We come across interesting articles from time to time that we want to make sure you know about and these two fit the bill. Here are the synopses:

10 Tips for Better Business Planning

Timothy Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software, has a great guest post over on Business.gov that discusses 10 ways to improve your business planning. Our favorite planning tool comes up as #1 on Tim’s list.  What is that tool? Simply calling your customers and asking some questions.  Nothing is more powerful than talking to customers and potential customers about your business.

Revolution Money: When closing accounts is counter-revolutionary

Some of you may already know about Revolution Money but for those that don’t, Revolution Money is a startup founded by Steve Case that is focused on building out an alternative payments network that is very friendly to merchants (one main feature: a flat 50 basis point per transaction fee). In an article published today, American Banker columnist Maria Aspan takes a look at Revolution Money’s recent closer of 2% of their cardholder accounts.  This is an unusual move for a small payment network to make. Revolution claims it is closing the accounts to accomodate an additional banking partner. To learn more please check out the article on American Banker and view the Revolution Money corporate timeline.