A Cambridge hotspot since its opening in 2004, Aceituna Café is gourmet fast-food at its finest. If you’re in the area and feeling like Mediterranean and/or Lebanese cuisine, Aceituna Café is the place for you. They’re fast, healthy, inexpensive, and they prepare their...
Leaf’s SMB Blog
Learn how to grow your small business.
Welcome to the Leaf Blog! The purpose of this blog is to share tips, tricks, solutions, shortcuts, and thoughts about the small business industry both in and out of Boston, MA. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned small business veteran, we’ve got you covered on everything from game-changing industry ideas to easier data visualization to social media integration, so have a look around! Why we blog.
Merchant Profile: Aceituna Café
Why the Tablet-Future of POS Systems is not Limited to iOS Devices
This post is our response to a Wired.com article titled "iPads as Cash Registers Are About to Go From Novelty to Norm" in which Wired.com's Marcus Wohlsen reflects upon the tablet-future of POS systems, as if it was limited to only iOS devices!
On a recent morning at Voltage...
About Our New Testimonial Video: Why Leaf?
Recently, we launched our new company video, Why Leaf?, on YouTube. In it, we feature four of our merchants: Voltage Coffee, New England Tango Academy, Casa B and Culinary Cruisers. Our previous videos were more focused on our end, so we decided to highlight how...
Anthony Pira and Youth on Fire present 'Creating Art to End Homelessness' on May 4th, with a little help from Leaf
Tomorrow, May 4th, in Harvard Square, stop by Palmer Street from 10am to 4pm to see Anthony Pira and the Outside In Project’s “Creating Art to End Homelessness” public art installation. Anthony Pira is teaming up with Youth on Fire, a drop-in center for homeless youth ages...
The Latest at Leaf: Introducing The Leaf Membership Network
Yesterday, we unveiled the Leaf Membership Network for merchant acquirer organizations. With the Leaf Membership Network, merchant acquirers can now add more value to their services by adding the Leaf Platform and all of its capabilities to their offerings. In other words, we’re helping expand innovation within the payments...
The 7 Best Free Online Tools Every Small Business Owner Needs
image via Flickr CC Tools. Every small business owner needs them, especially when they’re free. Fortunately, the Internet is full of free services and products to help out small business owners. They don’t all apply to everyone, though. Every small...
Merchant Profile: Squeaky Beaker Cafe
Located on 675 Kendall Street, Squeaky Beaker is one of our office's favorite places to lunch. The reasons are simple: Squeaky Beaker serves fresh, healthy food that is prepared on the spot and, well, it's friggin' delicious! Oh, and it's not the type...
Acquiring Banks, Credit Card Processors, and ISOs: How They All Work and Their Roles in Payment Processing
The payment ecosystem is very complex and at times can be very confusing. One such confusion is the relationship between acquiring banks, credit card processors, and Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), as well as what their roles are in the payments industry. These all directly affect small business owners and merchants,...
The Differences Between Sole Proprietorships and LLCs
Whether or not you’re starting a new business or you’re a seasoned veteran, it always pays to be informed, especially when it comes to taxes. Limited Liability Companies and Sole Proprietorship are two of the most common tax entities amongst the merchants we do business with. Tax entities are extremely...
Mobile is the future and the future is here
Mobile is growing, and it’s growing fast. According to an IDC analysis of last year, accessing Internet via mobile devices is increasingly becoming the norm. It seems as though the era of desktop and laptop PCs is slowly fading away, as the...
Some Thoughts on Innovation Project 2013
Last week, we attended PYMNTS.com’s Innovation Project 2013 at Harvard University. For two days, CEOs of the very best in the payment and commerce industry collaborated, debated, and engaged with leaders like Al Gore, Steve Levitt, Russel Simmons, and others about the future of the industry. Needless to say, it...
Watsi App: Leaf's API used to take donations for medical treatments around the world
This past weekend, our Product Manager, William Chen, built one of the first third party apps using the Leaf API. Last week, Leaf announced our open platform and the Leaf Appstore. We have opened up our API to developers who would like to create innovative...
The Latest in Leaf Innovation: Introducing the Leaf Appstore
Yes, you did read that correctly. Today, we’re introducing our latest innovation for the small business world: the Leaf Appstore™. Of course, the world’s first tablet designed for commerce had to have the world’s first app store dedicated to serving brick and mortar businesses. In the words of our CEO,...
8 Reasons For Small Businesses to go Paperless
We recently became a partner of Paperless 2013. As a paperless company, one of our top priorities is to help render paper obsolete, which is why we’ve joined companies like Nitro, Eventbrite, and projects like Google Drive in this...
Success on Facebook: A How-To for Small Businesses
Facebook is considered by many to be the ultimate social media tool for businesses, and with good reason: with over a billion users and counting, Facebook has now become the norm for online social interactions. Facebook Pages are pretty easy to use, but...
6 Do's and Don'ts For Your First Trade Show
Trade shows may only last for a few days, but working out the logistics, the organization, and planning your execution can takes months. Showing up without proper preparation is the worst thing you can do, but covering all...
What should you look for in a POS?
The following article, written by David Bloom, was reposted from Ordr.in at his request. David is founder & CEO of Ordr.in, a Google Ventures-backed technology company dedicated to changing the way customers and restaurants connect and transact online.
Over the last few months I have met many new POS...
We've Teamed Up With The Harvard Square Business Association to introduce and fix the Elephant in the Room, Homelessness
Those of us that frequent Harvard Square know that homelessness is a real and present issue. “Walking around the Square, you can’t help but notice people in need.” These are the words of Denise Jillson, executive...
Throwback Thursday at Leaf
A year ago, The Leaf Team took up only a small corner space here at Intrepid Labs.
We were around 7 people in 2012, all either busily running in and out of the office in haste, or plugged into our monitors coding or designing.
Today, we’re a team of...
Mike Ghaffary on Brick and Mortar, Our Take
This past Sunday, February 24, 2013, TechCrunch published an article by Mike Ghaffary titled Why Local Commerce Will Be Larger than E-Commerce for the Next Decade, An Analysis. In it, Mr. Ghaffary (VP of Business Dev at Yelp) quantitatively analyses the futures of local vs. electronic commerce and the...
How to Deal with Complaints on Twitter and Facebook
This is what pops up in every small business owner’s mind upon seeing a serious complaint or an angry customer post on the business’ Facebook page. And it’s with good reason: outcries of complaints and protests on social media are public and...
The Task of Putting Business in a Box
Fitting everything a business requires into a single box is easier said than done. Here at Leaf, we’re not scared of challenges; we embrace them. This is our goal: to provide small business owners with everything that they need to successfully start...
3 Excellent Social CRM Examples to Follow
We’ve already established that there’s demand for social customer service, and that small businesses stand to benefit greatly from using social media as a business tool. But, how exactly do you become an expert at social CRM? We’ve compiled a list of our favorite companies doing excellent customer...
Success on Twitter: A How-To for Small Businesses
This post is part of Leaf's ebook: Social Media for Small Business. Visit the Leaf blog weekly to read the latest chapters.Success on Twitter can be measured in a variety of ways, depending on your goals. If your goals are to increase awareness, buzz,...
Why Social CRM for Small Businesses?
Social CRM is shorthand for ‘Social Customer Relationship Management’, and it is much more than just a social media marketing buzzword (or buzz-concept). While the exact wording for its definition varies across the Internet, the goal is the same for all: to develop the customer-company...
9 Social Media Best Practices for Small Businesses
Hey small business owners, we’ve got some great news for you: you don’t have to be a marketing expert to rock your business on social media! If you’re like most small business owners and do not have the time or resources to hire a social media manager or agency, rest...
The Hashtag (#): What it is, and How to Use It
Also known as the number sign and the pound sign (not to be confused with the British pound sign, ‘£’), the ‘#’ symbol that appears on updates on Twitter is called a ‘Hashtag’. Hashtags can be one word (e.g., #Education,...
7 Social Media Do's and Don'ts for Small Businesses
Due to the large amount of people on social media, public profiles, and the vast information that is available to all of us via the Internet, businesses should be weary of mal-informed posts and miscommunications for fear of appearing unprofessional, looking like a spambot,...
Why Social Media for Your Small Business?
While it may be a procrastination tool for many, social media is not a waste of time for small business owners. In this age, where people spend more and more time on the Internet each year (2012 is up 21% from 2011*), it would be unwise not to adapt, especially...
This Week at Leaf: Software and Feature Updates All Around!
There’s a lot going on at our office today. Then again, there’s always a lot going on here at the Leaf office. Regardless, today we introduce some new software features and updates to both the LeafPresenter and LeafBusiness. Ready, set, update!
Here’s what’s new on the LeafPresenter:
Open tabs:...
It's Not the Size of the Dongle; It's How You Use It
Aron Schwarzkopf is the founder and CEO of Leaf, a next generation Point of Sale platform company. Aron started Leaf after graduating from Babson College. In just over a year he has led Leaf from just an idea to processing over $3 Million in payments through the platform.
First there...
Business Cards and the Importance of Branding
We Have Cool Business Cards, No Biggie.Like all startups out there, it’s important for us to spread the word out about who we are, what we’re doing, and why people should care. But we’re also paperless, and business...
The Exploding Wallet: How Tech and Social Media are killing the rewards card
Capital One likes to ask at the end of their commercials “What’s in your wallet?” Well, for a lot of people out there, a better question may be “What’s not in my wallet?” Cash, credit cards, receipts, reward cards, gym memberships, business cards; if it’s smaller than 2x3 inches, it...
Data Visualization: Making Sense of Your Small Business Numbers
Data is a byproduct of business. Credit card transactions, cash flow, all of the numbers generated by businesses on a daily basis are data. In the world of business, data equals power, but first you must make sense of that data. Small business owners usually resort to Excel and spread...
The Psychology of Your Business: Why It's More Than Just Processing Payments
Would it be ridiculous if we said that every business has a ‘psychology’ of its own? In other words, that your business performance isn’t a constant, but rather a function of different variables including, but not limited to, the day of the week, time of day, employees on shift and...
Social Media B2C: 4 Tips to Make Your Business Easier to Love
We don’t need to tell you the importance of social media for small businesses these days. We will, however, state the importance of integrating social media into how you do business with your customers. In other words, this means making your business easier to love. And how do customers show...
Merchant Referral Program
If you like what Leaf has done for your business, share it! We are offering an opportunity for our current Leaf merchants to get a month free with Leaf by referring another business to sign up. If the business you refer signs up for Leaf your business gets one month...
Leaf Has Released a New Video
Special thanks to everyone at Planet Nutshell for their hard work and Gabriel Johnson for the soundtrack.
Take a look at all of our videos on our youtube page and like us on Facebook for all news and upcoming events.
Leaf Your Business
Leaf has just released a new video outlining our LeafBusiness service. Leaf is more than just a point of sale system, it is a complete business and customer management system.
This video was created by HSA a student videography group through Harvard University.
Mass Innovation Night at Intrepid Labs
Last wednesday, September 12th, Intrepid Labs (home of Leaf) hosted the 42nd Mass Innovation Night. Mass Innovation Night is a monthly event...
5 ways to improve your business
1. Know your audience
The first step to creating a positive customer experience is knowing who your customer base is. How can you better know what your customers want from your business? It is key to find ways to get customer feedback. Without feedback you are doomed to make mistakes...