1. What is your profession and what drew you to this career?
A: I am a businessperson, author, educator, and mentor to others in business. I lead The Spencer Company, which is a firm that I founded in 1988, with services in technology, marketing, intellectual property development, and brand protection. I’d like to mirror the sentiments of fellow author Dan Brown by saying that I’m happily confused and a work in progress. I recall Steven Spielberg saying that he didn’t have a master plan in life and that he liked to go with the flow. That’s me. I react to what comes. I treasure every moment in my life. It’s a wonderful journey and helping people really touches my heart. I am a serial optimist and if I want to accomplish something, I do it. As a result, I have adapted to the dramatic changes in technology and how people interact online to stay competitive in business. I do not resist change, I embrace it when it comes. I also love to give back. In 1993, I co-founded Dreams to Reality Foundation. We’re helping people in need with a substantial focus on youth education. It’s important work and when technology made it possible, we began fundraising for this great cause online. Where we used to have bake sales, we now run online auctions. eBay and PayPal make this important fundraising easy.

2. What makes you the authority on the QuickStudy guides you have written?
A: I’m a student first and expert second. I am absorbing information every day. I crave that greater understanding of things. I’m always asking questions and reading about things, that includes the topics I write about. Business Payment Processing and eBay: Selling Your Stuff are really memoirs of what I’ve learned over the years. I love the abbreviated format. They are truly free of fluff and are very concise. The format demands the focus. I worked for eBay from 2001 to 2008 and during that time, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and then-CEO Meg Whitman. Both very wonderful leaders educated me in ways I cannot describe. They inspired me. I shared two meals with Mrs. Whitman and she bought items from me on eBay. It was surreal. I’ve had the benefit of opening my doors in 1988, and selling on eBay since 1999. I feel that I am uniquely positioned to educate people on payments and online retail because I am in this every day. I live it. I’ve seen almost every imaginable outcome of such a vast array of business events and moments. I learned this all the hard way, by doing it. I celebrate higher education. I never trivialize that. I got my hands in business at an early age. I dove in and never looked back. I have practical experience.

3. Finish this sentence:
After using the QuickStudy guide Business Payment Processing the reader will sidestep many pitfalls, including the potential for losing money to scams and fraud; while discovering the many ways to get paid (and to pay others) in business. Expand horizons through a greater understanding of the payments landscape, increase sales, and profits, by using as many practical payment methods that are out there. Cut costs by knowing how fees work, and improve the customer experience.

After using the QuickStudy guide eBay: Selling Your Stuff the reader will learn my inspiration and passion for online selling. It’s about eBay, and it’s also about managing an online business with professionalism and grace…while seeking a profit. I always put the customer experience out front. Succeeding in a sea of competition requires amazing customer service. I do not drive my prices to the floor, I raise my service to the sky.

5. Is there any advice you’d like to give our readers who have their own small/online business?
A: I am always afraid of failure. It completely scares me. All the time. Anyone in business who isn’t afraid, I’d be worried for them. It requires hard work, patience, and being willing to step outside your comfort zone. I do that every day. Experience has mellowed me out. Kathy Ireland tells us if we aren’t failing, we aren’t trying. I really believe in the power of positive thinking. I used to doubt a lot. I was horribly skeptical in the past. Today, I’m not foolish, I do make careful decisions…I’m not likely to doubt people the way I did in the early days of my business career. Warren Buffett says to take a job that you love. That applies to being an entrepreneur too. Every business idea has the potential to make money. If you’re chasing fads, you’re bound to fail. If you’re chasing a passion, you can’t fail because you’ll love every minute of it. You’ll jump out of bed in the morning.

About the author:
Christopher Matthew Spencer is a business person, author, educator, and mentor. Christopher Matthew worked from 2001 to 2008 as an eBay University instructor and eBay evangelist.
He is the president of The Spencer Company, sits on the board of Dreams to Reality Foundation, is an international business consultant for kathy ireland® Worldwide, and is a LinkedIn Learning author.
He was early to embrace the Internet culture. Like many, he saw it as an information highway that could be applied innovatively. Christopher Matthew’s focus on entrepreneurs and everyday Internet users derive from his “roll up your sleeves, hardworking mindset” that has led him to his own achievements.
Christopher Matthew mentors and educates on a wide variety of essential topics, including nonprofits, sales, retail, payments, as well as real estate and rental properties.
Christopher Matthew’s philosophy encompasses life-long learning and he loves sharing his expertise with those who desire it, just as he did many years ago. He has consulted to many notable Fortune 1000 companies.
His mission is education through demonstration. Christopher Matthew attributes his success to happiness and the pursuit of all things he finds fun in life.
Christopher Matthew Spencer has written three QuickStudy guides for BarCharts; Ebay: Selling Your Stuff, Business Payment Processing, and SalesForce.

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1. QuickStudy Laminated Study Guides
QuickStudy laminated study guides feature an easy-to-use format. They incorporates color-coded sections for easy reference along with full-color illustrations, charts, and graphs. With over 550 titles of QuickStudy guides currently available, there’s something for everyone and every subject.
Better yet, they also come with a better grade guarantee. If you’re not 100% satisfied with your QuickStudy guide you can return it for a full refund. Find out more at www.quickstudypromise.com.

2. QuickStudy Notebooks
The college-ruled, spiral-bound notebooks are the perfect study companion and in-class resource. Take notes for class and find answers in a snap. QuickStudy content is featured on the front cover, back cover, and dividing insert page. Using space usually wasted in other notebooks, QuickStudy notebooks cover the most important information in your algebra, English, chemistry, and Spanish classes.

3. QuickStudy Folders
A two-pocket folder that includes a built-in study guide makes these folders the most valuable product of its kind. Featuring clear, concise QuickStudy content on the front and back covers and inside pockets, these folders are useful for studying, homework, and in-class answers. Available for algebra, English, chemistry, and Spanish.

BarCharts has been in the business of helping people learn more efficiently and study more effectively for over 20 years. In addition to study guides, notebooks, and folders, we also offer flash cards, books, posters, and free-standing easels. Find the product that’s right for you and learn quick and learn smart. Learn more at www.quickstudy.com

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We’ve expanded our line of products so that you can learn all the year round. Now you can stare for some time in our Space – Far, Far Away calendar and learn more about the wonders beyond our world. Learn new facts and tips about your favorite pet with our Dogs Unleashed and Cats calendars. You will also be able to travel across our great country without leaving your chair via our America – Unusual Journeys calendar.

Combined with beautiful photographic images along with fun facts on each subject, our calendars come packed with interesting details and stories, trivia, quotes, tips, and more. Each month in the calendar, features sufficient space for notes, holidays, and moon phases. If that’s not enough, you also get the correlating 6-page laminated guide included with purchase, which is worth $5.95 – $6.95 value free!

WHAT’S INSIDE

Space – Far, Far Away contains awe-inspiring photos of space and helps you venture in the nebulae and you also get to know other interesting details about the space missions and the astronauts who flew them. This calendar features: high resolution photography from NASA; NASA mission, shuttle, and astronaut highlights, history and information on nebulae, stars, and planets, quotes from astronauts, science fiction writers, etc.

Dogs Unleashed is a perfect tribute to man’s best friend that comes with our laminated Dog Care guide on caring for your loyal pet. Each month displays great photos along with history, traits of breeds, famous dogs, heroic dogs and even more. Did you know a Yorkie served in WW2 and was honored? Or that a certain dog breed’s fur is made into yarn for clothing that feels even warmer than wool? Each month brings new and exciting facts you never knew about dogs.

Cats pays homage to our ancient companions and comes with our Cat Care laminated guide on caring for your feline friend. Each month displays great photos along with the history, characteristics and traits of breeds, famous cats, feline nature and physical abilities, senses, myths and superstitions, record breaking cats and more for each month.

America – Unusual Journeys contains beautiful landscapes and lesser known gems of our country. It includes a laminated World and the US Map guide with purchase. Each month displays beautiful photos of interesting landscapes and historical landmarks with the location, trivia or history of what could be your next travel destination. From the caves of ice and ghost towns, to castles made out of coral, venture off the beaten path to take the road less traveled on this interesting journey through America.

Shop All Calendars

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“Focus – Visualize – Retain” is printed on most of our Anatomy flash card boxes. This mantra of a study method is important for moving short-term memory items to long-term memory. The brain can hold between 5 to 9 items for a short-term and the first key to retaining those items is focus. Using findings from memory research, we simplified our cards to just the illustration and labeled the parts with no paragraphs or distracting information, as that would distract the eye’s focus away from the goal. The names of parts on one side, blank lines on the other. In a risky move that seems opposite to the idea that more is better, we reduced the number of parts named per card and kept it to 9 and 17. After all, they are FLASH cards and we are QuickStudy. This will allow the brain to have a number of items within limits of retention after using the cards only a few times. Plus it will not clutter a card with so many labels that you might as well be studying from a book. Be it either skeletal flashcards, brain, digestive, respiratory, muscular or any other body part, we have flashcards for the complete human anatomy.

The lines to the labeled body parts are in the exact spot when you flip the card over to make use of the visual-spatial aspect of memory. This further anchor’s the body part illustration and its name you need to know in long-term memory. Saying the words out loud for auditory memory, will also help in the studying process and will enhance retention even more.

Being the lowest priced set of anatomy flash cards available helps in making it easier to own a set of two, which would equal just one set from another publisher. The success of the cards over many years tells us our customers are happy and need more help. Our new set of Anatomy 2 Flash Cards allows us to cover more anatomical parts using a proven system that will help anyone achieve their career and life-goal dreams.

Joe Hauer – Product Developer

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