A few weeks ago Seth Godin wrote that a business can be “too small to fail”. That is, while bigger businesses can afford to take risks without going under…
A small acting bank would never have invested in tens of thousands of loans that they hadn’t looked at. And a small acting startup wouldn’t hire dozens of people before they had a business model… and then have to lay off a third of them just because their VC firm showed them a scary PowerPoint.
As we enter a maybe-recession (and maybe worse), several wise businessmen–unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly whom–have pointed out that small businesses are also mostly likely to succeed in the uncertain economy, because small businesses can adjust to new situations and capitalize on them.
Encouraging.
-TimK
P.S. More recently, Seth also wrote that productivity is what generates wealth. (Trading stocks doesn’t. Government action doesn’t. Tightening one’s belt doesn’t.) And it reminded me of a lesson: find the things you can do better than others in your field; you can charge as much as they do, and yet spend less, because you’re more productive.