Keep an eye out for emerging weaknesses

Small business owners have less recognition, smaller budgets, smaller bargaining power and must charge higher prices. These are all weaknesses when compared to larger competitors.

Many small business people see growth as their pathway to success. Many want to have bigger companies, confident in the notion that if they were only bigger they wouldn’t have the weaknesses they have today. That’s true, but while some flaws go away, others emerge to replace them.

Bigger businesses have just as many problems as smaller companies do. Sometimes larger companies have more problems than smaller firms. Sometimes bigger companies have bigger problems.

Growing organisations:

• lose their nimbleness
• lose their family feeling as teams and individuals grow farther apart
• have a smaller proportion of skilled people interacting with customers
• get fatter – and, therefore, slower
• become less focused on what made them successful
• lose touch with their clients, and
• allow their experience and accomplishments to slow their speed to innovate

You’ll never be able to mitigate every weakness, no matter how big you become. Instead, find leverage in recognising your emerging weaknesses and offset them with strengths.