Yep. It happened. I’ve been buying most of the stuff I own online for at least five years now. I am cautious about who I do business with and where I buy, but I buy something online every week and have never had any problems — until last week. It was an old, established account that got my money (so to speak) and it was my own fault that it happened.

Let me first say I absolutely believe it is safe to buy online. I actually think it’s more of a danger to hand over your credit card to a server who walks away with your card to some dark corner of a restaurant, than it is to use a credit card online. Which, by the way, is how credit card fraud happened to me a few years ago — but that’s a story for another day.

So, let’s talk about what happened last week. My email notifier popped up on my phone and when I went to check it, I had seven order receipts from my PayPal account.

No one but me uses that account so I knew there was something wrong. When I opened the emails, I nearly got sick to my stomach. The receipts were for purchases at the iTunes store and all told amounted to just shy of $300. The really bad part of this is that I keep a minimum amount of funds in my PayPal account — typically less than $200 — so the orders had begun to draw from my bank account (the back up funding source to my PayPal account). It would have been easy to panic.

But I didn’t.

The first thing I did was to log in to my iTunes account, change my password, and cancel my iTunes billing agreement (more on this in a minute). Then I did the same thing with my PayPal account. That stopped the flow. It’s amazing what a few tiny characters can do.

Then I had to worry about cleaning up the mess.

I started with iTunes. I couldn’t find an iTunes support phone number so I called the Apple support number. And here’s an irritating practice. Apple doesn’t have a support phone number for iTunes. The only option you have is to enter a support ticket via their online form and they promise a response within 48 hours. Ugh! So I entered the details of my issue in the online form and sent it on it’s way.

In the meantime, I contacted PayPal phone support. Yes, you can talk to a real live human. Hurray! I was a bit concerned about getting a refund on the fraudulent purchases from iTunes and wasn’t sure if I should initiate an action from my PayPal account or not. The rep (Thanks Amber!) assured me that I surely could do that, either right away or wait until the 48 hours had passed. I decided to wait.

And I waited. And waited. And waited for what seemed like forever. Forty eight hours passed with no response from iTunes. So I decided to give them one more day.

That did the trick. On the third day of waiting — I got the refund emails from PayPal, that iTunes initiated, a short time before I received their email telling me they were refunding. They were very apologetic about the delay and advised me of steps to take to mitigate fraud issues in the future. (I had already done these — first — see above.)

So all is well and my money was completely refunded. I’m relieved. But there’s a lesson in this story and that’s why I’m telling it to you.

1. Your first line of defense for any of your online accounts is your password. It’s a really bad idea to use a “standard” password on many online accounts. I know this and so do you. But do we practice it? Most of us don’t. I’ve gotten in the habit of using my “standard” password when I first set up an online account, then coming back after it’s established and changing it to a more secure password. That is a bad practice. My iTunes account was three years old and I had never changed it to a secure password. There’s no excuse not to change it except pure laziness (or busyness) since I use a really awesome password manager called RoboForm to help me randomly create secure passwords and keep track of them.

2. Don’t set up one click billing agreements. Technology has made it very easy for all of us to do so much in a single click, we’ve gotten lazy. And that can put your finances in jeopardy, just like it did mine. When I think about the possibilities that didn’t happen — what if the purchases had occurred in the middle of the night and subsequently cleaned out my bank account along with triggering all sorts of other charges? The damage could have been several thousand dollars, not a few hundred. It just makes me cringe. I was really lucky. So even though you can set up one click ordering on web sites like iTunes, it doesn’t mean you should. Forward think the possibilities of what could happen if your account is compromised. Then decide what to do. If the possibilities aren’t pretty, then don’t do it. I know I won’t.

3. Change your critical passwords on a regular basis. I’m planning on changing my passwords every time the time changes just like I do my smoke alarm batteries. More frequent would even be better, but at least it’s a start.

There you go. That’s my story about online credit card fraud. You can control what happens to you with a few simple keys by making sure you have a secure password. I’ll certainly be more diligent about it now and leverage the excellent password manager I have at my fingertips. What about you?

Related posts:

1. Don’t Let Your Business Become A Fraud Victim
2. Small Business Security Critical To Your Business
3. Check Your Credit Card Statements Carefully

I’ve been online for a long time — since 1996 when I first started my business. And I’ve seen a lot of changes. Some good, some not so good. But one thing I’ve never gotten used to was the “standard” sales page hype. It turns my stomach.

You know what I’m talking about:

THE BIG RED HEADLINES IN ALL CAPS
followed by tons of yellow highlighting
and a few testimonials (from the same people over and over!)

Spare me please! There is no faster way to get me to leave a website than this sales format. Do you feel the same way too?

So I found it interesting (and refreshing!) that a few of the folks I regularly follow on the interwebs — that feel the same way I do about hype marketing — are working to create a community on the web where people can learn how to sell and make money online using internet marketing strategies without all that hype.

I chose not to join when the community first opened in January of 2010 because I already participate in two online communities — the elite mastermind group run by Lynn Terry and the Problogger community. There are just so many hours in the day, right?

But something new has happened and now I’ve taken the leap into the Third Tribe. And it is an awesome community! On top of the forum — where you can build relationships, get help and help others — the community also includes recorded online (actionable) seminars that you can download and listen to at your leisure. I’ve barely scratched the surface, but plan on listening to all of them. You never know what one take away might make all the difference in your business. And even though I’ve been around a while, and have taught plenty of people my techniques for making a passive income online, there’s always room for growth.

Right now the community membership will cost you $47 a month, but I decided to take the leap because tomorrow it goes up to $97. That’s a pretty steep jump, but even at that price it will be a bargain and a great investment in your business growth. If you are at a point in your business where you could benefit from this type of community, I highly recommend it. Don’t take on a monthly debt you can’t afford, but if you can swing it I’m sure you’ll get a return on your investment.

Will you join me over at the Third Tribe?

P.S. Please let me know if you do join, I’d love to help you out there.

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1. Got Cabin Fever In Your Home-Based Business? Get Out!
2. Dick*Less Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online
3. Get Started Down the Passive Income Path With Affiliate Marketing

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been test driving the HP IPAQ Glisten smartphone. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, or who follow my updates here, you know I have been thrilled with this phone as a useful tool for small business owners.

The Glisten is a major workhorse with really cool features like a QWERTY keyboard, voice commands, GPS options, loads of apps, working on Windows Mobile 6.5. It has a really nice touch screen. One person who had their own phone called it a cross between an iPhone and a BlackBerry. I’d say that’s the best of both worlds.

And because of HP’s generosity, one lucky small business owner won her very own HP IPAQ Glistenin the contest I recently conducted.

And the winner is … Michelle Chance. Congratulations Michelle! You’ve won a great new productivity tool for your small business. Enjoy!

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to enter. You can get your own Glisten right now by going to AT&T. The base price of the phone is $380, but you can currently get it through AT&T for $180 with a 2 year contract. Based on my experience, it’s well worth it.

Related posts:

1. Need a New Mobile Phone? Chance to Win HP IPAQ Glisten
2. What Advice Would You Give to a New Small Business Owner?
3. Small Business Cash Flow Book Contest

I know you’ve heard of Amazon.com, but am not sure you’ve heard of their online — in the clouds — storage service called Amazon S3 (S3 = Simple Storage Service).

Originally built for those wonderful tech geeks and developers among us who create very cool programs and applications to make our life simpler, Amazon S3 is not just for geeks anymore.

It’s an excellent solution to storage issues — things like pictures, videos, audios — all the stuff that’s going to become run of the mill as the interwebs move forward and grow. And it’s dirt cheap. I’ve had several files stored on my account since I set it up last year and my charges have been a whopping $ .05 a month. Yep, you read that right. A whole five cents a month!

It’s not yet super easy to use for non-techies like you and me. But the good news is that tons of “make it easy” tools have been built and it’s getting simpler.

I was lucky. When I decided to get started, one of my mastermind group members, Mark Mason of MasonWorld, walked me through the process. (That’s one of the huge benefits of a mastermind group.)

Unless you join the group you won’t have that benefit, but I did find the next best thing here — A Beginner’s Guide to Amazon S3.

And once you get it going, you’re going to want the S3 Fox Addon for Firefox, S3 Browser, and the S3 Wordpress Plugin. All of them are free.

There are a ton of uses for Amazon S3. If you haven’t looked at them as a possible benefit to your business, now would be a good time.

Let’s talk about it. I’d love to hear how you are using Amazon S3 and what tools you use to make the experience easier.

Related posts:

1. A Mastermind Group Can Be A Sanity Saver
2. Looking for a Cheap Android Phone? Amazon Has Them!
3. How to Maintain the Momentum After a Workshop

I have HP products all over my office and have been a loyal customer for many years. But I was surprised when I found out that HP also makes a mobile phone. Did you know that?

Yep. Their phone is the HP IPAQ Glistenoffered by ATT. And it is really cool. I was given the opportunity to test one out for the next couple of weeks and I’m impressed.

But what is most cool about this phone is that you have a chance to win one — just follow the simple rules below to enter.

This Glisten is a really cool phone. Did I already say that?

It’s a sleek, professional workhorse. Which means that for busy business owners like you, it may just be the ticket. I’ve been working it out by using the phone, taking pictures, sending emails and using the ATT Navigator GPS and it just never seems to run out of battery power. I’ve had a smart phone for a while now and mine seems to eat up batteries like a piranha (I always carry two!). But not this phone. That is a major plus.

I’ll admit that when I opened the box, I just wasn’t sure this would work for me. The phone felt heavy compared to my current touch screen phone and seemed wide. But it’s not. It was all in my head. It took me a very short time to get acclimated to the feel of the phone. And the QWERTY keyboard is a breeze to use.

There are some helpful hot keys that can get you to your apps — like email, the internet, your calendar and GPS — in a second. For other programs, there’s a Windows hot key that takes you to a whole list of programs available very easily.

Plus I really like the fact that the casing isn’t a fingerprint magnet, you can use voice commands for a lot of the functions, and it’s a touch screen too.

If you are looking for a smart phone that will fit the 24 / 7 lifestyle of a small business owner, you can’t go wrong with the HP IPAQ Glisten..

It’s only available on the AT&T network (a new experience for me too!), but given my experience they would be a good choice. The base price of the phone is $380, but you can currently get it through AT&T for $180 with a 2 year contract.

Or you can enter the contest below and take your chances!

Note: The contest closed on 3/15/10. And the winner is…

Note: I was provided a complimentary phone and service to conduct this product review. I am also an affiliate of AT&T. This arrangement does not change my opinion of the phone. It ROCKS!

Related posts:

1. HP IPAQ Glisten — The Winner Is…
2. Tell Your Small Business Story For A Chance To Win Big
3. Your Chance to Win a Business TeleCoaching Scholarship

I am so excited! I have a box full of computer headsets. None of which I like. They are either uncomfortable, or I can’t hear, or people can’t hear me, or, or, or… Until now.

I’ve had getting a new computer headset on my “I want it” list for a while and am just not really good at shopping around. I’m not big on “in person” shopping at all and often there are so many choices online, it’s tough to make a decision. Plus I like to hear about other people’s experience with techno-gadgets before I leap.

So when my colleague Lynn Terry talked about her wireless computer headset recently, I sat up and paid attention. The wireless option sounded really super to me — to not be tethered to my computer would be a really cool thing!

Well, it arrived on Friday and I put it to work right away. This headset is awesome! The sound quality — both from a listening and speaking perspective is excellent.

Heck, I even activated my Skype for Business account and am looking forward to using my new VOIP phone service (more on that in another post).

Here’s what I really like about this computer headset in addition to it being wireless.

>> It has a 40 foot range. While I was catching up on my long list of audio recordings last night, I walked all over my house (even outside!) and never lost the signal. My house isn’t huge (about 2300 sq), but my office is at one end while everything else is at the other. The headset never missed a beat.

>> Up to eight hours of usage. Eight hours is a pretty long time to wear a headset (unless you’re a gamer — I’m not). This amount of time will be plenty for me on a daily basis, even when I spend an entire day on conference calls.

>> Super comfortable. The ear covers and top of the headset are covered with comfy, cushy padding. Even after a few hours it was easy to forget I was wearing this headset.

>> Controls on the headset. The left ear cover has volume and fast forward controls which is really convenient. And all you have to do is lift the mouthpiece to mute your sound.

The only thing that might be a drawback for some people is that you can’t use it while it’s charging. I don’t see that as a problem for me as I plan to charge it at night while I sleep.

I am so looking forward to using this headset over the long term. If you are searching for a comfortable, high quality wireless computer headset at a modest price, you owe it to yourself to give the Plantronics Audio 995 Wireless Computer Headset a try.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this headset or another that you’ve used. Please take a moment and leave me a comment.

P.S. I love this headset so much I bought two! That way I always have a fresh, fully charged headset for my listening (and talking!) needs.

Related posts:

1. Skype Is Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
2. Backing Up Is Not Hard To Do, But We Don’t
3. Small Business Security Critical To Your Business

I’ve used an online fax service since 2007 and have been totally happy with it. If you’re looking to ditch your fax machine and “go green” with faxes, it  might be worthwhile to take a look at my online fax review.

Recently Nextiva contacted me and asked if I’d take a look at their service. I’m always open to looking at new (to me!) providers on the market so they set me up with a temporary free account that would give me a chance to take their online fax service for a test drive and tell you about it. (Note: You can take a 30 day free trial here.)

I was impressed. Their online dashboard is simple to navigate and easy to understand. I was sending and receiving faxes in minutes. The service is very quick so faxes show up right away.

Nextive fax service allows you to send and receive by email, from the web, or via your cell phone (if you have email access on your phone), and you can fax from any Microsoft application too.

I didn’t have an opportunity to use their support system, but based on the research I did on Nextiva it appears their customer support is top notch, which can be a huge differentiator for an online service provider.

Based on my test drive and what I’ve been able to ferret out, I’d say Nextiva is a top notch choice if you’re moving to an online fax service. And you can’t beat the price. Right now you can get service as low as $6.95 a month if you choose to pay annually. With that option, you’re allowed 500 pages a month (a lot!).

So if you want to be “more green” to help the environment, save time and money in your business, you owe it to yourself to give Nextiva online fax service a try.

Have you used Nextiva online fax? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Note: I liked the service so much I became an affiliate. That means if you choose to sign up with them, I’ll get a commission. That’s how I provide the free resources on this website for you.

Related posts:

1. Special Deal on My Favorite Virtual Phone Service – RingCentral
2. Setster is a Cool Online Appointment Calendar
3. Test Your Fax IQ With This Short Quiz

One of the things you don’t want to have to worry about spending a bunch of time on in your business is keeping track of your financial transactions. But knowing your cash flow is critical to the health of your small business, so how do you find the balance?

Your answer is QuickBooks Accounting Solution – the smartest, easiest way to help your business succeed. Get more out of your business with QuickBooks 2008.  More efficiency,  More productivity,  More success.

Top 5 Reasons to Use QuickBooks:

>> Spend less time on routine tasks, such as creating estimates & invoices or paying bills, so you can have more time to run your business

>> Know where your business stands financially by quickly creating and accessing profit & loss statements, balance sheets and customizable reports

>> Make better-informed business decisions with accurate sales, profit, and individual customer and vendor data at your fingertips

>> Be better prepared at tax time with categorized income and expenses

>> Access additional QuickBooks services, from complete payroll management to credit card processing(sold separately).

>> QuickBooks delivers a full set of solutions designed to help small businesses succeed

When I started my company in 1996, I had no clue how to deal with the financial aspects. My accountant got me started on QuickBooks and I’ve never looked back. It’s a great product, plain and simple. I’ve tried both the computer based version and the online version and they both work really well. Your QuickBooks solution will depend on how you work best.

Give it a try and see how you like it — Save 20% Off QuickBooks Premier Accounting Software + Free Shipping
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