Over the years, I’ve been asked countless times why I am so passionate about credit card processing and my answer has always been the same; because I truly love what I do. But after a recent eye-opening conversation with a member of my team, I was compelled to change my answer and write this blog on Blooming Where You Are Planted. My employee was conflicted because I’m always saying that we need to ‘love’ what we do and guess what? She does not love credit card processing. The more I thought about it, I realized that neither do I! Now don’t get me wrong, I do love elements of our business but my young team member opened my eyes to the fact that we do not necessarily need

Tax Day is the day on which individual income tax returns are due to the federal government. When the country was in its infancy, it struggled to raise funds from the 13 original states. The government collected the first income tax during the Civil War (1862 – 1872) to fund the war and its costs. Early taxes were based on assessments, not voluntary tax returns. They set a flat rate of 3 percent on incomes higher than $800. Over the next four years, Congress expanded the tax as members cut the amount of income that could be exempted and introduced higher, graduated rates. By 1865, the last year of the Civil War, the highest income tax rate, 10 percent, was applied to income in excess of $5,000. Congress,

Have you ever noticed that motivation is a DAILY job? It’s not one of those ‘get it done once’ things, it is something that we have to work at all of the time! You might think that being a SMILEY makes my job easy but let me tell you- I have to work at it every day as well! OK- so when I look in the mirror- I am immediately reminded that I am HAPPY most of the time but even those optimistically minded among us, need to be sure to get daily doses of motivation! Here are a few of my best Sir Smiley Tips on keeping that attitude right where it needs to be to keep both your business and personal lives- moving in the skyward

I just finished saying- TGIF- when this story landed in my INBOX: I hope you enjoy it and I hope you have a GREAT PERSPECTIVE! The Power of Perspective by John G. Miller The QBQ! Guy I don’t know about you, but from what I hear and read, people don’t seem very happy nowadays. The economy is struggling, the stock market is dropping, and consumer confidence is in the tank. A brand new poll shows that 89% of Americans are unsatisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Meanwhile, our political “leaders” can only seem to point fingers at the media, whine about their bad luck, and attack each other. Maybe it’s those “dog days” of summer. Maybe we’re just cranky. I don’t know. But

We get the answers to the questions we ask- which means that asking the RIGHT questions can have a very dramatic impact on our daily lives! Ask a BAD question (Why do bad things always happen to me?) and your mind goes straight to work finding the answer! Ask a GOOD question (How do I always end up in the right place at the right time?) and your mind goes straight to work to find the answer. The magic part of this equation, of course, is that WE decide what questions to ask and so by asking better questions, we have the opportunity to get better answers! Here are a few ways to determine if the questions you ask yourself set you up for success! Do you have