Square

I've never owned a business before, but I'm almost positive that its a main goal to get money, though correct me if I'm wrong. As such, it would seem to be like the method of getting the money from the customer to the person would be of great importance. That's where I come in today to write about a little device called Square. Any business owner almost needs a smartphone or tablet nowadays, and Square is a small device that you plug into one of those that swipes credit cards. The best part, its only $10, whereas the cheapest cash register I could find was about $50. In that sense, I don't get why you wouldn't want one of these if you owned a business, its easy and uses  a device you already have.

Square just hooks into your audio jack on your phone, and you can directly swipe credit cards. Its that easy, and the customer is e-mailed their receipt. This eliminates the need for a large cash register that would need some kind of programming to run, which would be a lot harder than the setting on Square. The only problem I could see if that for this to work, it really would need to be only you or a very trusted employee doing this, as there is some margin for cheating, say if they transfer some of the money to their own accounts. Despite that, in my opinion its a much better decision than destroying space for a checkout in your business.

The other advantage to Square is that it draws on technology you already have, You don't have to go out and buy a whole new register. You already have a smartphone, and Square just lends another use to your device. The other advantage to having this kind of payment system is that you don't have to deal with a third party, and can put your money directly into one of your online wallets. I see this as being used mostly in retail and food, but the options are truly limitless. A travelling salesman would have his job infinitely increased by the ability to make quick, mobile payments. A small consultant could get their payments a lot faster and easier than if they were to accept payment in the traditional way.

Square is  device that I believe has revolutionized small business. Its a device that draws on your current hardware to provide you with a fail-safe way to get credit card payments, and not have to be one of those annoying stores that takes cash-only. I'm not saying its a product that everyone should have, but if you run a small business you should seriously consider it.