A little flashback first: Started working at 14, and over the next 20 yrs for over half a dozen companies in the restaurant industry. 10 of those last years in management with a very successful restaurant, so I understand what small business owners want, don’t want, and go through to succeed in business.  I have met thousands of customers over the years in the hospitality industry, and enjoy meeting a variety of people from all walks of life.

I first got into the payment industry after an unsuccessful short lived career in cold canvassing/ATM (automated teller machine) sales.

The first payment processing provider I worked for were crooks.  I sold for them for 2wks discovering along the way how bad they were, but had to stay for 6mths daily bugging them to death to make sure that my customers got serviced properly.

Realizing after a while that if I didn’t start helping people navigate through this payment processing stuff, then they’ll never get the full scope from any company.
It’s been interesting getting to a point where I am now sort of like a broker because of working with multiple payment providers.

A fortunate realisation came that each provider had one or two products that were good and priced well for a few specific business models and sizes, but that every other payment solutions they had was mediocre.  And if I were exclusive to one provider, then I would be forced to sell their mediocre products along with their good ones.

There has not been a love interest with payment processing, but I love meeting entrepreneurs every day, helping them decode and make simple the purposely confusing language and marketing of these huge companies.

Dabbling in four different businesses in between my stints working for other people in restaurants.  Wow!
They were learning lessons in life and business (especially how deficient I was as a business owner and working without a time clock or boss).  I learned about service, expenses, good and bad employees, paperwork, equipment headaches and more.  Embarrassing as it is to tell you that I also know what it’s like to have the nightmare of tremendous debt and near bankruptcy.  But I also know the joys of ownership, the excitement of growing a business and working with people.

I am married for almost 11yrs now, to my sweetheart Michelle.  We got married on Valentine’s Day, guess why (any guys out there?).  We dated for 4-5yrs prior to that.
Please check out her old knitting blog if you have time, she’s amazingly talented in everything she does.   It saves us a ton of money when it comes to gift giving.

We have three wonderful children because of her: Joshua 9, Grace 7, and Caleb, who will be two in June 2010.  Chinese kids with Jewish names, interesting huh?
Mich homeschools our babies and it’s quite a treat each day.

Learning from restaurants that speed and service are very important to customers- especially entrepreneurs.  I have been fortunate enough to team up with the right service providers to make that happen.

“Would you like ketchup w/ your meal Miss?” “No? No problem.”  This is how you’ll be treated here.   Also, simply explaining and offering you all your options, answering any questions, and then moving to the next logical step.  No pressure, no annoying over talking, no confusing corporate talk, and no need for negotiating when every fee is given in the first email after a quick phone conversation with you.

Speaking to entrepreneurs like yourself each day is fantastic- there are so many cool ideas, different business models and styles of business ownership in Canada.  Helping business owners with one of the most important elements in their businesses is my specialty and passion.

I hope for all the best to you in all of your ventures, and look forward to the opportunity to serve you with the proper attitude, information and service that you deserve.

Take Care, Dat To

Oct 2009 Update:  We have recently added many Related Business Services that will help increase your business’ profitability in addition to our long standing commitment to saving you money on your Payment Processing.