It is possible to run your own payment system for you small business without the cumbersome machine rentals.

By Denise Thompson

Last year, after years of discontented work for controlling employers, I decided it was time to put all my education to the test and really venture out on my own. I decided it was time to start my own small business. It was easy enough to decide in home personal training was the right avenue with my extensive background in personal training and injury rehab, the difficult part was getting set up on the business end of things. 

I had all the tools needed to train people, a car, equipment, knowledge out the yin yang; but how was I going to receive their money?  I looked into expensive, cumbersome solutions such as Moneris Solutions.  With this option I would have to go through an application process then pay ridiculous fees for the equipment and per transaction. The clucky machine would also add to all the equipment I needed to take from home to home for the training itself. 

So I began a search.  My goal was to be able to fully run my business with as little overhead as possible.  After looking into Paypal and discovering the small fees they would take per transaction I decided this was a reasonable way to go.  My next step was then to find a piece of software that I could install on my website and run myself.  After an exhaustive search and hours of reading through reviews of various products I settled in on a piece of software called idev-Payments from a small Canadian run company called idevspot.com (see resources).  I liked the idea of supporting another small, Canadian business like my own.  In my search I found many great products on the market.  This one worked well for me and my business needs but many options are available. See my resources to check out how this software looks and functions once up and running on my own website.

Most of these products are as simple as downloading them to your site, customizing the header and footer to match the rest of your website, and then using the backend of the software to add in your products.  Simple and easy; within a very short period and a small amount of work you can have your own payment receiving system up and running.  And with if you choose a more advanced piece of software such as idev-payments, sales and customer information can be easily stored and tracked without having to do any work at all; making things very neat and tidy come tax time. 

So one year later I am the happy business owner of http://www.prestigefit.ca. I have broken free from the chains and also managed to find ways to help other people with a similar mindset through my purchasing choices.  It was much easier than I ever would have imagined.  Don’t be afraid to take action. There is a wealth of information and resources out there that will help you on your way.