payPod Small Business Blog

A small business blog from one business owner to another. Keep up to date with payPod developments and read articles about small business advice, challenges and everyday musings.

Collect Online Payments with PayFast & payPod

You can now add a PayFast "Pay Now" button to your invoices and start accepting online payments using a variety of methods, such as Credit Card, Instant EFT and Mobicred.

We Interviewed an Online Business Owner who has Invested his Future In South Africa

South Africa, known for suffering an exodus of skilled professionals for greener pastures, is not the first place South African's think of investing their money. While many South Africans were dreaming of departing, Mr Osterloh instead saw an opportunity. We wanted to see South Africa from his perspective and find out what we could learn from his experience.

How to Start an Online Business in 2020 that Actually Makes Money

Cookie-cutter advice of years past not necessarily going to work in 2020, so I am going to take everything I have learnt in my ten years of online business, and form a clearer picture of what will actually lead to success.

I am not going to dwell on the current state of affairs too much. Let's just assume that you plan to start a business that is conducted mostly online, and with minimal, if any, in-person contact.

5 First-Hand Tips for Staying Productive as a Freelancer

No productivity life-hacks here. I’m going to share real-world advice that will have an immense impact on your success as a freelancer or remote worker. I have been an online worker for ten years, and had a good deal of success in recent times, but much, much more failure before that.

South African Freelancers, Please Raise Your Rates

Freelancing online feels like a race to the bottom. At least that’s what I’ve experienced - both when working as one, and when looking to hire one. You see, sites like Fiverr promise clients the world for tiny amounts of money. They make big promises to both the freelancer and client and fail to deliver to either.

5 Good Reasons You Should Never Start a Business

I love working on my own terms. I like choosing when to wake up and when to take my lunch-break. I also really LOVE making my own choices with product development and direction. Let’s be real; who wouldn’t? Being your own boss is the ultimate dream for many of us.

That said, I was in no way prepared to deal with the responsibility that comes with those choices. When I started my first business, I was broke, down, and out. Getting customers was hard and stability was elusive. I failed.

How to Market your Small Business Online - Without Adverts

When it comes to online marketing for your business, you don’t want ads to be your primary marketing method. It annoys people and costs money; usually for every single click.

How & When to Say No to a Client

Saying ‘no’ is one of the most important things I have learned how to do during my time as a developer, business owner, and freelancer.

Not saying no can easily lead to a far more enraged client than if you had blindly given in to all of their requests. It can also cost you a lot of money, time and health to try to keep up with constant changes or scope creep.

Now, I’m not saying you should default to “No”, but here are some clear examples I have dealt with first-hand

payPod 2020 Update - New Features & Payment Plans

Six months ago, an announcement was made that new paid features would be introduced. While there were some delays, I am happy to announce that the much-requested features have now been made available.

We have introduced two new paid plans. Those who previously purchased "payPod Lifetime Unbranded" will, of course, retain the unbranded invoices and quotes whether they upgrade to a paid plan or not.

Please see the upgrade page for an overview of pricing and features.

payPod Update - New Developments

This is a follow-up to this announcement where I mentioned plans to develop payPod further, and requested feedback on what people would like to see.

Based on the many feedback emails received, development of several new features is underway. Some free improvements have already been rolled out, such as the email history and email bounce notifications when sending quotes and invoices.