Merchant Cash Advance Blog

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. We have all learned how to take precautions when giving out personal information and how to guard personal documents. Being PCI compliant is as important as it has ever been. Thieves are always concocting new and devious ways to steal your Identity. Approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses totaling upwards of $50 billion. Identity theft includes one or more of three types of incidents: (1) unauthorized use or attempted use of an existing account, (2) unauthorized use or attempted use of personal information to open a new account, (3) misuse of personal information for a fraudulent purpose.

Fall means football season, and along with that comes an enormous revenue opportunity for bars and restaurants.  According to TV by the numbers, 64% of Americans watch NFL football, a large number that does not include the legions of college football fans around the country.  ESPN is in the midst of a study to show how many people are choosing to view games outside of the home.  Preliminary numbers show that 10-20% of American viewers watch at bars, restaurants and gyms.  With these numbers being so large and continually increasing it’s an important customer base to cater to.  Drawing in football fans can actually be quite easy, but there is a cost involved.  The payoff for bringing in these customers can be exceptional and will also add to your regular customer base even when the season ends.

Whether you own a liquor store, bar or restaurant, cocktails should be central to your holiday business plan. Promoting original recipes or classic festive holiday drinks will help to bring in additional revenue.  In a liquor store setting, providing samples of these drinks to customers will expose them to new tastes and even make them nostalgic over old favorites.  Be sure to provide recipe cards and a list of products needed to create them.  In a restaurant or bar, creating colorful menus that show off these seasonal items will catch your customer’s eye and encourage them to indulge.  Here we’ve compiled some of our favorite holiday cocktail recipes.

Jason has been with Sterling since January 2012. He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY but moved to Florida in late 2009 to escape the snowy winters. He currently lives in Clearwater, FL.

Prior to moving to Florida, Jason earned is Associates of Science Degree in Business Administration. He also worked in varying sales environments and attended sales training. His focus has always been mostly toward financial products, though. Initially, Jason was hired by our sister company, Sterling Payment Technologies to work with merchants on their credit card processing. It just so happened that a sales position came open with Quikstone Capital Solutions and the match was made.

There has been so much in the news lately about company data being breached and credit card numbers being stolen.  Regardless of the size of your business, it is important to be aware of how data breaches can occur and to have a data breach response plan in place. In fact, PCI standards now require it. The following nine steps are designed to help guide you through what can be unfamiliar territory. The most important thing to remember is that prompt action is imperative! The risks associated with a data breach do not go away when a data breach is ignored; they grow—exponentially.