Small Business - Big Business

Today small business is becoming the new big business. More and more people are making a decision to control their own destiny by opening their own business. Years ago you could decide to pick a company to work for and also plan on retiring from there in 40 years. Those days are all but gone and we will never see them again. Big business has a priority to its shareholders to produce earnings and this means growth through acquisition, cost cutting measures, and flat management hierarchy.

Small business does not have to deal with these same issues but can create a business that is just as agile as big business. Small business can take advantage of technology enhancements, 3rd party vendors, and outsourcing all the while creating an infrastructure to compete with big business. Sure there is more risk as a small business from an initial cash flow standpoint but the ROI is much higher than the normal course of employment. I have always worked for big corporations mainly because of the belief that is is safer. Of course my former business was outsourced and my current business is under extreme financial pressure. So I guess my question is why should I work for a big business?

Value Added

I once worked for a leader who always talked about value added. What value are you adding to the customer, employees and the business? So many times in large corporations value added is a buzz word and not a measurement. You simply cannot use the word value add unless you are willing to quantify the results.

Recently, I have been working on a project that is an effort to transform our culture. I have been pushing to ask what are we learning? How are we making an impact? What is the ROI? Sure in business it is not always about the bottom line but if you never get to the bottom line there is a problem. If you want to create value and prove your self worth make all of your projects or sales calls value added.