ADVANTAGES OF BEING A SMALL BUSINESS

“Small, and new businesses are typically agile and can react to new ideas, market demands, and customer needs rapidly.”

One of the biggest reasons people can feel overwhelmed with launching and growing their small business, is the fear of competing with larger and established companies. It’s hugely common for entrepreneurs of small businesses and those in the very early stages to feel somewhat dwarfed, questioning the potential of their small-scale and brand-new enterprises. However, the very essence of launching and being a small business provides a wealth of opportunities and benefits, often overlooked in the shadows of larger, established brands.

Here I shed light on the genuine advantages of being both a small and new business, advantages that you can adopt and implement quickly, leveraging these strengths to bolster whatever stage you are at within your business, plus three real-life powerful examples including how a series of small business advantages led to us working directly with American Vogue and receiving tens of thousands of pounds of free press coverage.

THE SIX ADVANTAGES:

1. FLEXIBILITY & ADAPTABILITY

Larger and established brands can certainly be steady, but a consequence of this, is it’s much harder and slower for them to pivot quickly. Conversely, small, and new businesses are typically agile and can react to new ideas, market demands, and customer needs rapidly. As a small business owner, you can quickly adapt to changes in the market, altering your products, services, or business model on the fly. This agility enables you to often stay ahead and react faster to emerging trends and needs, thereby gaining a significant competitive edge.

2. PERSONALISED CUSTOMER SERVICE & LOYALTY

As a small business, your clients and customers are not just a series of numbers on a spreadsheet – they are your community, your advocates, your partners in growth. Small businesses have the advantage of providing personalised, meaningful experiences to their customers, fostering relationships that have greater depth and meaning than simply transactional exchanges. This rapport creates customer loyalty and advocacy, and drives word of mouth, the most powerful form of marketing and plays a significant role of your long-term success.

3. INNOVATION & CREATIVITY

A smaller team often results in a closer-knit work culture, fostering creativity and innovation. Ideas aren't lost in a bureaucratic maze but instead can be shared and acted upon quickly. Moreover, as a small business owner, you have more freedom to experiment, to take calculated risks, and to introduce pioneering solutions that a more risk-averse, larger corporation might shy away from. This ability to be nimble within a smaller company typically comes at minimal extra cost. Where larger players will need to fully explore and understand a potentially complex strategy, involving multiple teams and departments, smaller businesses can quickly test, with minimal risk and investment.

4. PASSION & PURPOSE

Small businesses often stem from personal passions, innovative ideas, or a drive to make a difference. This entrepreneurial spirit shines through in the products and services offered, creating a unique appeal for customers. Your passion fuels your business and can be a compelling selling point, setting you apart from your larger competition where the founder(s) are distant from the day-to-day customer service. As you are closer to your customers and you receive direct feedback, you are also in a hugely unique and advantageous position to improve and better your offerings, aligning them directly with customer needs and desires, very quickly.

5. COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

As a smaller business, it is far easier to establish successful collaborations with likeminded entrepreneurs and brands, and this crossover of ideas and shared experience can quickly move you forwards and into new audiences. The speed and success of collaborations is a strength that large corporations often struggle to match.

6. CUSTOM SOLUTIONS

Small businesses are well-positioned to offer custom solutions to their clients. Unlike large corporations, which often offer one-size-fits-all products or services, small businesses can take the time to understand their customer's unique needs and design bespoke solutions, which typically lead to far higher value offers. This places you into a unique position, where you don’t need to compete on price. You effectively create your own market and can continue focussing on further bespoke offerings, which in turn fuels greater customer loyalty and being in a fortunate position to offer premium products and/or services relatively easily.

“Small businesses often stem from personal passions, innovative ideas, or a drive to make a difference. This entrepreneurial spirit shines through in the products and services offered, creating a unique appeal for customers.”

real-life examples:

Drawing inspiration from three examples that illustrate the immense potential that lies within small businesses, and just how it’s highly possible to compete with, and often surpass, larger corporations. I share these stories in the hope that they ignite a spark of confidence and enthusiasm as you are working day-to-day within your business or developing your initial idea:

Victoria & albert museum

A few years ago, we had the honour of being appointed as a preferred supplier to the London design museum, the V&A. We were appointed to bring their events to life with flower installations, ranging from table designs to large focal arrangements. We were good at delivering innovative ideas, often last minute and always with a can-do attitude, which led to a wonderful opportunity … the V&A’s exhibition team needed a design to celebrate an upcoming exhibition, and we were recommended for the task.

A few months later, we breathed life into a semi-permanent structure depicting Frida Kahlo and her iconic halo of flowers. As a nimble team, we worked fast, the installation met their exact brief and soon further opportunities were open to us. Next, we were approached by their retail team to design wearable hairbands for the museum shop, which we fulfilled promptly and with enthusiasm.

This chain of events spiralled into an exciting opportunity with MATCHESFASHION.com, an international luxury fashion retailer, leading us to create a quarterly collection of hair accessories. This quickly became one of their best-selling collections and a consistent, highly profitable offering for us, securing extensive press coverage and leading to direct collaborations with British and US Vogue.

After the event, the Frida Kahlo installation was auctioned at Sotheby’s, raising thousands to support Women for Women International. The secret behind these achievements lies in our speed, agility, flexibility, adaptability, innovative spirit, and strong relationships, attributes that a larger organisation might struggle to showcase in such a limited timeframe.

BRASSICA FORNO

This is a great example, from a restaurant close to my home in Dorset. Brassica, run by the husband-and-wife team, Cass Titcombe and Louise Chidgey, recently had an incredible opportunity to expand their business and open a bakery and production kitchen in the neighbouring market town, Bridport.

This venture required investment, and instead of pursuing a lengthy bank loan process, they spent time working out if there was another way to raise the money and came up with a perfect, creative solution. They launched a Crowdfunder campaign where their customers, friends and local community – these are people who know how passionate they are about their business, they have experienced the quality of their food and overall brand and know how hard they work – they could pledge donations to the project in return for homemade meals and treats.

Despite advice against this approach by financial experts, their deep understanding of their customer base gave them the confidence to pursue it. In just a few days, they reached their target and brought life back to a recently vacant grade two listed building, directly on the town’s high-street. They not only expanded their business but also formed stronger relationships with their customers and created new local employment. Lou and Cass have shown us that strong customer connections and local support can propel a small business to remarkable success, something that larger corporations might find challenging to achieve.

Square Mile Coffee Roasters

Square Mile Coffee Roasters, a London-based coffee roasting business renowned for its dedication to quality, was founded in 2008 by James Hoffmann and Anette Moldvaer; their unique selling proposition is their small-batch roasting model.

Operating on a small-batch roasting model, has allowed them to roast their coffee in such a way that highlights the beans' unique characteristics, emphasising the taste and aroma profiles that make each variety of coffee special. This level of detail is only possible through small batch roasting, as it requires a high degree of attention and precision that would be challenging on a larger scale.

This approach also allows for a significant level of flexibility. Square Mile sources coffee from a variety of farms and regions, and small-batch roasting enables them to test and adjust roasting profiles for each type of bean they work with. They can also respond quickly to customer feedback and preferences, adjusting their roasting methods accordingly.

Furthermore, the smaller scale of production helps maintain the freshness of their coffee. Roasting in small batches ensures that beans aren't sitting in storage for extended periods before reaching customers. This approach guarantees that customers are receiving the freshest coffee possible, which enhances the overall taste and experience.

In addition to the quality advantages, Square Mile's small-batch model also plays into their commitment to sustainable and ethical practices. They build direct relationships with coffee farmers and producers, allowing them to source high-quality beans while also ensuring fair trade practices.

Although being an entrepreneur with a small and/or new business idea can sometimes feel overshadowed by the clout of larger, established businesses, remember that your small scale is not a constraint, but a hugely powerful asset. The agility, customer connection, innovative potential, and personal touch that small businesses harness and excel in, are highly prized in today's fast-paced, customer-centric business landscape.

So, take pride and huge levels of renewed confidence in your brand and/or business idea – it is exactly these enterprises that truly power our economy, drive innovation, and lead the way in exceptional customer offerings and service.

I would LOVE to hear your own success stories; examples within your own business, where you can identify with one or more of the above - you can reach me directly on Instagram (I reply to all messages and DMs).

Warmest,
Philippa x