The Power Of Being Small

Good things come in small packages. For those of us who vertically challenged in elementary school, we were destined to hear that phrase a number of times growing up. When it comes to business, small is underrated. It's under appreciated and it's especially undervalued. 

When it comes to entrepreneurship- especially lifestyle businesses- small is often an advantage, not a hinderance. Whether it's because of ego, insecurity or the belief that impact with be more significant by being bigger, so many entrepreneurs step over the idea of the power of being small for the perceived richness of big. 

What they miss during that step over are all of the advantages that you receive by being small that you actually lose by being big. Think of the solopreneur specifically who wants their business to be huge. Let's take that literally for a moment. Even though they are wanting big, everything they use to their advantage is small. 

Sitting inside of a coffee shop, or along the beach, they sit back with a small laptop on the table, a small phone in their pocket and a small table to get work done. None of it is big. And none of it is needed big to make a large impact. As they work, they probably don't have a big, bloated staff. They don't have big board rooms, big meetings or big corporate expenses to deal with. 

They are small. And they are powerful. 

When you are small, you can write a blog post like I am this morning without oversight, layers of red tape and corporate policies to wade through. I can also be honest, myself and daring if I'd like. When you are small, you can talk to your people directly. One of the saddest parts of businesses that go from small to big is how they lose touch with the people who love them the most, the ones who helped them become who they are. 

Now, small doesn't mean thinking small. But small allows you the nimbleness and flexibility to shift, pivot and adjust quickly to changes you'd like to make. It gives the wiggle room to decide quickly when something isn't working that big companies just can't do. The bigger you get, the slower you move. As you grow in size, you have more people to slow things down. 

Podcaster Joe Rogan recently had an episode that was downloaded more than 60 million times. One man interviewing another. Two microphones. One room. Huge impact. So much so that his numbers are crushing the big cable news shows. You know, the ones with the big budgets, the huge staff and the limited flexibility. 

Rogan- or any podcaster or writer- can go where the big guys and girls can't. While they have forced themselves into a certain narrative, the small can pivot quickly. Instead of canned segments that need to fit large formatting and advertising, someone like Rogan has the freedom and flexibility to record a three hour show that becomes the most downloaded podcast episode in the history of podcasting. 

Small is the new big, and big things do in fact come in small packages. And it couldn't come at a better time for the throngs of burnt out corporate employees who are looking to stop doing meaningless work for large corporations and begin doing work that matters to them and the people who care.