Askal said:
My new approach to business is to be..... wait a minute to let this sink in............ the biggest small business I can. The bigger a business gets the less efficient it gets. the bigger it gets the less personal it gets. Both are death for a service business. I plan to grow as much as possible but retain the advantages of being small. When I can no longer be a small business with all of its advantages then I will stop growing. If you do it right then you can be very profitable. All it takes is a plan and the commitment to keep to the plan. I set into motion my strategy for the possible upcoming "recession" a while back and we will go through it like a storm trooper. We will mow down our competition as things get tough if in fact they do. I just love being in business and winning. While the others are reacting to changes in the economy we will be motoring along on our merry way following our plan.
Al
Excellent advice, Al.
Magazine publisher, author, and philanthropist Felix Dennis, (he founded and published many extremely successful magazines in the UK and US including Popular Computing, Blender, Stuff, Maxim and The Week) says "Think Big, Act Small".
As our companies grow, it does indeed become increasingly difficult to maintain that small-company image of caring. Hiring and training our team members to care first and clean second has helped us with the oftentimes difficult balance, as well as having an excellent follow-up routine to ensure the customer is completely thrilled with us. If they're not, for some reason, it's important to provide the "Act Small" service that only a caring company can accomplish.
Regarding recessions - our services will always be needed, whether we're in a good or bad economy. When I say "our services", I mean the services we cleaners and restorers provide. What I've seen in our 5-year, one-state recession is that the weak companies tighten up or go away and the good companies at least tread water or even grow a little, and some a lot. The big gains for all aren't there as they were, but the work is still there in the right niches.
Scott