Fiverr.com: Cheap labor, clever ideas

San Diego real estate broker Kimberly Dotseth turned me on to one of the coolest bargain sites I’ve seen in a long time. Fiverr lets people put up offers to do a kabillion creative, fun jobs for a fiver — five bucks. Here’s a sample of products and services you can buy for five bucks:

• Create a simple banner ad
• Write a customized limerick
• Make a tough decision for you
• Tweet your message to thousands of followers
• Record a voice over in a native British accent
• Add music to your video 
• Send your child a personalized letter from Santa Claus
• Create a QR Code
• And on, and on and on… Hilarious and fun!

Square: Credit card reader for your smartphone

Credit card machines for small businesses can be expensive and a hassle, and often you have to enter into a contract with a company for the equipment and the service. But if you’re a small business like me, a super-easy credit card reader like Square may be just the ticket.

Square is a tiny little card reader that slips into the audio port of your Android phone, iPhone or iPad. You set up a free account, get a free reader and can start swiping cards immediately. The system is linked to your bank account, and the money transfers in the next day. They charge no setup or maintenance fees, and take just 2.75% out of every transaction. They’ll even help you calculate and keep track of sales tax.

I’ve been practicing with the reader by charging the price of my book on my husband’s credit card. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is going to have plenty of copies to give away for Christmas.

See the full review here:

 

New Giveaway — Enter by Wednesday!

We’re giving away three Advance Reader Copies of Upgrade to Free on Wednesday. Enter to win now!

PS — Did you know Upgrade to Free is available for pre-order at a great price? Love those bargains!

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