PayPal is increasing its efforts to help small businesses grow by hosting a series of engaging events kicking off in New York City. The company is also sponsoring National Small Business Week and in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which is celebrating the week with special events taking place in San Francisco, Kansas City, Boston, Washington D.C., and online. In addition to providing merchant services, the global e-commerce site also offers small business loans as part of its existing support for entrepreneurs.
PayPal kicked off the first event of its nationwide tour on Wednesday, May 14, with “Engage New York.†The next stop up on “The Engage†tour is Austin, Texas. Selected cities represent PayPal’s top 10 cities for online business.
“The Engage†events are designed to connect small businesses with innovative experts and to allow them to hear personally from local entrepreneurs who will share their successes, failures and important lessons from both, says Chris Morse, senior manager, Merchant Communications. In-person attendees will also be able to participate in discussions with PayPal specialists on how to leverage technology to build a better business, adds Morse.
Morse says that PayPal wants to be viewed as a partner, “We want to help online business owners facilitate payments not just have a pay now button on their sites. So, no matter where you are in your e-commerce journey we should be able to help you, whether that is recommending someone to help build your website or helping you with brick and mortar in-store payments.
Among the specialists to participate in “The Engage” tour events are Ramon Ray, marketing and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft. Ray, a Black Enterprise Small Business University mentor, shared with BlackEnterprise.com the following five quick tips to help small business owners take advantage of technology in pursuit of growth.
Have mentors– learn best practices from other successful entrepreneurs.
Have a plan of action– know where you’re going, and what tools can help get you there.
Do your due diligence– research technology before committing any resources, and talk to other users.
Be able to modify your plan– business can change quickly; be ready to keep up!
Technology is powerful, but it is only a tool– technology can eliminate friction and save you time and money, but it can’t make up for a poor product or poor service.
Visit PayPal.com/business for more information and to learn how we may be able to help your small business.