Startup, Technology, Thoughts, Uncategorized, What I Know About

adventure, authorize.net, corrugation corner, lover's leap, rock climbing, start-ups, whoistubian, whoistubian.com, youtube, youtube celebrities, youtubian

How To Take Orders Using Authorize.net

July 18, 2014

How To Take Orders Using Authorize.net

I am continuing my How To Start And Run An Ecommerce Company Step by Step series… How to take orders using authorize.net.

Okay, so you opened your business. And you are getting payments through Paypal because that is the only thing you know. You can do the lame thing and send yourself an invoice with paypal… then take down their credit card numbers… then pay your own invoice with their credit card information…

And let paypal rape you with their 2.9% + $.30 per transaction fees. NOW WHAT?

You can use authorize.net.

A customer randomly wants to pay you with his card… and you have no reader… now what?

You can go online and log into authorize.net.

1) Buy your authorize.net account through a reseller. You cannot buy it directly from them. Why do companies do this? They don’t want to deal with customer service any longer and they know they have a product everyone wants. They would rather let their trusted resellers deal with all the customer service. This is a smart move. Here is a list.

Call everyone and haggle for the best prices. Resellers get a percentage cut off of market value so it will be a good situation for you if you can get a large portion of the discount authorize.net gives them.

2) Log into Authorize.net

3 ) Click on Tools

It should look like the below:

Authorize.net

4) Authorize.net is a payment gateway that won’t rape you with high fees. Card readers like Square …does. Or any other type of “Free” card readers that gets mailed to you. But hey, if you really don’t care – they offer a great convenience. And if you have a store-front where you are getting orders face to face every single day – use a reader because then you can get more money in and keep the lines short.

Here is something I learned later on… which you will learn NOW. You can take payments from people who have cards with international billing addresses. You would have to change some settings… view the screenshot below:

Go to settings –> Address verification service –> uncheck the G, U, S. UNCHECK GUS! Now, viola, you can take an order from anyone living on an international island..for example.

settings

address

Uncheck GUS

5) Authorize.net can also integrate with your own website. You can create separate log-ins for different people. I created a developer log-in and he goes in and uses the API code Authorize.net provides. Suddenly you can take payments online. You can also do re-occurring billing. Not every customer in the world will have a paypal account so might as well know how to receive payments in other forms!

I hope that helps you guys!

Thanks for the increase in traffic! My worth of web for this website has shot from $215 to…$1493. My goal is to reach $2000. YES, THAT’S ALL I’M WORTH.. ISN’T IT?!??!

My worth of web 7 17 14

In other news… a company I co-launched with a fellow named Ron over a month ago has TWO ACTIVE PAYING subscribers now. WEEEEEEE! TWO SUBSCRIBERS!!!!!!!! Hey, that’s better then no subscribers. It gotta start SOMEWHERE.

AND… because I feel like it might be a good idea to write about youtube celebrities, I am co-launching an online Magazine-like/Wiki mutation featuring just biographies about Youtube Celebrities. The site looks like there is nothing on there.. which … there really is nothing on there right now. But I am taking it ONE DAY AT A TIME. My co-founder is Lynn.

Below are a few pictures of my rock climbing trip. The top one involves climbing a 3 pitch, 300′ wall of rock in South Lake Tahoe. GOTTA LIVE MAS!

Tackling Corrugation Corner with my PINK HAT!

Corrugation Corner climb at Lover's Leap

CLIMBING AT PHANTOM SPIRES!

Phantom Spires at South Lake Tahoe

Auto Dismantling, Projects, Startup, Technology, Uncategorized, What I Know About

2.5GB limit, bitTorrent, bitTorrent Sync, dropbox, file syncing, free

Tech Hack: For Free – How to Get Unlimited Sharing Space via Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync

June 28, 2014 /

Tech Hack: For Free – How to Get Unlimited Sharing Space via Dropbox and BitTorrent Sync

Yes, another life hack for ya.

This one I discovered by experimenting around.

So, I know you guys have heard of BitTorrent… (Let’s face it, WHO HASN’T?!?!).

But there is another company called BitTorrent Sync and it lets you share UNLIMITED FILES between devices FOR FREE. You heard me folks. FREE UNLIMITED SHARING BETWEEN DEVICES!

Wait wait, hold on a minute, I forgot to mention the caveat… you need to keep that computer on or the device has to be turned on for the sharing to commence. The shared files are not going to be uploaded into “THE CLOUD”. Instead your device will be the actual place where the files are stored.

Why is this useful?

Because now you don’t need to remotely sign into your other computer any longer to grab that file. It acts just like dropbox but without the cloud.

THEN IT GETS INTERESTING…

I was thinking, hmmm, I do have several computers I keep on within the warehouse (just because there is no point turning them off and on everyday). I have people who do NOT have a dropbox with unlimited space given to them so when I share my files (My dropbox is at 56 GB), they usually can’t see all my files because their dropbox is limited to 2.5GB as the free version.

What I do is I download BitTorrent Sync and designate the Syncing folders to be my DROPBOX FOLDER. ANY changes I make via dropbox is synced automatically into the cloud and then consequently updated on the computers that remain powered ON. ANY changes my friends/workers make in regards to any sync’d files are automatically updated on all MY devices with dropbox.

Is this getting confusing for you? I hope not.

Here is a simple EXPLANATION:

Limited to 2.5 GB Free Version

bitTorrentSync Unlimited File Sync

Files that can be Dropbox Files (For syncing to the cloud) AND can also be SIMULTANEOUSLY BitTorrent Sync Files (For FREE syncing between devices)

Computer 2 (Receives unlimited syncing) <—–> BitTorrent Sync’d NON-CLOUD Files (Unlimited Syncing) <—> Dropbox’s CLOUD Files (Limited to Your Dropbox’s Account) on your computer ==EQUALS== Make any changes to any dropbox files, Computer #2 will receive those changes and those files WITHOUT having a dropbox account.

Because most of people I share with on dropbox aren’t so ballin’ as to have 59.9 GBs (Free from friends accepting invitations and other promotional offers dropbox let me utilize), whenever I share with them any dropbox folder theirs automatically run out of space.

This is a very useful work-around. They can get your files whenever any computer containing the files is turned ON. As if it’s like a folder on their desktop that automatically updates everytime they turn on their desktop/whatever else device they use.

There is no need to do a work-around if you have the money to invest in Dropbox’s Business Accounts. $9/month for 100 GB sounds great when you want the luxury of getting access to files whether or not the computer these files are on are powered on or off. However, with BitTorrent Sync you can keep your computer on and have others get UNLIMITED/ NO SIZE LIMIT access to only those designed files. If you follow my hack and you combine the two, if the computer is not on, you still have access to these files. The only downside is your worker/friend might not have access if they have a limited dropbox account.

Even though I wrote about this work-around.. I really have to pay homage to Dropbox. Because of them, many businesses simply EXIST on a BETTER more PRODUCTIVE level. They are awesome!

What have I been up to? I went climbing in Big Bear. AAAAnd had quite a blast celebrating a friend’s bday!:

Climbing in Big Bear

Ecommerce, Entrepreneur, Startup, Technology, Uncategorized, What I Know About

amazon, camstudio, elance, fivrr, freelancer.com, jing, mechanical turks, odesk, redbooth, talentlms, teamviewer

How To Outsource Using Odesk or Elance

June 17, 2014

How To Outsource Using Odesk or Elance

First of all.. everyone and their outsourced MOMS communicate through Skype.

So download Skype and set up an account.

THEN….

1) Create a job on Odesk or Elance… you don’t need to fuss so much over who to choose. They’ve since merged… so you are just dealing with the same company anyway.

2) Make sure you’ve set up some training videos for your workers. You can download Camstudio or Jing for free. Jing lets you upload 5 minute videos for free.

3) Connect these videos directly to Youtube or go a step further and make training tests/exercises on talentlms.com.

4) Test them out with a few scenarios first and then .. hire!

5) Create a separate email account for them through your hosting company, maybe bluehost.com. Remotely go into their computer using teamviewer.com in order to set up whatever software you feel they might need. Create their own mailing signature. Create separate permissions restricted accounts for them across the board that links to their company email account you create.

5) Manage them with Redbooth.com while they manage your clients with insightly.com & mailchimp.com.

Virtual assistants or any type of assistant online is a great way to alleviate your workload. They are incredibly valuable people and it’s amazing companies such as Odesk, Elance, Fivrr, Freelancer.com, and Mechanical Turks from Amazon are able to bring it all together for us.

There are probably better softwares to use online and a better way to go about this but this is what I use and how I go about it on a bootstrapping level. I hope it helps!

Simple, eh?

Yep.

Anywho – what have I been doing? I have been rock climbing.. a whole bunch. I am doing more leading and bouldering as well. I launched a separate company called http://superfastlistings.com with my co-founder Ron. A franchise is in the works and…. life so far is busy/exhausting/good.

Hanger18

Startup, Technology, Uncategorized, What I Know About

how to, productivity, project management, redbooth, Start-up, teambox

How to Manage Your Team Using Redbooth

April 25, 2014

How to Manage Your Team Using Redbooth

This is part of my How To Start And Run An Ecommerce Company Step By Step blueprint. The first part.

Sooooooooo…… Redbooth is free up to 5 users. There are other team management programs you can use.

If you are managing a coding team and you are coder yourself – try gitlab.com

If you are a person who isn’t a coder but wants to manage a team larger than 5 people AND you have money – try basecamp.com

If you are a person who isn’t a coder but wants to manage a team of 5 people or less BECAUSE you have less money (ie. broke) – I would go with redbooth.com HANDS DOWN, YO.

I know, I know, you are probably wondering, “WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT REDBOOTH?!”

To which I will say… calm down. Yo. Let me thoroughly explain:

1) Redbooth is WONDERFUL to manage tasks because you can reference your team with an “@” sign, just like twitter, within a task, and it will not only update the message with a time stamp within redbooth BUT it will also send a notification email to your team mate you are referencing. And THIS is where it is valuable. Email notifications simply gets NOTICED! Having the cumbersome duty of visiting the actual website is no longer necessary. The trick is…you can reply to the email notification within your own email and it will update on redbooth as well. Crazy, eh? This saves tons and tons of time.

Below is a screen shot from a project I am working on:

Nifty, eh?

2) Everyone in the project can see EVERYTHING and can see who is referencing who. You can also privatize tasks as well to a few viewers or only yourself. This allows for privacy as well as the ability for everyone to have an overall look at the project in one glance. I highly recommend switching the view to COLUMNS from LIST view because it makes everything more absorb-able (like osmosis!).

How to BEST use this feature is to have tasks with the big picture in mind:
Customer Support, Sales, Website Design, Website Coding, Content, Admin Username and Passwords, Finance.

Redbooth

3) Since the search function is incredibly fast it will be better than wading through your email. You can assign a task. Connected to a task are essential things:

Privacy – you can assign who can see the task.
Integrations – you can connect google documents, dropbox, box, or upload a document from your computer.(To use all integrations you need to upgrade… but attachments are accessible with the free membership).
Time tracking – you can put in how many hours the task took you to finish or how long it took for you to assign the task.
Assigning the task – you can assign it to a team member and they will get an email notification of the due date as well as all the details within the task AND the attachments IN THEIR EMAIL as well as on Redbooth. THIS IS SO USEFUL.

Things are blacked out for privacy.

So why is it good to use over others?

It makes the experience of managing a team, keeping up with deadlines, knowing a task is associated to what project and there is a cookie crumb trail for you CLEARLY DISPLAYED so you can backtrack a task to its origin quite easily, knowing who said what and where and WHEN (everything is time stamped), and being able to see the big picture by a mere GLANCE with the task view.

I am a fan of Redbooth because it makes sense. A lot of thought went into creating this software that is user friendly and intuitively makes sense for me – their consumer.

If you have any questions about Redbooth do not hesitate to ask.

On a personal update:

Went to King King in Hollywood to celebrate my friend Brandon’s bday!

King King, YO! It looks like I might need to get my fingers checked.

Productivity, Startup, Technology, Uncategorized, What I Know About

Gmail, Gmail hack, Google Labs, Undo Google Email

How To Undo Sending An Email In Gmail

March 5, 2014

How To Undo Sending An Email In Gmail

Yes, I know you probably have sent one or two emails you regret and you were in Gmail while you were doing it.

Well, I am here to tell you…. you can UNSEND it. It is a short window of opportunity but better to have a window than to have a closed “You Messed Up, Yo!” door slammed in your face.

Step One. (Redundant, eh?) Anyway, Sign into Gmail OBVIOUSLY.

Click on the icon that looks like a peg at the right hand corner of the screen. Then left click SETTINGS.

Then go to the LABS tab –> Within LABS search for “Undo”.

Then after that click the radio button “Enable” and click “Save”.

Test it out by sending an email and clicking “undo” at the very top when you don’t mean to send it.

YOU ARE DONE!

It has been awhile since I wrote a “How-To” post instead of ramblings.

Updates:

I might be developing a website creation addiction.

After working with my developers for over a month, my commerce website just launched! Sales (non new website related) are going great and it is now tax time again. I am currently working to develop two more websites, both of which are totally unrelated in every sense. One is selling one single product (Funded). One is selling a web service (30K+ project, Funded). I am also taking an automotive class, exercising every week, and I recently moved to a house with 1 other roommate who looks like he loves health. I will reveal these websites in due time – probably won’t be for another 6 months or so.

Being so busy makes me horny… all the time. Does that happen to you? Then you are all like, “Oh shit…” and you have to plow through the feelings by working harder and ignoring your natural urges? Like smothering your groin while it is yelling at you, “Pay attention to me!!”

Ecommerce, Technology, Uncategorized

ecommerce, magento, magento extension, magento extension uninstall, uninstall magento

How To Uninstall A Magento Extension

July 28, 2013 /

How To Uninstall A Magento Extension

I should start with how to even use Magento but I will backtrack and create the links later. What is Magento? It is an ecommerce platform used to sell stuff. What is the extension I am trying to get rid of? M2E which helps sync ebay items to the magento store.

This tutorial is all about uninstalling a magento extension so you can re-install it because if you are anything like me you will click around until you fuck it up. Then you hate yourself for 1 minute before you take a deep breath and do it all over again from the beginning.

STEP 1:

Log into your magento administration panel.

STEP 2:

Click on MAGENTO CONNECT MANAGER.

STEP 3:

Click the dropdown menu besides the extension name and and choose “Uninstall”. Then click “Commit Changes”.

uninstall-magento-extension

TA DA! Done and done.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

KPD-JULY-27-2013

Auto Dismantling, Productivity, Startup, Technology, Uncategorized, What I Know About

Big Horn Gold Mine, Gmail, ware, yes, Yesware

How To Use Yesware For Gmail

July 13, 2013 /

How To Use Yesware For Gmail

yes…YES…OH YES! Yes to Yesware, I say!

Yes to Yesware!

So for the longest time I wonder to myself why does Gmail have a corporate email version but it doesn’t act like outlook which is what the corporate world uses (most of the time). Even if salesforce is integrated there is a response ability that is unmatched on outlook (that is why almost every CRM has an outlook integration).

Along came Yesware.

So damn awesome. Yesware lets you track what emails are being opened when you send them and you can use it to keep better track of your clients/customers/grandma/grandpa’s response rates! Which is GOLD. You can use it to follow up with your customers as well. I really route ALL my emails to Gmail (simply because I love gmail) and I can send out emails using any Alias’s with my gmail. I have over 30 email addresses I can “send as” using my personal gmail address. VERY useful if you start small tiny businesses.

I will show you how to use Yesware. It’s really simple. TRUST ME (more…)

Auto Dismantling, Ecommerce, Startup, Technology, Thoughts, Uncategorized

amazon, google talk, mobile first, mobile movement

Looking At Mobile In A New Way

June 25, 2013

I was watching a google talk video regarding mobile as the new social media. How we are trying to fit our old paradigms onto a different structure and most of us get fixated on cramming what we know works with what is new. And surprisingly it has to do with space confinement and elementary concepts such as dimension. When things started going mobile we don’t inherently jump to what will work with the new model but in our haste to go the easy route we make things more difficult. For example instead of making forms shorter and checkout more simple instead we focus on how to fit everything in a smaller screen so we increase the scroll length. Amazon got it right with the one click checkout process didn’t they? And password protection is made easy with the reroute to email way vs. Figuring out a captcha that doesn’t even fit onto a mobile screen. I want to implement this effort for looking at mobile a different way and I want to see if it will work. I am going to try and bypass the standard checkout line by enabling instant one click checkout scrolling over pictures and tapping or scanning a barcode for my physical retail location. When will this get accomplished? I hope sooner rather than later.

Auto Dismantling, Startup, Technology, Uncategorized

automobile dismantling, hours, independent worker, metrics, work, work hours, xpunch, xpunch.com

How To Keep Track Of Worker Time Online

June 24, 2013

How To Keep Track Of Worker Time Online

Use Xpunch.com

Why? Because even if you manually punch in certain times – it will record the real time of when you made that revision.

So your workers cannot manipulate the time of their punch ins/punch outs.

AND it’s all online.

Very nice interface as well.

Memory is faulty. Use Xpunch to measure your metrics.

You can also use it to keep track of your own worth. How much are you worth in one hour?

xpunch

I owe you guys an apology. I have not been updating DAILY. And when there is caring involved – I can’t ignore that fact. Therefore, I will change it to at least once a week.

Entrepreneur, Life, Startup, Technology, Uncategorized, What I Know About

MailChimp, Mailing List, seth godin, splenda

How To Start A Mailing List With Mailchimp

June 19, 2013 /

How To Start A Mailing List With Mailchimp

Again, back to my Seth Godin obsession. Seth starts his 3 Day Startup event talking about what you will encounter as an entrepreneur but at the very end he focuses in on a really important idea I want to reiterate: Building an online presence and a following is really important.

Why is that?

Say for whatever reason you created a mailing list. Now instead of having 2-3 friends’ opinions, you get 10,000. Sure, you can have facebook, but really… not everyone will go on facebook all the time. However, everyone will check their emails at least 5-10 times a day. GAURANTEED. And all it really takes is one click for them to go from their inbox to your message. Now you are in the realm of the “heard”. All you need to do is build your following.

Seth also highlights the importance of things being share-able but first only to a select niche. Because all you really need is a few people to like what you have to hear but more importantly feel compelled to share what you have to say. That small tiny group can then expand because they will self propagate your message {And really, it doesn’t matter what your message may be… as long as you make it feel share-able.)

Therefore I feel like I should tell you guys about Mailchimp.com. (more…)

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