How this electronic payments provider can relate to small business

Posted by Evan Berlin

All businesses, large, small and everywhere in between, started somewhere. YouTube started with three guys in a garage, Facebook was developed in a college dorm room, and Nordstrom took more than a few years to grow from family business into one of the most recognized brands in the United States.

Regardless of what stage your business is at, PaySimple can relate to where you’ve been and where you’re going. PaySimple’s own story lends itself to challenges that I’m sure many of you have faced or will face as your business grows. With less than 100 square feet of office space, we’ve grown very close to each other in our cozy lower-downtown (Lodo) Denver loft (see picture to your left – we’re in the middle).

We don’t have parking spaces, our executive team is sharing offices, and everyone else is sharing corners and any place we can fit a desk. Let’s just say personal space is low on importance.

So why did some of us trade in comfy corporate offices for cubbies and a leaky roof? It might be because we have a FedEx Kinko’s to our left or a Mexican restaurant with great margaritas to our right. Or, as Eric discussed in last week’s post, it might be to build platforms to help stars shine. Everyone has a different answer as to “why,” but I came to PaySimple to be a part of something very special.

A portion of our customers are brand new businesses. While they might not be startups in the Silicon Valley sense, they are Americans with a great idea and a dream to control their own destiny. That is certainly a special notion. The idea of helping to build a company from the ground up has always been a dream of mine and now, as part of my job, I get to interact with a variety of small business owners.

The best part of my day is hearing inspirational stories from customers who leverage the PaySimple Solution to simplify what is typically a frustrating part of being a small business owner – getting paid. To be a part of a company whose goal is to create a product that makes life easier for small business owners is what gets me up in the morning. On top of all that, with our team of amazing professionals and inspirational mission—this is one fun place to work.

If you’re in Denver for work or play, or both, come see us sometime. We’d love to say hello and buy you a cup of coffee…or a margarita.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Technorati Tags: electronic payments, Lodo, startups, small business, getting paid, inspirational mission

Posted by Lisa Hephner

It seems we’re always hearing some pundit or other forecast of the demise of a familiar piece of our lives as a result of a “new technology.” These forecasts are sometimes extremely shortsighted and never come to fruition (think Radio) or so much on target that we wonder why it took us so long to realize the truth (think 8-Track tapes).

So how do you know what to believe? Think about it this way—if a new technology is demonstrated to meet current needs better than an old technology, and if it makes business sense for all parties involved, then it has a very good chance of taking hold, and displacing an older way of doing things. This is the case with paper checks.

Paper checks cost money to print, cost time and money for businesses to manually deposit and record, cost time and money for the individual banks that process them, and also generate significant costs for the regional Federal Reserve Banks that serve as a clearinghouse for all checks. Additionally, as occurred on 9/11, an infrastructure interruption can cause delays in processing of hundreds of thousands of checks—impacting billions of dollars of consumer and business transactions.

Eliminating the submission of actual paper checks for processing, in favor of ACH and other types of electronic payment processing, not only streamlines processes for businesses, it also saves money for banks and for the Federal Reserve, and has the added bonus of helping the environment by reducing paper use and saving trees.

Thus, banks have a financial incentive to eliminate paper checks, and the Federal Reserve System has a financial incentive to eliminating paper checks, and large businesses (particularly those handling large check volumes) have a strong financial incentive to eliminate paper checks—which I believe amounts to an overwhelming market force that will ultimately prevail to eliminate the paper check.

So what happens to small businesses that rely on paper check payments? And what happens to consumers who like receiving copies of their canceled checks? Unfortunately for the latter, they will simply have to adjust. For the former—there is help.

Companies like PaySimple are dedicated to helping small businesses not only adjust to technology changes, but also leverage them to streamline processes and enhance revenue. We make the transition easy, and our simple system enables even the novice computer user to easily convert paper checks to electronic transactions and set up other electronic payment processing services that can help eliminate the need for collecting paper checks altogether.

So, embrace the disappearance of the paper check, and view it as an opportunity to utilize new cost-saving technologies that will improve your business.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Technorati Tags: new technology, paper checks, Federal Reserve, small businesses, business

Posted by Sarah Jordan

We recently spoke with a prospective customer about our services, and when asked about his website, he replied sternly, “I don’t have a website, and I have no interest in having website.”

Really? I was under the impression that the view of the Web and e-commerce as just a fad brought on by techie kids in their basements was an idea that has long since died. Yes, the Internet is a popular social medium for adolescents. But even with The Dotcom Crash in the early 2000s, the Internet has unmistakably grown into an integral part of the commerce world and has opened doors that businesses twenty years ago would not have thought possible—especially small businesses.

With all of the disadvantages small businesses have today competing with large corporations, it is baffling that there is an inexpensive medium to help them better compete, but so many are resistant to use it.

If you’re not ready to accept online payments, set up online retail, or even have a website, at least get out there and check out the free resources available to you. I especially recommend joining a few small business forums. You can post your questions and other experts will offer you their advice for free!

Here are a couple of my favorite Q&A forums: Yahoo! Answers, HiAnswer.com

The New York Times also recently added a small business section filled with great articles and advice: NY Times Small Business

Popularity: 11% [?]

Technorati Tags: e-commerce, techie, Internet, small business, forums

Posted by Sarah Jordan

If you’re like many busy, working individuals, paying your bills is a last-minute activity that you start after noticing that it’s about the 25^th of the month and there is a stack of unopened envelopes on your kitchen table. Or perhaps it’s been especially hectic this month and somehow it’s already the due date. After checking the clock, you reassure yourself there is still time to get it to the mailbox before the postman comes. You scramble for your checkbook, scribble an illegible amount, stuff it into an envelope and start searching for stamps. Damn. Buying stamps is on the to-do list.

If you are a small business owner whose only method of bill collection is by paper check, you are not only creating a burden for your customers, but also inhibiting your business’s flexibility—opening yourself up to late payments and cash flow problems.

Payment option variety is becoming an increasingly important factor to consumers. There are numerous benefits of recurring billing, electronic checks, and direct-debit for both you and your customers. Your customers will be rid of the cost and stress of paying bills on time, being stocked with envelopes, and remembering to buy stamps. Your business will be providing better customer service, decreasing late payments, improving cash flow, and reducing cost and manual labor associated with paper checks. So the real question isn’t, “Why don’t customers pay their bills on time?,” but “Why aren’t we making bill pay easier for our customers?”.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Technorati Tags: small business, bill collection, recurring billing, electronic checks, direct-debit, customer service, late payments

Posted by Sarah Jordan

Whatever the purpose for filling out an application—a loan, insurance policy, or in our case, a merchant account—you’ve probably noticed some specific information that is required—your social security number, driver’s license number, and even birth date. With the news stories and consumer alerts about identity theft, you probably prefer to just keep your personal info to yourself. Why do these parties need to know your personal information? Here are a few reasons:

1. Written legislation: The Patriot Act requires certain identifying pieces of information before granting individuals/organizations access to funds.

2. Fraud Protection: Are you really who you say you are?

3. Financial Risk: Are you or your business financially solvent, and how do we know that?

So how do you know we are who we say we are? As a consumer, there are ways to protect yourself. Almost every organization handling your secure information will have security logos on their websites and also have a page stating the security measures taken. Check out www.paysimple.com to see what a security page looks like. If you are unsure about the person you are speaking with, hang up, and use the Internet, telephone book, or Directory Assistance to find the official phone number for the company you are dealing with, and call back directly. You can also ask for references or look up the business in the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Technorati Tags: merchant account, identity theft, The Patriot Act, Fraud Protection