This #SmallBusinessSaturday, I thought I’d write about 5 things no one tells you about small business owners:
1. 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤
Your view of those small businesses is through the narrow opening that is social media. In that view, we’re all busy, always with clients, at speaking engagements or parties. Apparently.
The truth? None of those clients, speaking engagements or parties happen by themselves. They’re the result of days, weeks, even months of work, networking and relationship building, just to get some visibility that might lead to further work later.
2. 𝐖𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲; 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞
Landed a new client? Fantastic! That means I can keep the business going another x months.
We never think “Ooo! Windfall! I can book a holiday with the family!” It’s all about keeping on this self-made treadmill.
3. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.
Running a small business is tough. It’s like being an employee x 5.
You have your core “employee” role: the thing you actually do.
But you also juggle numerous other roles that, in another business, would be someone else’s responsibility.
Accounting? Prospecting? Finance? Debt recovery? Sales? Social media manager? Graphic design?
We have to do most (if not all) of it ourselves.
Sick leave? Joking, aren’t you? We can still do bookkeeping from our hospital bed.
4. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐲𝐬
Even with copyright protections, derivative works insurance and the like, we’ll often find “homages” to our work that have been implemented in much larger businesses.
Imitation might be the biggest form of flattery. But what’s been imitated has been the result of our sleepless nights, sacrifices and sweat.
And it never gets any less frustrating.
5. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥.
How easy is employment? Someone else gives us the work. Someone else determines what processes to follow. Someone else will signpost stakeholders to work with.
And you get regular, predictable income. No need to work out what’s going in the pension this month, tax efficient means of employing your partner or what you can/can’t write-off as a business expense.
But we’ve also seen behind the curtain of self-employment.
The flexibility and control that working for ourselves offers means that we’re unlikely to consider going back to employment unless it really works with our head, heart and wallet.
So check-in with your small business owner connections.
That print work you need? £100 with Vistaprint is not as impactful as £100 spent with D R Printers.
That massage you meant to arrange? It’s £££’s invested in your local community.
That piece of work you’ve been putting off? Why not start a conversation with them and see what value they can bring?
#SupportSmallBusiness
