Why small businesses stay small - that is, if they don't die.
/Resource constraints are part of what define small businesses. With constant demands on the owner's time inside the business, precious little time is spent on developing long-term strategy or performing rigorous analysis to improve performance. By the end of their work day - often an hour much later than their corporate neighbors get home - small business owners may split their last few precious moments each day with their families or catching up on the long list of overdue projects around the house. Small business owners know that there is little time or energy left to work ON their business, after working IN their business all day.
“Failure to work ON the business and not just IN the business is why most small businesses stay small - that is, if they don’t die.”
In industries with a significant numbers of small businesses, there are some that emerge from the pack and become medium-sized successes. But for every break out success, many more small businesses fail to thrive and many close up shop. The businesses that break out are not those with the greatest amount of luck but those whose owners invested their time working ON the business IN ADDITION to working IN the business. That the majority of small business will either remain small, if not die completely, is a direct result on the TYPE of investment small business owners make in their companies - not just the amount.
In our work helping small and medium-sized businesses reach their potential through transformative thinking and in-depth quantitative analysis, we routinely meet small business owners that are sitting atop a virtual goldmine. Yet, instead of contemplating how much more gold they could cart to the top if they adjusted this lever or that knob, they are often balancing precariously above the shaft and working feverishly just to avoid financial ruin. Despite knowing that similarly resourced competitors having broken out of the mold and gone on to achieve great success, all too often small business owners fail to take their own business to the next level.
If you or a fellow small business owner you know needs help breaking out of the small business shackles, let us know. We can help.