Those are great Ideas Hoppytrapsfur, Thank you and thank everyone else as well, great ideas from everyone.

Dave Scott was on target about paying your own health care and retirement. But your bigger and more immediate concern is making your payroll tax payments on time. If you get behind with payroll taxes then you will sooner or later find out how unforgiving the IRS realy is. The penalties and interest can be killers.

Mike Dwyer, President
Critter Control, Inc.
"Protecting People, Property & Wildlife"

Discover 'Animal Facts,' have fun with 'Animal Trivia,' and send 'Critter Cards' FREE at http://www.crittercontrol.com

Thanks Mike those are great things to keep in mind...

having read these posts, there are several great replies.
one area you are missing is an internet ad? webb advertising with the right company puts your name in front of people that can AFFORD your services.
bob

vv i tried to send a pm to you i don't know if it went through oor not cxould you please reply if not

And so in the long saga of daily life, Genesis Wildlife Control Inc. is born...

Wish me luck or plan my demise but here I go.

Darn, I was going to move to St Louis!!!

LOL. good luck man!

The best to you Paul!

Best of Luck to you, Barkstone....If I can be of any help you can always PM me with any questions....but I'm sure you'll do fine! Break a leg......vv

What would be considered a good rate on merchant credit card processing?

I am most likely going to have an imprint machine in my truck and a terminal at home so I will not be swiping at first. (with time and when there is less of a crunch on cashflow I will have a swiper.)

I have been quoted
1.64% plus $.19 per transaction swiped.
1.98% plus $.26 per transaction keyed in.

I have the equipment so there will be no additional charges other then a minimum monthly processing charge of $19.00

Any advice or suggestions would certainly be welcome. Comparitivly this seemed like a pretty good plan.

I would think unless your doing alot of transactions, propay or paypal would be alot better choices. $19 A MONTH? Holy Frioalas!

Paul,

What other fees are included in this? Is that the debit card rate or credit card?

We can get your rates down to as low as .65% with the proper equipment in the field.

The thing you have to be careful of is that they say one rate and when you get your statement it says something different. Ask them about Non-Qual and Mid-Qual transactions and the rates for them as a lot of your transactions will fall into this category if you are not swiping and the various cards out there.

These are the only transactions listed or discussed. the lower rate was if swiped the higher rate was for just keying in the numbers at home after writing them on the contract.

I just can not justify spending $1200.00 for some equipment that will only save me $2 per transaction when I will not have much over 500 transactions this year maybe.....

I brought this post out of the depths to put perspective on Lt Greys drive for post hood.

It may never have made it to a second page (YET) but it sure got the looks!

The most of any post here.

Well then , lets go for round two! This is a great question, for the simple fact that, it's the first thing a guy wants to know if he' s serious about getting in this business!!! Just what do I do? This should be one of the top asked and answered questions in my book! I can literally make or break you. Why is it so many trappers fail when they get into this business? I mean, they're good trappers, right? Someone answer this for all of us and lets get this question rollin' again!

It would be good to know what you thought the mistake was of a company that failed in your area, if that has happened.( Here, I see them come and go).

An unskilled trapper won't last long at all. But a mediocre to average trapper with a good operating system and business management skills will still be in business long after a great trapper who lacks either a good operating system or business management skills has closed his doors.

Even being the very best at catching animals is not enough. In my opinion most companies/individuals who fail at wildlife damage control do so because they lack the skills or tools to succesfully run their business.


Mike Dwyer, President
Critter Control, Inc.
"Protecting People, Property & Wildlife"

Discover 'Animal Facts,' have fun with 'Animal Trivia,' and send 'Critter Cards' FREE at http://www.crittercontrol.com

Well put Mike. Anyone else?

I think the biggest thing for me, if I was to give any advice would be to understand that the trapping and business skills have to be in place, as well as equipment, insurance, licences and all of that but that in the begining its not about taking calls and solving customers problems. Its about spending every living moment advertising, getting your info out there and finding ways to market yourself.

In short, what I am trying top say is to be successful you have to have skills to do ADC, but just as important is that you have to be a marketing guru as well.

....and with that gentlemen, Barkstone has a 2 page post!
( As it should be!)