We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Allen Kopelman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Allen below.

Allen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

The education system needs to change back to when I was in school.
Provide financial literacy program, and also students need to learn basic skills.
I remember in high school having a class where we got a paycheck and had bills to pay, we learned to write checks, pay bills, what bills we would have as an adult – learned about investing in stocks, savings accounts, filing taxes. Also we had a class that was home econoimics – learned how to operate everything in a house, fix basic things etc..
These classes helped me understand – what living on your own would be like – I taught these things to my 2 children who are now 29 and 30 and they are good at adulting!

College is not for everyone, we need to have students learn how to do plumbing, Hvac, handyman, elctricians etc.. There is a big shortage of people who can do these jobs – many of these jobs are well paying 100K plus!

While coding was a big thing for a long time – Ai is making that less intensive – one person can do the job of 5-10 coders if they know coding well – jobs that were taking months are taking weeks now. – this according to several software developers I know.

Allen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started my career in the hospitality industry—first as a cook, then a restaurant manager, and eventually attending culinary school to become a Chef. In 1986, I graduated from a culinary program in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to Dallas to begin my career in the kitchen. By 1992, I returned to Florida, where I owned and operated a restaurant and catering company.

Being a Chef was incredibly rewarding. It taught me how to manage stress, multitask, lead teams, deliver great customer service, and sell effectively. I also learned the importance of budgeting and controlling costs—running a multi-million dollar operation leaves no room for error when it comes to financial management.

In 1998, I decided to pivot and entered the merchant services industry in a sales role. By 2001, I co-founded Nationwide Payment Systems with my business partner, David. Our goal was to deliver concierge-style customer support, transparent pricing, and a suite of payment-related services to help businesses thrive.

A book that made a lasting impact on me early in my entrepreneurial journey was Who Moved My Cheese?. The lessons in that book still resonate with me today. The payment industry has evolved tremendously since we started, and so have we. Today, we’re a technology-first company—because the tech that powers payments is more important than just lowering the cost of acceptance.

We’ve always believed in treating our clients the way we want to be treated. That’s been our philosophy since day one, and it’s why we’ve kept a customer-first mindset in both service and technology for over two decades.

To help educate business owners, I launched the B2B Vault: The Biz to Biz Podcast about three years ago. We’ve published over 340 episodes covering a wide range of topics—from business trends and fintech to AI, software, credit card processing, chargebacks, marketing, public relations, and more. I regularly interview fellow business owners to share insights and experiences that others can learn from.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was 38 and was an Executive Chef in hotels, and later a restaurant owner, that job was killing me, I was working 6-7 days a week and long hours. Got divorced and I had to rebuild my life and my work life – at the same time. – Got into merchant services – after a year or s0 – Started Nationwide Payment systems – 2001 – the hard work and hustle that I need to be successful as a Chef – I took all of that and learned a new busienss.
Another thing that I learned was that smaller companies can pivot faster than big companies, so when new products and services were available we were able to sell those months or even a year ahead of the big companies – and you have to be prepared to pivot – in business and life.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

There were times when I owned my restaurant where I couldn’t take a paycheck on Friday because I had to make sure my employees were paid first. The same thing happened early on at Nationwide Payment Systems—sometimes you’re waiting for a check to clear or for a client to finally pay their invoice.

You quickly learn how to manage money better—and one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is this: Don’t let people owe you money.

If there’s one piece of advice I can give to business owners, it’s this:
Collect up front, or get a 50% deposit and the remaining balance upon delivery. No exceptions.
If they don’t want to write a check, take a credit card. But you cannot survive financing your customers.

Here’s what happens:
15 days turns into 30…
30 becomes 60…
60 becomes 90…
And suddenly you’re chasing money from someone who’s still placing new orders, and if you stop taking their orders, you may never get paid at all.

When you’re constantly carrying accounts receivable, you end up spending all your time chasing payments instead of making sales. And the clients who don’t pay on time? They play games—sending invoices, delivery receipts, or excuses—just trying to buy more time.

Those are not good customers.

You need a clear policy and a solid process when onboarding clients, so you don’t end up being the bank.

None of these situations killed the business—but they definitely caused a lot of stress that could’ve been avoided with better boundaries and payment terms.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nationwidepaymentsystems.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenkopelman/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BizToBizPodcast
• Other: https://linktr.ee/allenkopelman

Image Credits

Allen Kopelman – Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. – B2B Vault Biz to Biz Podcast