by Federal Banking Regulations. If something happens your money is gone, you have no recourse to get it back.
   
   Also, those services will often have a much higher discount rate and you lose more money per transaction. Then you have annoyances like third party services holding your funds without notice, taking money from your account and a few others.
   
   I use PayPal too, but for business I use GoEmerchant. They are a very versatile and they add value to my business. Most importantly they are A+ accredited by the Better Business Bureau. I also highly recommend them.
   
   They also have a free demo available. It is really worth a look.
   http://echomerchant.evsholdingco.com/

I sincerely believe that the most important factor is communication. It is an annoyance when I try to contact someone and all I get is voice mail, automated email replies with no follow up, and it really is very disrespectful to your customers to do that to them.

At the same time I know the need for spam prevention, so putting my money where my mouth is, I've spent a lot of time and effort designing a web-based messaging system that you can use for free.

It'll protect you from having to put our email out there and save you the trouble of programming yourself or having to spend money on a programmer. I absolutely use it myself and I keep adding business-appropriate tools to help you manage your customers.
http://business.techdex.net

So, we're here at the end of my first newsletter and it was a long one at that. It is my hope that you all will find the information useful. I really want to hear your stories of success and your stories of failure. The first gives everyone higher hopes to continue pushing forward, and the latter teaches us how to avoid the pitfalls.

In my next newsletter I'm going to pick back up where this left off. We've barely begun to scratch the surface and in the near future I'm going to interview financial experts, tax consultants, other business executives and more to give you truly expert advice and strategy that you can use in your business.

Best Regards,

Dexter Nelson
Entrepreneur, Business Executive
(919) 989-9304

GoEmerchant vs PayPal

Considerations:

1. PayPal's discount rate is higher at 2.9%. If merchant plans on transacting then they should not go with PayPal.  
2. The Merchant Account Provider will fight for you regarding Chargebacks. With PayPal disputes can run on for months.  
3. PayPal is a Third Party Processor. They are NOT a bank.  
4. PayPal does not provide you with a real merchant account.  
5. GoEmerchant.com will work with the customer after the sale to help them succeed online.  
6. Takes longer to receive your money with Pay Pal. Merchants may not receive money for weeks. With GoEmerchant, it's only 1-2 business days.  
7. PayPal can freeze/hold merchant's money anytime without any warning.  
8. PayPal IS NOT A BANK and is NOT protected by Federal Banking Regulations.  
9. PayPal can take money out of a person's account without their knowledge.  
10. GoEmerchant.com provides Outstanding Customer Service and is an accredited business of the Better Business Bureau with an A+ highest rating.  
11. 86% of online credit card processing is done through a merchant account.    

Good afternoon! I know it's been a while since I've posted but I wanted to pass this on to you. Running a local business I know what it takes to get a business off the ground and keep it successful, even in a declining economy. For you to be doing the same it says alot about your smarts, determination and drive, and I absolutely respect that.

There seems to be a hush hush thing about the stimulus package and I get a different answer every single time I ask. Nobody really knows what it is exactly or can answer my questions like what does it mean for my business?

Have you heard of Mark Kohler? He's the guy that wrote Lawyers are Liars: The Truth About Protecting Our Assets. Anyway, come to find out he's one of the top practicing CPA's and Attourney's in the country. He specializes in real estate asset protection and tax planning, and he's truly an expert.

My company is flying him out here to Raleigh this saturday 14th, (short notice I know but I wanted to make sure I had all the information right). Anyway, we booked the Raleigh Convention Center for  a free information seminar called The Intensive. Yup, it's 100% free. I'm not charging. Everything's already paid for.

We've been around for seven years, but the expansion only hit NC a few months ago, and we put this whole thing together just to get some exposure. So, along with information about our business, Mark is going to be talking about the stimulus package.

He's taken the time to go through it line by line and he's going to be answering the very questions I have. What it means to my business, just what is it in the first place and so on.

Even more importantly, he's going to give advice about the advantages and disadvantages; What to stay away from, where you can profit, and alot of other vital information about the stimulus package.

If you're interested in finding out more, don't hesitate to contact me. I will be out there with my business partners to meet everyone and assist, answer questions, etc.

Again, it's a great opportunity for some free education from one of the best, (if not the best) practicing attourney/cpa's about the stimulus package, protecting your assets, and of course more about our business.

My contact information is:
Dexter Nelson
(919) 934-0277

Hey everybody,

It's been a while since I've posted, so hello! How have you been doing? I wanted to post this up for everyone as I have a special deal going for members of the network. I actually run another business, and to launch the new service, I am offering free accounts to the new Public Event Calendar & RSS Feed for that business.

Like I said, it's free for members of the network and to get that free account, just message me with a link to your network site and I'll send you the link to the registration form. The rest of the world pays $1.99/month (really cheap anyway for advertising), but this is a thank you for just being a part of my network.

The details are below...

Thanks everybody!

Best Regards,

Dexter Nelson
Dexter Rich Financial
(919) 934-0277

Public Event Calendar & RSS Feed:
We are happy to announce the launch of the new calendar! Professionally list and organize all of your events and even print PDF's for your campaign, and more. Your listings are also included in our RSS event feed that is viewed by literally hundreds of people from numerous other sites.

This service is very affordable at just $1.99 per month, and you can list as many events as you want securely. You will have your own log in to manage and track events.

If you aren't completely satisfied, we will refund your purchase, no questions asked!

- Click here to view the calendar.
- Click here to view the rss feed.

I first started in business several years ago. It was one of those things where I was tired of working, (rather working for someone else). I wasn't paid very well, I almost never had time to do the things that I wanted to do, and yes, my boss was a pain. Music has always been my passion, and I was performing and composing on the side. The opportunity arose to help another artist who was in my situation. One thing led to another and the birth of my first company, Echoingwalls Music, naturally followed.
 - http://www.echoingwalls.com

My main career at the time was Network Security and web development. Finding and keeping a job in that field was difficult as most of the work were short term contracts. I decided to apply my education and experience the same way I did with music, and my second company, TechDex Development and Solutions, was created.
 - http://www.techdex.net

I still work both businesses on a small to medium scale, so it affords me time to do other things that interest me. For example, I wrote a book called Music for the Simple Man, a book that teaches music theory and composition, and I still help artists with exposure as well as teach, compose and perform music. In fact one of the compositions was published shortly after my book was.
- http://www.lulu.com/echomusic

For the IT side of what I do, I no longer take on mid to long term contracts. It's strictly short term. That business was also geared to be as hands of as possible. My only interactions are to set up hosting accounts, provide support as needed, and develop independent applications that other programmers can purchase. During the course of running those two businesses I was bumped around between different payment solutions companies, until I ran into the company that met the needs for my varios business requirements.

I became an affiliate for them and incorporated their solutions into my own for both businesses. With the success, the program took on a life of it's own and has now become my third enterprise, Dexter Rich Financial.
- http://echomerchant.evsholdingco.com

I chose to start Dexter Rich Financial because I like helping people. Bottom line is that I endorse products and services that has helped me a great deal. If you want to save money on your existing commerce/ecommerce solutions, or if you need commerce/ecommerce solutions, Dexter Rich Financial is set up to help you do both, as well as provide other useful services, (online and off).

To get you started, check out the eCommerce Total Package featuring the Internet Store, the amazing Buy_Me Button, and Cyber Circular. It's 3 amazing products, with a low price and no leases or contracts. It has a free Demo at the website. If all you need is just payment processing, then the EZPayment Gateway is for you.

Thanks everybody,

Dexter Nelson
Dexter Rich Financial
http://echomerchant.evsholdingco.com