I’ve noticed an emerging trend happening out there:
The little guys are growing up and becoming the big guys.
Online entrepreneurs are renting offices.
Solopreneurs are becoming agencies and collectives and are all about playing big – bigger – BIG BIG BIG!
I read a post recently by a minimalist who was talking about how to be epic. Epic.
Epic? Really?!?
Can you even be an epic minimalist?
Where is the hero’s journey in minimalism?
“I Own One Shirt: The true story of one man’s quest into the search for a gentle laundry detergent that he can also use to wash his butt.”
I digress.
Three years ago when I started Makeness, small was in. Way in. Everyone was all about how to get out from under the thumb of The Man. We were proud of our ability to work in our jammies, travel the world, and do pretty much everything on our own terms.
But the climate was different then. Jobs were scarce. Corporate distrust was at an all-time high. And now, here we are – three years later – and the little guys are wanting more from their businesses. Beyond the desire to get out from under jobs we hated, now they want to lead. Now they want to change things for other people – lift them up – create jobs. Now they want to become them.
Them=The movers and the shakers.
Them=The difference makers.
Them=The leaders, the generational voices, the money makers, the people that leave the BIG marks.
But how? Why? Why give up the freedoms of being a couch-surfing entrepreneur to dive headlong into rent-paying and suit-wearing?
Because it’s effective. That’s why.
Because people take you more seriously when you have a conference room and an office that has a land line.
Because whether we like it or not, potential clients still feel better knowing that they have a whole gaggle of people toiling away just for THEM, instead of one really smart introvert who lives and works in their laundry-day underpants.
But is that the only way?
What’s wrong with small?
Isn’t it the work that matters?
Why does size matter?
Better yet, who gives a shit?
WHY do we start off liking small and wind up wanting to be big?
WHY do so many of us inevitably decide that we are ready [and supposed] to make our little thing into a big thing?
Small is lovely. Small is nimble. Small means you can change – adapt – grow – shrink – learn – fail – succeed – all from the comfortable place of knowing that you are safe in your creative bubble. Safe. Oh… that dirty word we are all supposed to avoid. When did safe become a BAD thing?
I don’t know about you, but I got pretty tired of hanging over the financial ledge by the skin of my teeth when I was like 19.
Safe feels pretty damn good these days.
Beyond the debate of small vs. big is the question of why, as business people, do we feel the need to tap into one or the other? Why do we have to build bigger or stay leaner? Why can’t we build leaner and stay small? In our little/big sub-economy, why is the biggest indicator of success still all about size? Number of Twitter followers/subscribers/readers/page views/clicks/etc… has become how we measure our reach – and thereby how we measure who is the biggest, brightest, smartest leaders out there.
It seems so adolescent to me.
Shouldn’t the measure of success be our level of happiness, our positive impact, and our fucking bottom line?!?
I know lots of people who make a lot of cash and are really happy and no one has ever heard of them. Their blogs are ignored. Their websites suck. They don’t have signs or suite numbers or VA’s. And I know plenty of people who have massive numbers and who make less than your average Gap employee.
So why do we spend so much time worrying about numbers that don’t matter? Or do they matter? Should they matter? No idea. Really. I. Don’t. Know.
I do know that I’m pretty sure that if Warren Buffett was starting out today, his number of Facebook friends wouldn’t be his measure of success. But if Martin Luther King Jr. was having a dream a month ago, he sure as hell would be sharing it on Twitter.
So why talk about all this? Because it’s a topic that’s on the top of my mind – and the minds of many other people I’ve been chatting with lately.
Since I’ve moved to a new geographic [and psychic] location – a lot has been churning in me, and in my business. As my landscape changes, I feel more and more in tune with the general and constant movement under my feet, and around me, in the little corner of the business world that I occupy. That churning sparks questions for me. Questions spark debate. Debate sparks ideas. Ideas are my stock and trade.
This big/small debate is just that. A debate. A step towards ideas and visions and changes. I don’t know the answer.
Some days, I want to hire people and rent a big loft and paint all the walls white and buy fancy computers and sit on big rubber balls and use crayons for brainstorming all my big ideas.
Other days, I look down at my cat and feel totally blessed that I do not, under any circumstances, have to put shoes on today unless I reeeeealllllyyy want to.
We are living in interesting times. We are part of what feels like a gold-rush of new ideas and ways to make a living, and we are filling up this boundless online land-grab with trendy choices that change faster than most people are able to process.
So, I’m asking. Big or Small? Fast or Slow? Is there a *right* way to be brilliant and world-changing?
Really, I’m asking. Use the comment space to share your thoughts. Tweet this. Share this. I really, honestly, am trying to get a read on what YOU think.
Slow and small changes the world.
Big and fast goes to space.
There's no one right answer :-D But growing "too fast" for many companies is the death knell (although I suppose you could say that bad decision-making is the thing really did them in.)
I have a friend who recently added on about 10 employees to her company and she was previously a solopreneur. Personally, I think she's nuts. But I can also see the appeal of having people on staff to handle new clients. It's sort of like getting married, it makes you put your butt in gear a little bit faster than you would have as a bachelor.
For me it's not a matter of small vs. large so much as agile vs. cumbersome. I always want to expand my reach but I sure don't want a big office with a suit, employees, and high overhead. I want to travel light, with my laptop, mandolin, and passport.
As someone in the early stages of their online adventure my first goal is to be able to quite my day job (as I am sure it is for most people). While small will be wonderful to start with, I think going big "the right way" can be a blessing to yourself and to others. To be able to share "your thing" with more people. To surround yourself with people who are desperate to do something that truly matters but who don't have the urge to create their own business. Who truly connect with your whole purpose. I think you can grow big as long it is still in line with your original purpose. Maybe it's not bigger? Maybe it's wider. Spreading your message wider. Hmmm.... I like that.
This is a really good question. At this point I'm more interested in small and agile and ready to partner with others to make a greater impact. I work out of a co-working space here in Chile that's filled with other entrepreneurs, and I regularly barter or partner with other people that have different skills. I know a lot of people who dream about massive scalability and building a billion dollar company. I think that's fabulous, but I don't think it's my aspiration at this point. Thanks for making me think about my own intentions.
Isn't it interesting when this choice comes down to our actual gut-level intentions and wants and comes from a place of looking inward, instead of outward? I so often hear this rumble from people about how they 'should be doing _________', or how they know that the 'big guys do _________'. When we really ask ourselves what WE want for our lives [not necessarily for our businesses], the answers often change, don't they?
Tough question. As an older entrepreneur I struggle with where people my age fit into the mix. Hubs was in the corporate world for 30 years until being downsized three years ago. No loyalty there. Since then we have changed our lifestyle. We were never wealthy but we didn't have to worry about paying the mortgage or helping our kids with college costs. I was a stay at home mom who did decorative painting part time while the kids were in school. We always lived within our means and saved what we could. Kids are still in school and we are still in our home and managing to scrape by while starting new businesses in this new world. There is something to be said for having my husband at home instead of traveling 5 days a week. He is now his own boss and can make his own decisions as to what direction to take. When he and his partner need to meet they call a small cafe right down the road their "office". What could be more pleasant. Certainly not the work environment our generation of 50 something's were used to. Navigating the online part of the biz is where we flounder as it seems there isn't really a place for us older folks who are no where near retirement age in this economy. I do vintage shows and painting etc. but have no big blog following or website. I am working on it, but as you say, things change before you get to where you think you want to be. I don't know the answer, I just know that going back to the "old " way of doing business is not for us.
Thanks so much for sharing your story. It's so interesting how diverse the reasons have become for starting a business. There are so many more unintended entrepreneurs than ever before. The one insight I can add is that you possess the advantage of age. Instead of constantly wondering if you or your husband should go find work, you already know the answer. Don't ever forget how much of a luxury that sense of certainty can be.
Why moderate your comments?
Because it gives me an opportunity to interact more (email notifications remind me to jump into the convo). Also help me keep track of any spam the slides through the filters.
How did that feel? Oh, man, the ANGST! I love it. I bet you were relieved (or had a smoke) after finishing that piece, huh? ;-) Anyway, I am in the midst of writing an article on this exact subject from the perspective of the architecture+design industry to demonstrate the difference in approach between a small boutique firm and a national giant and the merits of both. Why? Because there is validity in both approaches and it depends on YOU as you so eloquently asked. I am not a solopreneur, self-employed nor will I likely ever be (until I am so called "retired") so I have no idea what it is like to venture down that road but what I do know is it is critical to your success to know which is more important to you. Now, THAT is a fact (albeit obvious one). Honestly, I thought you were going down the road of teaming up with other solopreneurs to create a 'collective" there-by keeping your individuality and business but sharing space and equipment to seem more "legit" to the corporate douche-canoes out there that can't put one and one together and see the merits of small business. That would be an interesting spin on this topic. Anyway, I do enjoy your writing. If you want to drop by my site tomorrow sometime you can read my take on the merits of big and small. Either way. Cheers Illana! Nice work.
I actually *may* team up with some folks in the nearish future for all the reasons you mentioned. I''ll have to check out your post. DM me when it's live. ...I'm ignoring the dad-like tone in the angstsyness comment;)
Ha.Ha. dad-like tone. I love that. By the time you read this I will have shed that persona and will also have posted. Have a great weekend.
As a father to a 4yo boy who will forever look to me as example of how to live, I often wonder if becoming the next Steve Jobs or whoever is really a good goal to shoot for. When my own father died, at 52, hundreds of workers he represented in the union he worked for showed up at the final public celebration of his life, and I saw in the eyes of legions of men, a respect and admiration I could only dream for. As my own tiny business grows, I feel like rather than succeed at standing out, my greatest contribution to humanity might come from creating something that improves the lives of all who work within it.
Well put, Greg. Small is beautiful. I live by the phrase, "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." The impact you have can be felt far and wide... no matter the size.
Thank you for this! I keep reading books allegedly about small business that are really about entrepreneurs turning their babies into huge cash cows, and I don't want that at all. The point of my small business is to be a small business that a work from home mom can sustain while my kids grow up. I am content with Enough.
"I am content with Enough." Love that. Such an interesting vibe out there right now. Like, we are supposed to be different and the same at the same time? When is enough... Enough? Where does contentment fall on the spectrum of success? Thanks for sharing, Jane!