Is it such a bad thing if a small business wants to stay small? You could be mistaken for thinking that as soon as you start your small business, your main goal should be to grow and grow and sell it for a squillion dollars and spend the rest of your days giving talks at conferences around the globe. Or is that just me? Confession: I read a lot of blogs, articles, posts, quotes. You name it, I’m consuming it. It comes with the territory of sourcing, creating and scheduling content for my clients. But nevertheless, there is a lot of content out there urging you to be the biggest and best. And honestly I find it all so tiresome. Because I’m happy keeping my business at the size it is.
Contrary to popular belief, a lot of small business owners are happy to remain on the smaller scale and not grow their business as fast as they can. Do you find that surprising? I did! This is according to the Business News Daily article Most Small Business Owners Are Happy Staying Small. I guess it’s hard to believe because those articles aren’t as prevalent as the others. There’s this uncomfortable, unspoken thought that if you don’t want to grow your business, you must have no ambition. But I would disagree. Just starting a small business takes not only ambition but a big truckload of courage. But that’s another blog, for another day.
So why do a lot of small business owners choose to remain small? The reasons are many and include retaining control of their business, maintaining a balanced life, and making the decision to hone their expertise in a given field. For a list of others, visit this great readwrite article, 15 Reasons To Keep Your Company Small.
I have often vacillated between expanding my little home business; and staying small and keeping it manageable with only me. And I have finally come to the conclusion that I will (for the moment) stay small and concentrate on doing what I do to the best of my ability. This decision should help me decide on what clients I take on in the future (another blog for another day: how losing focus of what you do can be detrimental to your mental health).
I’ve got maybe another five years until all kids are in high school and probably won’t need me or want to ever see me even in their periphery. So I’m going to work with that timeline for now.
In the Business News Daily article, Most Small Business Owners Are Happy Staying Small they share some great tips for business owners. One of them is for us to define success on our own terms. Don’t let anyone else tell you what success looks like. As the owner of your business, only you can decide what is successful. For me, success is being able to earn an income from home and having the flexibility to be around for my children.
By that definition, I have succeeded already.
Hardcastle Social Media is an independent social media small business based in Inner Brisbane. WI provide strategic social media marketing to other small businesses and have recently started offering newsletter services too! Specialising in Facebook & Instagram business page management we provide services from setting up your Facebook or Instagram business page through to total management of your current platforms. Contact me today on 0401 505 423 or info@hardcastlesocialmedia.com.au.