Keeping The Small In Small Business

The problem with being a small business is that sometimes the word "small" describes more than the fiscal label or employee count of the business entity. Unfortunately some people have taken the "small" mentality right into their business thinking. You can’t grow a business if you continue to be small minded about growth, marketing, practices, and just what it really means at the core of your business, to really be focused on what’s best for you, or what’s best for the business.

Simply put, don’t let your personal hangups stunt the growth of your business. Everyone wants to be successful, but everyone isn’t willing to do what’s necessary to achieve that success in business.

I’ve had clients before who I could tell would be looking at me funny handing me 4 and 5 figure checks or asking me about ways to make services cheaper and making jokes about "me" (personally) receiving a nice amount of money as if they felt they were giving me money compared to hiring a company for services.

I run a business. This business has expenses, taxes, payroll, etc. Plus I have a value on my time. My clients who understand this are constantly growing their business and thinking of ways to continue growing. But the one’s who don’t are generally the same ones who look at me as if they are somehow financing my lifestyle. Like I take their check and run straight to the casino and have a good time.

But even if I did, didn’t they still receive the service they paid for?

Although we focus on film and web production, our core intent is marketing. If we aren’t making the products that you need for the marketing of your business, and they’re not doing for you what they need to do, then we haven’t done our job. And I try to stress this to some of these "small" businesses to get them thinking past the dollar, and looking at the investment. I’ve even turned jobs away that I knew were going to be a headache because there was no clear vision about what was needed.

If you’re going to be in business, you have to be in all the way. You can’t want your business to succeed without contributing to the success of other businesses. And black businesses unfortunately do this the most. We want everyone to pay our prices, rates, and follow our rules, but we don’t want to be supportive of others. We look for hookups, good deals, and the cheapest way of doing something. And I think that’s what keeps the "small" in some of our small businesses.

I have no problem with shopping around for the best deal, but it can’t always be about price. You have to know what is best for your business. What’s going to help your overall growth? What do you need to invest in to get you to the next level? Of course if you’re still running around trying to get the lowest price, chances are you haven’t figured that out yet and you’ll continue to be stuck at a "small" level in your small business.