Out with the oLd…
Among the things I learned from the pandemic was how to run my business better. It might come as a surprise that they teach you absolutely zilch about the business end of music, just how to be someone called: a musician. No business courses, training, nuthin’. And since we find our community is something of a financial pickle, I’ve had to make a couple of choices that might get me on Suze Orman’s ‘nice’ list.
The first change is that I’ll only be offering 30-minute lessons to students 12 y/o and younger. I’ve found that 45-min is really the sweet spot for lesson length. It allows more time for playing concepts, playing together, and a relaxed pace to the experience. Luckily, it doesn’t impact any current students. And, nobody misses what they’ve never seen.
Second, and this was the harder one, no more credit card payments. I’m tired of somebody, somewhere eating my lunch. I’ll explain.
The year was 2019. And like any pizza joint on Main St. in any American town, you could get a HUGE slice for about $3. Here in Manchester, Mulberry Pizza is that place. I’d get two slices on those long teaching days that would carry me through until later in the evening. These days, The Mulb is still good (though they went on double secret probation at times for some inconsistent pizza chefs) but those two slices are more like $10+. My point? Well, last week while doing the data entry on sales, the processing fee that I pay on the sale was about the same as lunch before the dark times. Price of doing business? It used to be. But with my clientele willing to pay cash or check, or even better: Venmo, that doesn’t charge a fee (yet), why did I take them in the first place? Perhaps I wanted to give the client convenience, their ‘points’, or maybe it meant I was a ‘real’ business by doing so. Now, I see taking cards as letting the credit companies eat my lunch.
Generally, the processing fee is about 2.75-3.5% of the sale. Where does that go? Straight out of town, never to be respent within the same local economy. If you watch the financial reports, you also know that these companies make Billions. IN PROFIT. PER QUARTER!!! Profit is the part after you’ve paid salaries, bonuses, operating expenses, fines, etc. Imagine for a moment that the 3% were to stay in town. How much healthier would our local economies be? A moot point to Chase and the rest, they don’t live here.
Another reason is just plain ol’ disgust. Yeah, yeah, I tried calling my card’s customer service and tried to get an interest rate reduction, and got the same thing you got: NOPE. I was shocked too, because I’ve been an on-time, balancing-carrying, regular customer for at least 20 years. I think the first engagement ring is buried in that balance somewhere. Still, the company was enjoying the relationship and didn’t think any adjustment was necessary. 6 points higher, and there’s not even a discussion. Rates are automatically reviewed, and the payer has no petition in the matter anymore. Try it, and see.
When I started my website, Paypal was my hero. A bulldog for consumer confidence, they went after any fraud and made sure you knew about it. I turned my friend onto it for his business. He never let me pay for lunch again. Fastforward to now, Paypal decides the app I’ve used to take payments on my phone will be discontinued. The alternative is Paypal Zettle. That old Paypal reader that cost $35? It’s worthless, but we’ll send you a new one for free, they said. All those things in your store? Sorry, you’ll have to re-enter them, again. Their port, one would have thought everything could have been transferred on the back end. Names on transactions? Only if you’re willing to give away your client’s info. But the worst part was the website. A client, who was scammed through a Paypal transaction years ago, contacted me to tell me she couldn’t use her credit card on the website like she had done countless times before. Tried it myself, and yep, Paypal shut off that part of their service with NO NOTIFICATIONS. So, I think they’re trying to tell me something, maybe that they don’t need my business. Got it, see ya.