What does success mean for you and your business? Maybe it means beating last month’s profit margin. Maybe it’s all about becoming a thought leader in your industry. Or maybe it’s simply receiving another positive customer review to add to your collection.

However you define success, thinking outside the box and re-evaluating your goals is the key to helping your business flourish in 2023 and beyond. In fact, according to PayPal’s Business Of Change Rethink And Grow report, 77% of SMEs believe it’s essential to adapt their operations to effectively take on changing market conditions.

And yet, just under half of SMEs admit they’re guilty of not thinking about alternative approaches to growing their business.

“We understand that small businesses are fighting multiple battles in these tough times. As a trusted payments partner, PayPal’s all-in-one digital payment and commerce solutions can help reduce the stress, so owners can focus on rethinking possibilities on how to grow their business,” says Vincent Belloc, managing director of PayPal UK.

We spoke to Fisayo Longe, owner of London-based contemporary fashion and lifestyle brand Kai Collective, about how redefining success and pivoting on business strategy with the help of PayPal’s set of helpful tools has benefited her business in 2023…

Sometimes our career paths and business efforts are meticulously planned and mapped out. Other times, we fall into our purpose motivated by sheer passion and enjoyment.

The latter is true for Fisayo Longe who, before starting Kai Collective, was in the fashion and travel blogging space, simply doing what she loved.

“I’ve been fashion and travel blogging since 2012,” says Longe.

“When I travelled, one of my favourite activities was going fabric shopping. I would buy fabric, create designs and then get those designs made with the fabric I’d picked out.”

Social media and the boom of content culture was the catalyst for the colourful and unique products that Kai Collective presents to fashion lovers today.

“After posting photos of my designs and outfits on my blog and later Instagram, people would always ask where I got them from. I was always an entrepreneurial person growing up, so the response to my personal designs inspired me to create clothes for my community.

“I truly felt my business was a success when I started seeing our customers wearing Kai on their most special days – bridesmaids at a wedding, graduations, birthdays, Christmas, etc…”

But as dreamy and idealistic as it sounds, starting a business – even when it’s born out of something you enjoy doing – is never an easy feat.

“Money and sales were the most difficult part of getting my business off the ground,” says Longe.

“Getting money to start with and then getting money later on in order to keep the business afloat was very difficult. Because I already had this small community from my blogging days, I thought that it would be enough to make the business a success, but the reality was very different.”

If you’ve built your business from a hobby, you’re probably familiar with the frustration of having a large, engaged and loving community but that not translating to the sales you need to kickstart your entrepreneurial journey.

“People don’t speak enough about how difficult it is to make that first sale. I later realised that our product-market fit wasn’t great and I would need to innovate and improve on the product, to make the business a success,” adds Longe.

And sometimes the trends that take one year by storm, bolstering your business and increasing profit margins, can disappear in the blink of an eye. Maintaining a strong USP while pivoting your business strategy is often the best way to ride out these peaks and troughs.

“2022 was difficult for us because we didn’t realise that the upward trajectory of e-commerce during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns was an anomaly. However, we have now found our groove.

“People are definitely struggling with the cost-of-living crisis but they still want clothing that makes them feel something. And that’s exactly what Kai does for our community. It’s more than clothing – it is a feeling of confidence, community, recognition, acceptance, joy and beauty.”

PayPal has a suite of solutions that are designed to help serve the needs of small businesses – whether they’re just getting started or already a thriving enterprise or marketplace – with offerings that help enable them to pivot easily in times of constant change.

“PayPal’s solutions were integral in allowing us to rethink our goals and growth opportunities for 2023. If I had to choose one to recommend to another small business owner it would be PayPal Working Capital*,” states Longe.

“It helps us to continue to grow beyond what revenue allows for. A huge shipment got lost in transit in December 2022, so the forecasted revenue from that never materialised. PayPal Working Capital was very useful in that situation,” notes Longe.

“For example, we might decide to invest more than we normally would in stock for a particular collection or style that we know is going to be very popular and then it comes in handy for that too.

“Having PayPal as a payment method is also great,” adds Longe.

“It helps us offer our customers the choice to buy how they want with a whole host of payment methods, including its Pay Later solutions and global payment methods for international growth,” adds Longe. 

“We’ve found customers find the option for using Pay in 3** most helpful when we have launches and they want to manage their budgets by splitting their order into more manageable instalments. They are still able to shop and support our business while staying in control of their budget.” 

PayPal Seller Protection*** is another tool that Longe notes as a favourite. It can help to reduce the impact of financial losses – an integral layer of security for SMEs.

Despite what society might tell us, success doesn’t have to mean a rags to riches story or a meteoric rise to the top of the industry you’re trading in.

For a lot of SMEs, success is often much more centred on community and connection.

“Being a source of beauty, inclusivity, recognition and acceptance to members of our community is how I measure the success of my business. We want to continue to be a brand that makes each member of our community feel seen and valued,” states Longe.

“For my team, supporting them in achieving their goals and furthering their careers is super important. And for me, the freedom and economic means to build a life that I am truly proud of is a cornerstone of success.”

Learning from each other and thinking outside the box is often how we get our best ideas and grow beyond our expectations in life, and it’s a lesson to be learned in business too. 

“If I could give one piece of advice to other small business owners, it would be to build a community through mutual respect, honesty and vulnerability, and provide a service or feeling for your customers that satisfies more than just their materialistic needs.

“Thinking outside the box was also massively important for Kai,” adds Longe.

“Because Facebook and Instagram marketing has become very expensive, with a much smaller return on investment, we’ve found ways to connect with our customers and reach new customers by approaching our marketing from a more human-centric POV.

“We focus on making clothes that invoke a feeling in our audience and make them feel seen. We have a monthly feature called Muse Of The Month which spotlights a different customer each month. This then introduces them to our community and rewards them with a gift card for the beautiful content they create when wearing Kai. For the customer, this is also an incentive to keep creating beautiful content and offers them the opportunity to be discovered by more people.”

If you take anything away from this deep dive into redefining goals and success in 2023, let it be that seeking out supportive resources and solutions and focusing on building a community of like-minded people (who are likely to turn out to be your first customers) will always help your business grow. 

PayPal can help you rethink and grow your business this year with its all-in one solution, PayPal Commerce Platform, which has a whole suite of diverse tools to help you run your business and support both your company and your customers.

This content is provided for informational purposes only. You should always obtain independent business, tax, financial, and legal advice before making any business decision.

* PayPal sales history and account behaviour, along with other criteria, are used to determine eligibility and the advance value offered. See full terms here.

** Pay in 3 is a form of credit and availability is subject to merchant status, sector and integration. Pay in 3 use is subject to status and approval and can make credit less accessible or more expensive for the consumer. Consumers should consider whether the purchase is affordable, how they will repay and be aware of the possible impact of using Pay in 3 and of missing payments. See product terms for more details.

*** Available on eligible purchases. Limitations apply.