Your company’s impact has nothing to do with its size
Is a small businessperson tiny?
Not in the least, but people insist on using this term when it makes no sense. “Small business” has become a catchall for any business that has fewer than 50 people, no matter what those people do or provide. A one-person company that makes $10 million a year by consulting on rockets is the same as the 49-employee company that could be a key tier-two supplier to BMW or a company like mine that does Web design and marketing and has 10 employees.
Each is different, yet they are labeled “small.”
It makes sense to compare companies based on things we can measure—employees, sales, revenue and market share. But the things we can count don’t necessarily capture the critical qualities. Indeed, the things we can count often stand in for intangibles, but those measurements can mislead us, misalign priorities and misrepresent the situation.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a small business as one that is independently owned and operated, is organized for profit, and is not dominant in its field. To me, that doesn’t capture what a small business really is, because I don’t believe any business is small, especially one that has big ideas or is impacting the community in great ways.
A company with 15 people may be doing more than a company with 1,000 when you look at contributions in money and time to nonprofit organizations, responsiveness to clients that goes above and beyond the norms, value to a customer, benefits provided and the like. There is nothing “small” about that. You do not run a “small”—unimportant, insignificant, forgettable—business. You run a business.
The impact of “small” businesses is invaluable to the local and national economy. Given the fierce global competition we face in the 21st century and the years to come, this is our hope for the future.
Segments and demographics are for economists and marketers. I know it can be valuable information to reach a certain audience, but the label “small business” (or “midsize,” for that matter) is really a behind-the-scenes technical thing, not a “this is who I am” thing. It is a label, a measurement—it is not a definition and certainly not a judgment.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of what we cannot do because of our size. “If we were bigger we could buy more. If we were bigger we could invest more.” Yet because of your size, maybe you are able to still be engaged in the core of your business, and not just the management of it.
Maybe you can respond quickly to an opportunity or a customer’s needs. When was the last time anybody referred to a conglomerate as agile? Maybe you can give your employees the attention they need and deserve to be happy as your employees (rather than somebody else’s). Maybe you can focus on what is important to you rather than what some New York analyst says.
Because words matter and sometimes they send messages that don’t reflect important realities. Be a business owner. Make an impact. Don’t think small.
Maybe it’s time we retire the phrase “small business” and look at them for what they are. Businesses. Business owners. Innovators. Entrepreneurs. Impactors. Game changers.
