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Education

Also, attend the regional acquirers shows held
annually in four U.S. regions. In addition to the
benefits of networking and education, you'll To gain this knowledge one must walk the
come back motivated from all the shop talk walk of a merchant level salesperson (MLS)
that happens at these shows. An association
for women in payments, Wnet, mentors and and hit the road to sell merchant accounts.
supports women's leadership. This will allow you to fully understand

It's another place to get an education through the merchant application process, how to
meetings, seminars and periodic training. coordinate equipment and downloads and
Initially, there's no need to attend large national
shows like the ETA's Transact, which can be support merchants' needs, and what goes on
overwhelming. The big shows are something at the ISO or processor you're reselling for.
to work toward as you learn and grow in your
journey toward opening your ISO.
Business basics Service, the secret sauce

Owning and running a business in any market isn't easy. Which brings us to our last part of the query: How do you
You must understand not only your market, but also the make sure you have all the basics covered? There is no
mechanics of opening and running a business. When magic checklist to ensure you have all the basics covered,
starting an ISO, the primary dual concerns are merchant but in running an ISO, service is what will build your
boarding and housekeeping. From structuring your business reputation. Superior service to your sales agents/
business, tax planning and payroll taxes, to keeping the MLS and your merchant customers will set you apart from
lights on, you wear many hats as an ISO owner. We've your competitors in your area.
had to be the IT person, as well as the plumber. Some
parts of running a business aren't glamorous. You have to This is one area you cannot forget when opening an ISO.
be prepared for what this journey may bring. You'll find The way you assist your customers, specifically your
areas where you haven't planned adequately. You need to communication skills and the speediness of your remedies,
weather it all. are what will build the business. If you don't focus on this,
it won't take long for dissatisfied customers and MLSs to
Looking back, we would have done a few things differently. complain on sites like Google and BBB.
For one, don't be afraid to outsource tasks that are not your
expertise. One area for us is accounting and bookkeeping. You want to protect your ratings. It's invaluable to be able
We tried to keep this in the house for years, and it was a to inform merchants that you have an A+ BBB rating. We
big expense. At some point, we hired a CPA firm to do our know, because we do. When you look up your competitors
accounting and taxes. This was a big relief. We previously in the merchant service world, you will see that people
struggled to keep trained employees in this role. Ultimately, do complain and that many processors have poor ratings.
we saved money by outsourcing this, and we were able to Avoid this by making your service model a top priority.
sleep at night knowing it was all taken care of. Your good reputation in this market will assist you in
growing valuable industry contacts and gaining credibility
Another area we would recommend outsourcing unless to fuel your growth.
you have this talent is the creation of marketing materials
and advertising campaigns. If you weren't trained in Safari Njema!
or don't have a natural ability in this, you'll spend hours
trying to create a basic flyer or advertisement. We know Dee Karawadra is president and CEO of Impact PaySystem, and Emily
because we've done this ourselves in the past. Websites Karawadra is the company's chief financial officer. Since 2001, Impact
like freelancer.com will allow you to submit your needs for PaySystem has been a leading provider of payment processing technolo-
design work, and you can pair up with someone who will gies and services to merchants throughout the United States. Through
get it done to your specifications at a good price. alliances with payments industry leaders such as Chase Paymentech,
First Data, Buypass, Sage and more, Impact PaySystem offers tailored
The importance of having professional marketing materials solutions to meet the unique needs of each merchant. Dee and Emily will
is a high. This is how your prospective merchants or sales
agents will view your company. If your collateral looks like welcome your questions and comments at dee@impactpays.com and
your child created it, it's time to outsource. Your reputation emily@impactpays.com, respectively.
in this industry will make or break you.

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