To accept credit cards your business needs a credit card processing system. Creating a merchant account gives you that ability. Merchant accounts are accounts especially crafted to fit needs of businesses to accept money.

If you own a store, you will need a card swipe terminal to accept credit card payments. Your merchant account provider may be able to provide you with this equipment. There will be a purchase fee or rent fee associated with equipment. You can also shop elsewhere for point of sale equipment. POS terminal software can ease processing of credit cards and can ease job of a cashier at grocery stores, merchandise stores, bookshops, or any other type of store you own.

Once equipment is in place you are ready to go. When a customer asks ‘do you accept credit cards?’ your answer will be a definite yes. At Point of Sale terminal, customers can check out their items and pay by credit. You slide credit card into machine and it will automatically make payment.

To accept credit cards is even more crucial for Internet merchants. If you only use checks to accept payments, it can be troublesome for customers to write and mail check. Online payment methods such as Paypal and StormPay also have drawbacks since many people do not have accounts with them. These can be your secondary payment methods but it is important to be able to accept credit cards.

There's a great little article ('Business Lifeforms') on back pages of UK's leading management magazine, Management Today each month. It's a spoof (at least I think it is!) about some fictitious key player in a fictitious organisation. For January, it's about Ken, who's a 'Facilities Manager'.

Now Ken has seen it all and truly worked his way up from bottom to top. Until, that is, a couple of years ago when new MBA-armed suits took over and decide to slash Ken's department (until now, running very, very smoothly under Ken's watchful eye) and Ken himself. Of course it all goes pear-shaped and top dog has to come grovelling back to Ken, offer him loads of money and a big car, basically to ensure that toilets aren't 'backing up' any more!

This is in direct contrast to Michael Gerber, in his fascinating book The E-Myth Revisited. There he talks about working 'on' business and 'in' business, making it clear that if you do too much of grindstone not-my-expertise stuff yourself, you lose track of what you are really good at, and what you went into business for.

In a past life, I too experienced challenging outsourcing. At one time I had a great little local cleaner who I trusted (he even opened store up for me - hmmm, that was a long time ago!). He did an excellent job and was on hand for emergencies. Then a new senior director decided to consolidate and outsource, for 'economy and consistency'. It was cheap - but service was awful. Each time I got a new 'centrally sourced' cleaning company, they came with great intentions for first 3 months and then dribbled off (with our money!) until it became unsustainable and another 'excellent contractor' came along.