This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, what's up? Thanks for tuning in today. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Got a listener question for you here. Today's caller uses the popular mobile payment service Venmo.
Do you ever use Venmo? It can be really helpful when you're out for dinner with friends, or I use it sometimes to tip my hairdresser. Like there's a way to, you know, add the tip to the bill, but that then goes through the hair salon. She gets it on her check, you know, a few weeks later or something. Whereas if I send her Venmo, I actually get it right away, you know?
So lots of people use Venmo, but our caller is wondering about using it for both personal and professional use. And they're expanding into a new business, which they'll tell us about, and they're worried it's not considered professional enough. Like do they need a merchant account? Do they need to accept credit cards directly? Do they need a blockchain ledger, a gold treasury in which to receive payments?
Okay, maybe not those last two. But the point is, is it okay to only use a more informal payment network like Venmo, where it could be Cash App, it could be something else, for business transactions? Good question. I don't know if we've ever had this question in all of our different episodes. So let's see if I can give some helpful feedback.
Question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hey, Chris, this is Lindsay, and I've been listening to the show for a couple of years. I wanna use Venmo as the exclusive payment option for my delivery business. It's what my friends use, and most people I know are pretty familiar with it. It's so easy, you just pull out your phone and pay someone.
But part of me thinks that this is unprofessional and that I should offer other options as well. Am I wrong to think I could get away with only offering Venmo for payment? Thanks for your advice on this. [Music]
Hey, Lindsay, you're awesome. Thank you so much for tuning in and for calling in.
Really simple answer here. For this decision and anything else that's related to it, it really depends on your customer. It depends on your customer. Well, let's say what you were selling and who that customer is, okay? So what you're selling and to whom, like if you are selling high-end tax preparation services to business executives, then Venmo is probably not the best option, or at least maybe not the most professional one, like to use this scenario.
Or if you're a Zoomer selling social media consults to your friends, it's probably fine, right? At least if that's what your friends are used to spending with. Like you said, lots of people are used to it. It is super simple. So honestly, I think if you always make these kinds of decisions with your ideal customer in mind and thinking through how will they perceive it?
Will it be advantageous to them? Will it be beneficial? Will they think, "Oh, this is really easy, that's great." Or will they think, "Oh, that's a little bit weird. I use Venmo to tip my hairdresser, but I don't want to necessarily pay for this coding project," or whatever it is, then that gives you some information too, right? And there will most likely be other choices like this down the road, but if you just keep asking yourself what is easiest and most natural for my people, my ideal customer, my target market, that information is your compass point.
So for Lindsay's delivery service, who are the customers? What are they accustomed to? Answer that and you have your other answer. There you go. As I said, pretty simple, but hopefully helpful.
And listeners, if you've got a question, something you're trying to figure out, or an idea, sidehustleschool.com/questions, let me know what you're up to, what's going well, and what is a challenge. We'll continue to feature them throughout the year, new episode every single day. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
