Posted by Chad Gardner

A big PaySimple Thank You to Allison, Elissa, Sherri, Mark, Lonnie, and Matt!

With Thanksgiving just a day away, many of us are surrounded by friends or family (or hopefully have plans to be around loved ones). This is one of my favorite times of year because I am struck by a greater sense of awareness and a sense of gratitude.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this is the perfect opportunity to recognize and show our appreciation to a group of co-workers for their altruism over the past month. Since I have been here, PaySimple has always enabled its employees to empower others, focusing on helping those associated with small businesses. Two weeks ago, a group of PaySimplers gathered outside of work on Sunday to cook a meal for families at the Ronald McDonald House for a chance to help empower our community.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 49% [?]

Posted by Elissa Beckman

When I started working at PaySimple 2 years ago, I knew that it was a special place. After six months, I was given the inspiring title of Empowerment Director, verifying once again just how amazing this company is. My favorite line quickly became: PaySimple doesn’t do Human Resources, PaySimple does Empowerment!

With a strong leadership team in place that provided guidance and encouragement, we were quickly able to create a culture and environment that attracted not only the brightest talent, but the greatest people. Since our team members were working so hard and giving us so much, we wanted to show them our respect and appreciation in return. Some of the many benefits of working at PaySimple include: Friday lunches and happy hours, participation in team sports, a relaxed dress code, free public transportation passes, gym membership reimbursements, and weekly recognition programs.

When I heard of the Denver Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” competition earlier this year, I knew that PaySimple had to enter. After I filled out an initial application, we were contacted by Quantum Market Research to complete an employee survey. The survey categories included: team effectiveness, retention risk, alignment with goals, trust with co-workers, individual contribution, manager effectiveness, trust in senior leaders, feeling valued, work engagement, and people practices.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 52% [?]

Posted by Evan Berlin

As Elissa reminded us a couple weeks back, humor is a huge part of success in startups, small businesses, or any business for that matter. Recently, I locked myself in a room for a few minutes with a few co-workers to come up with a funny-because-it’s-true list for small business owners and their employees.  Enjoy!

You know you work for a small business if:

1. Your company has grown so rapidly, the CEO decided to share his/her office to make room for new employees.
2. Your company screen prints its own softball jerseys–and you are not a screen printing company.
3. It’s announced that your company is moving to a new office, and after pricing several moving companies, it’s decided that the Sales Team is the most cost-efficient option.
4. You spend so much time at the office, half your wardrobe is stuffed under your desk.
5. Your IT department is in charge of fixing the coffee machine…and the toaster…and assembling chairs.
6. Inter-office romances would just be…awkward.
7. When free Friday lunch is ordered from a local pizza bistro, and not Papa John’s, the office goes wild.
8. Your company is referred to as “hippy-ish” in the Wall Street Journal.
9. Every employee in the company qualified for the economic stimulus check.
10. Someone in your office inevitably blasts Michael McDonald’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” at 8:30 in the morning.
11. The electrical room has morphed into a supply closet, a kitchen, and then the IT guy’s office.

Have any of your own office quirks? Feel free to share!

Popularity: 35% [?]

Posted by Chad Gardner

With new social platforms popping up seemingly every day, small businesses have the opportunity to inexpensively connect with like-minded people in their industry’s niche. These social platforms can them help discover valuable resources and give them the ability to learn from seasoned professionals. However, the limited amount of time available for small business owners makes it difficult to weed out the tools that are most valuable to them.

Fortunately, there are plenty of reputable blogs that provide an aggregation of useful small business resources. Now, I realize there are hundreds (if not more) “Top Blog” lists out there, but these are my absolute favorite resources. What makes them my favorites?

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 31% [?]

Posted by Lisa Hephner

We’re all facing difficult economic times right now from big businesses to small businesses, to all of our customers.

The following 5 tips can not only help make an economic downturn work for your small business, but can also position you well against your competition–large and small–so you can best reap the benefits when the economy rebounds. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 14% [?]