Posted by Sarah Jordan

A well-known foreboding statistic is that 75 percent of businesses fail in the first two years; and it’s not as if you’re in the clear after that.  In almost every tactical aspect, small businesses are at a disadvantage—health insurance, financial and employment resources, brand leverage, taxation, and the list goes on.  These facts contribute to (if not explain) the above figure.  But while that statistic might paint the picture that small businesses are fragile or volatile, the recession and most recent economic crisis has been revealing otherwise. 

Even more than usual, article links about small businesses have been flying around our office.  One article from CNN illustrated the “hits” that small business have been taking, but aren’t anywhere close to throwing in the towel.  Here are some of the business owners’ comments:

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Popularity: 75% [?]

Posted by Elissa Beckman

I was recently reading a magazine and came across an article about involving humor in the workplace. My eyes naturally gravitated toward the article, as I am all about incorporating fun into my workday. As I read through the article, I started laughing out loud at how ridiculous it was (not the laugh the author was looking for).

The article was, for lack of better words, lame. His points were stiff, structured, and focused on when and how to use humor in the workplace. Some of the “laughable” tips include avoiding intellectual humor and practicing your joke, yet looking for ways to make it appear spontaneous. I don’t know about you, but I am not practicing the joke I am going to crack in a meeting the night before, and definitely am not practicing ways to make it seem impulsive.

I am privileged to work in a growing, small business that encourages team members to be themselves and bring their own sense of humor to the table, very unlike the article that I read. PaySimple created its core values into the PaySimple PATH (which stands for Passion, Authenticity, Teamwork, and Happiness) and the PATH always begins and ends with Fun! As a small business, our team members are constantly working hard for our clients and continuously striving to contribute to the success of our company. Humor brings us together and creates a more enjoyable work environment. When you are working hard 9 hours a day, who doesn’t want to occasionally break for a laugh?

Having fun and involving humor also builds relationships among team members. When your company is growing at a fast pace, and you are constantly adding new people into your culture, humor is a great icebreaker and effective communication tool. Additionally, the small business environment can be stressful, and humor can be a valuable tool to relieve that stress. Use it often to lighten the mood, especially if the person next to you is having a rough day and needs a little pick-me-up.

Appreciate working in a small business environment, as you have the power to energize and empower your employees by creating an enjoyable and open place for them to work. And laugh and have fun along the way!

Popularity: 90% [?]

Posted by Allen Wolff

How much gratitude do we express in our daily lives? To our family? To our friends? To our colleagues? To our top customers? To our high-maintenance customers?

I’d venture to guess not enough. I am constantly amazed at how often we fail to be grateful for what we have and instead focus on the challenges or what’s missing. A well known author awakened this realization for me and provoked me to pour my daily glass of gratitude:

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
– Wayne Dyer

This philosophy comes in handy when there are difficult situations relating to interaction with our clients. I strive to be grateful that our customers are engaged enough to let us know how they feel about our product and customer service, positive or negative. This has helped shape our development and contribute to our success, for which I am equally grateful.

If you are having trouble tuning in to gratitude, visit youtube.com and run a quick search on Randy Pausch for videos of the Professors lectures, including his last. Or, pick up a copy of his recently published book entitled The Last Lecture. The Carnegie Mellon Professor became an overnight inspirational speaker when he learned of his diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer. It may just help you start pouring your daily cup of gratitude.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Posted by Elissa Beckman

Yesterday I experienced a situation straight out of the movie Pretty Woman (not in the way you’re thinking). Similar to the scene in which Vivian is snubbed in a Rodeo Drive store because her appearance did not fit one of a “Beverly Hills Shopper,” I was told I had to leave a networking event…all because I was not wearing a business suit.

As the Empowerment Director of PaySimple (empowerment = an innovative and uplifting spin on human resources), I was invited to attend a networking event at a local university’s business school. I immediately saw this as a great opportunity to meet potential candidates to fill the approximately 10 positions that we are currently hiring for, and also an opportunity to tell the Denver business community about how PaySimple is, in my opinion, the best company to work for in Denver.

One of the very convenient perks of working at PaySimple is our attire is as casual as our atmosphere. For the most part we wear jeans and performance outerwear that we acquire at the Patagonia store across the street on sale days. (Other perks include Yoga Tuesdays; Kickball Wednesdays; catered lunch on Fridays; reimbursements for gym memberships; RTD Ecopasses; and our loft office downtown with a basketball hoop, foosball table, and hockey net). So I didn’t think twice when I left work for the day to attend the networking event in my jeans. However, the event greeter took one look at what I was wearing, and told me immediately that I could not go in because I wasn’t wearing a suit. I must say that I was initially shocked, since I am thankfully so far removed from the idea of having to actually wear a suit. Because of this, I am sure the look that I gave her was priceless.

As I walked out the door, I felt slightly awkward and embarrassed, but the more I thought about it, I started to chuckle. What is the actual point of wearing a suit to work anyway? To me, suits are just an uncomfortable way of conforming to corporate America. And why would I wear a suit to a recruiting event, especially since I feel it is a misrepresentation of PaySimple’s culture? PaySimple strives to make our customers comfortable by simplifying the process of accepting payments and getting set up with a merchant account. Similarly, we strive to make our team members comfortable, and a great way to do this is allowing them to wear clothes that they are comfortable in. I can speak for PaySimple when I say that we genuinely appreciate this luxury, as do candidates that come to our office to interview, and that brought a smile to my face.

So just as the salesperson missed out on the commission for dissing Vivian, the university business students and alumni missed out on an opportunity to learn about an amazing, growing Denver company. And all because I wasn’t wearing a business suit.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Technorati Tags: business suit, human resources, networking event, merchant account

Posted by Sarah Jordan

Customer interaction is present in a majority of roles in a company and is regularly a source of job fulfillment. But every once in a while, you come across those customers that, despite your best efforts, seem to have a hidden agenda to just be angry. When frustration arises, I can truly say the best way to cope is to keep a sense of humor.

Here as an example of one of our own interactions that we wanted to share with you.

If you’re reading this blog, then you’ve probably explored our website and have an idea of what we provide—a service for businesses. We put a lot of thought into our website content and try to detract people wanting to pay their consumer bills. If someone does stumble onto our site looking to make a credit card payment, we even attempt to put them on the correct path. Here is an excerpt of an email that we send to people who have requested information from us about paying their consumer bills:

“…From your submission, it looks like you are trying to find a way to pay your bills online. Unfortunately, PaySimple is not the system for you. Our system is designed for businesses that collect payments from customers. To pay your bills online, we suggest you contact your bank and/or your individual service providers…”

Despite our efforts, we received a rare but humorous response to this email:

“you guys are *&% holes…Foolish people…………..wasting peoples time………..Idiots………. believe me i would get you people off the internet soonest…”

The bottom line is, when you’ve done your best to create a positive customer experience, the best thing to do to deal with that 1 in 1,000 customer is to just keep smiling.

Technorati Tags: customer service, angry consumer

Popularity: 15% [?]