Originally published on Small Business Trends on October 29th, 2007.
For any small business starting out, cash flow can be a major issue. It seems like we’re always stuck somewhere between the past-due bills and outstanding invoices. One of the best ways that a small business can ease the flow of funds from customer accounts to their own is by providing the ability to pay with a credit card.
For online merchants who sell products this is a no-brainer. But service providers should consider this option as a way to get paid …

Then, one day, Google decided that we could all change a couple of zone files and point our mail traffic at their servers, and they would be delighted if came in a used their beautiful applications … for free. And it wasn’t just email. It was integrated calendaring and chat, and it was all built on open standards with easy accessibility through a set of APIs. Google decided that anyone could use their suite of online applications to manage the communications within their domain.

The 90% Rule says “If you find a tool that can achieve 90% of the functionality of your ‘Perfect Tool’, you’re 90% of the way to finding a solution.” All too often, managers try to find tools that solve 100% of the problem, something that is often unachievable. Here are a couple of the traps that can lead to this thinking ….