Comments on: Your Small Business: 3 Ways To Take Advantage Of Being Small

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:40:14 +0000

Hey Dustin,
That’s true. Small businesses can take more chances because they have no legacy customers and no real reputation to maintain. Keeping costs low is definitely another advantage which I didn’t get a chance to mention in the article so thanks for pointing that out. Come to think of it, if we had to, my wife and I could maintain our business on 100 dollars a month.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:32:45 +0000

Hey Gab,

I’ve never worked for a really large company before. The largest ever was around 700 employees. Even then, decisions took forever to make and what pissed me off was that almost everyone had to agree. As a result, everything we did involved compromise and had bits and pieces of everyone’s input. It was always a big mess.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:29:30 +0000

Hey Matt,
In the vending machine business, does offering personalized service apply? I’d be really interested in hearing some of the interesting promotions that you’ve offered with your business if you are willing to share them.

By: Happiness Is Better

Happiness Is Better — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:46:02 +0000

I like your list and might add to it. If you are a small business and this is a side business (not relying on the income), you have the ability to take more chances. Basically, you have less to lose if the business goes belly up. Also, as a small business, you are able to keep costs low (working from home would be ideal), and might be able to weather a few storms that large business with expensive offices may not be able to weather. I understand that both of the instances I gave do not always work, but being frugal where it makes sense and staying small does have it’s advantages.

Great post Steve!

By: usd6

usd6 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:35:58 +0000

Overall, pretty good article, some of the details that go into further detail can be so much the better. Because there is no support to do some figures
Thanks!

By: Gab Goldenberg

Gab Goldenberg — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:28:38 +0000

I personally experienced the slowness of corporate marketing and let me tell you – it’s DREARY.

You make a good point on the flexibility and ability to quickly change, but I think you have an even better point that you don’t make explicit – testing can be done quickly when you’re small, because no one’s permission is needed. Amazon and Google’s success have been based on building testing cultures, and I think that’s a key message to tell small business, which is usually risk-averse when it comes to marketing tests.

By: PizzaForADream

PizzaForADream — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:37:05 +0000

You’ve hit the nail on the head with this post! Especially #3 and the agility one has as a small business. We’re running circles around others because they require far too much time to change course. As far as Bending The Rules (#2), we changed our promotions over and over again with our vending company until we got it right. Thanks for the continued insights, Steve.

By: B7

B7 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:24:26 +0000

Agility is an unbelievable advantage. A small company can make a decision to change direction in 30 minutes that takes a large company 6 months at best. And, combined with the massive leverage that the internet and outsourcing solutions provide, a one person company can literally compete with a Fortune 500 company.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:21:03 +0000

Hey Steve, small world. I lived there for most of my life and came to AZ in 2007 (FT) after living between the two for about 2 years. I have to say, I don’t miss the cold weather at all. I miss the people, but that’s about it. The DC area is much more high strung and stressed out.

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:26:23 +0000

I have known larger retailers who bend the rules. I worked for sephora.com (corporate) and they were the kings of doing everything they can to satisfy their online customers. I had a pretty good experience with saks.com recently myself. They can afford it!

I know most of the time, smaller, local, non-chains, etc is best though. My customers speak, write, Tweet, etc with ME, not a paid customer service rep. I know that makes a different.