Small Business vs Large Business

In the world of business there are differences that a person needs to know about when seeking to start their own business or seeking a place to work. When a person starts up a business they find out right away that there are things that define their business. People seeking the best place to work should realize that a small business can offer things a large corporation cannot offer and a larger business has things a small company cannot offer. So what are the difference between a small business and a large corporation?

Differences of Small versus Large

When people think about the differences between a large and small business environment the first thing that comes to mind is the amount of resources that each one has. Resources can be in the form of money, equipment, real estate space, personnel and community influence. When comparing large and small businesses it is easy to see that a small business may not have as much money as a large corporation. What is often not seen is that a small business can have a much greater impact in the community than a large business. A local office often has its pulse on the community and they begin to form long lasting personal relationships with their customers. A large corporation may have a satellite office in the area but it is often limited to just employees and will not allow the community access to the site. It is for business only and not for shopping.

For the person seeking a great place to work there are things about each type of business that they need to consider. A small business is often limited in career advancement. An office that only employees a few people lacks the promotional ability that a large corporation has. The larger the business becomes the more opportunities there are for moving up the career ladder. On the other side of the issue a small business has more to offer than a large business. A small business tends to have an atmosphere that is more like family. People get to know each other better and they realize that when one of the workers is struggling the whole company struggles. Each one shares in the success and failures of another coworker.

One thing that affects both a small business owner and a person seeking a place to work is the flexibility of a small business over a large corporation. A smaller business has the ability to more mobile than their larger competition. Should there be a need to move a small business can perform the action quickly and without much strain on the employees. A large business has to plan and strategize the entire process from start to finish and they have to hire a moving company to haul all the equipment to the new location. However, a large corporation usually more flexibility when it comes to vacation time. A worker may be given a few weeks per year that they can take for time off. In a small business there usually is not a person to carry on the duties of the employee that is missing. In a large corporation the work load can be distributed to other coworkers and things move forward as normal.

What is Similar of Small Versus Large

One thing that a small business has the same as a large corporation is that both can operate effectively by using best practices. Best practices are plans that are followed so the flow of business operates smoothly. The flow chart for operation may be different in size for each business but the principles are still the same. Both companies will have better customer service and they will find that they will have more sales as a result of following best practice methods.

Another area that small and large businesses have in common is that they seek to hire only the best qualified people. No business great or small wants to hire someone who cannot perform the job duties that are assigned to them. A small business owner will often interview the job seeker personally and a large corporation will have a human resource person screen applicants but they both are seeking the same result; a person who is qualified to fill the vacate position. No business wants to hire a person that will not stop up to plate and deliver their very best.

Small businesses and large corporation have areas that are vastly different and they have a few that are the same. When seeking to start up a business or seeking a place to work a person needs to consider all the differences and similarities between both environments so they can make the best decision for what they are seeking to accomplish.

5 Ways for Your Business to Mentor Young Women

Regardless of the size of your small business, there are many ways you can give back to the community by investing in the next generation of business leaders. Mentoring young women in the basics of business ownership, management and support roles increases the chance that they will want to go into business themselves. For many young women, the influence of a mentor will lead them to pursue options that they otherwise would not have seriously considered. Choose from several types of programs that will interest young women and get them involved in business.

After-School Programs

The hours after school is out are the perfect time to reach young women in middle school and high school. Many middle schools have an on-site after-school program for kids whose parents would prefer they stay at school instead of going to an empty house. You can usually contact the school and arrange to come to the school on a regular basis to lead sessions about business.

Community centers often have after-school programs as well, and they are always looking for volunteers to come help engage participants in the programs. You and other women who work at our business can set up days to volunteer at these programs and get to know the young women involved in them. If possible, try to work with them individually to get to know their unique interests and encourage them in the next steps they need to take to successfully pursue those interests.

High school students are often looking for ways to earn spending money after school, so one idea is to set up an after-school position at your small business. Hire a female student to come work for you for an hour or two every afternoon and learn about how a business operates. This type of job will be much more useful for her career development than working at a fast food restaurant or retail store would be.

Business Lunches with Young Professionals

As a seasoned businesswoman, you are in a position where many young female professionals look up to you because of your experience. Pass along what you have learned by setting up business lunches with young professionals. Identify promising young women who are just getting into the business world and choose one day each week when you can meet together over lunch.

At each lunch, talk with the woman about how her week has been going, what problems she has encountered and what she has been learning. Encourage her in skill development and as needed, help her brainstorm solutions to her work dilemmas. As it comes up, talk about her future career goals and help her come up with ways to gain the skills and experience she needs to meet those goals.

If the young woman is interested in starting her own small business, you can help her with developing a business plan, bit by bit, during these lunches. Don’t encourage her to jump into starting a business right away, but instead help her to genuinely think through the business plan and slowly develop the ideas that she needs to succeed. Help her identify potential weaknesses in her business idea and come up with solutions to these. In addition, give her practical advice that will be useful as she moves forward with the long process of launching a business.

Shadowing Opportunities

Young women who aren’t sure if they want to go into business benefit greatly from the opportunity to shadow a woman who is highly involved in business. Shadowing gives the young woman a chance to see what a few hours or a day on the job is like and to ask questions to learn more about getting into business and what a career as a businesswoman is like.

Set up shadowing appointments by contacting local schools and enlisting their help in identifying young women who might be interested in shadowing you or someone else in your business. You can start as early as high school, but focus primarily on young women who are in college or pursuing a master’s degree in business. Local community colleges, career schools and universities usually have career development offices that will be happy to work with you to recruit young women to come to your business for shadowing.

Once you have set up shadowing appointments, identify people in your small business who can effectively be shadowed. Choose people who have interesting jobs and who work on a variety of business-related tasks during a typical day. If you run the business yourself and don’t have any other staff, then obviously you will be the one being shadowed, but otherwise, choose people who are knowledgeable, friendly and who you think will be effective mentors.

During the shadowing, you or the other mentor should encourage the young woman to ask questions as she runs into things she isn’t familiar with. Ask her about her business interests as well, and if possible, tailor what you are doing that day to what she is interested in. The more interested she is, the more likely she will be to get something useful out of the shadowing experience.

Summer Internships

One of the best ways to mentor a young woman in a way that will truly impact her is to offer summer internships for women. Design one or more positions at your business that include tasks any young woman would be able to complete, and that increases in complexity as the summer goes on so your interns will be challenged. If possible, create a project that she can be working on somewhat independently throughout the summer that will give her the chance to practice high-level business skills, such as vision-casting, planning, and executing a project through to completion.

Recruit interns by advertising online or mentioning the opportunity to career counselors at high schools and colleges in your area. Many colleges have programs that allow students to earn college credit for successfully completing internships, which encourages young women to take the time to participate in the internship even though they aren’t getting paid.

Over the course of the internship, set aside time daily to instruct the intern about business and guide her into tasks that will give her practical skills in business. Tailor your internship to her skill levels and always have an eye toward directing her into greater understanding of the business world. Be flexible and willing to change the course of the internship as you identify her strengths and interests so she has the best experience possible and gains skills that will be relevant to her in the future.

Guest Speaking

If you need to recruit more young women to participate in the programs you have established, one of the best ways to do this is to set up speaking engagements. Call schools or community centers in your area and ask if you can come give a short talk about women in the business world. Don’t accept honorariums for these speaking engagements, but rather stipulate that you want to invite young women who attend to participate in one of your mentoring programs.

At each talk, discuss how you got involved in business, how it appeals to you, and what a typical day at work looks like for you. Talk about why it is important for women to be involved in business and what steps young women can take to learn more about business and get started on a career path. At this point, discuss the mentoring opportunities you are offering and invite young women who are interested in these to sign up.

Mentoring programs for young women can take a variety of forms, but the most important thing is to make a career in business seem exciting and attainable for each young woman, regardless of how old she is or what her interests and skills are at the time. As much as possible, tailor your programs to provide individualized mentoring for the young women involved. They will get the most out of it if you are speaking directly to their unique aptitudes. If you get nothing else across, at least make sure that you encourage the young woman that a career in business is not just for men.

Downgrade in US Rating Likely to Challenge Small Businesses

Following the debt ceiling debacle of early August, the economy might be headed down an even darker road than it’s been on.

The agreement to raise the debt ceiling should have been a non-issue, as it had been more than 30 times over the last few decades. Instead it highlighted the issues plaguing the United States, namely a divided government that cannot find an ideological common ground to turn the economy around.

And this fighting is what led to Standard and Poor’s downgrading the United States’ credit rating from AAA to AA+.

This downgrade has led to a roller-coaster stock market but no real losses on Wall Street as of this writing.

But for small businesses, this could be a very important issue as the country tries to recover from the massive recession.

Many analysts believe that the downgrade could cause an increase in borrowing costs for the government, which would ultimately require taxpayers to pay more and push up interest rates for consumers, businesses and credit cards.

These issues would hit small businesses first and foremost.

The debt ceiling agreement raised the federal government’s spending limit by $2.3 trillion, but, at the same time, it also requires cuts of $2.1 trillion in spending to cover the increase. And the drop in rating, from AAA to AA+, may further slash federal spending in the long run, while increasing taxation.

In this environment, already tight credit access, along with higher interest rates, could slow hiring among small businesses even further than it already is, crippling the recovery.

Depending on the study you read, small businesses employ anywhere from 50 percent to over 70 percent of the American workforce. If small businesses have no incentive to hire, unemployment will continue to rise, further weakening the American economy.

According to some doomsday forecasters, in this scenario, the dollar will fall, which will raise the costs of imports, meaning small businesses as a whole could be faced with tough times for the immediate future.

So what can small business owners do to brace themselves for the economic challenges ahead?

Hire a Business Coach.

As we’ve seen from independent studies in Florida and the United Kingdom this year, small businesses that are coached by an ActionCOACH Business Coach are more likely to be profitable, hire workers and grow, month over month, quarter over quarter, year over year.

Are You Nominated for the Business Excellence Awards?

The Business Excellence Forum will take place on August 19 and 20.

The Forum will feature the Business Excellence Awards Ceremony, which will honor some of the best companies and entrepreneurs in the world of small business on Saturday August 20.

Awards will be given in 19 categories ranging from Most Innovative Company to Entrepreneur of the Year.

If you know a business that has done a terrific job in 2010, it couldn’t be easier to nominate them.

Just click here and follow the instructions and nominate your business today.

Big Business Practices Put Small Businesses in Holding Pattern- Part 3

InBev is not alone. The majority of Fortune 100 companies have taken to paying their suppliers well after the 30 days that used to be the norm.

So what does this all mean for small businesses and the nation’s recovery as a whole?

Until there is some noise about this topic it will continue to go as an unnoticed reason the economy won’t rebound.

For all the talk we hear in the media, the key reason small businesses have seen a lack of cashflow and dearth of hiring is the fact that they can’t get paid on time.

Think of how much easier it would be for small businesses to take advantage of opportunities and expand if they were paid 30 days after issuing a invoice rather than 60, 90 or 120 days.

But what can be done to protect small businesses from this practice?

In my opinion, it’s time for the government to step in, especially if they want to see a real recovery from the recession.

After all, who can protect the millions of small businesses from the practices of big businesses?

To me this seems like another instance of the government not truly understanding the needs of small businesses and their importance to the economy as a whole.

Big Business Practices Put Small Businesses in Holding Pattern- Part 2

If they are already profitable, why are big businesses holding up the payment cycle?

It just makes good business sense and because it does, it has become the industry norm.

After all, if your business could lay capital costs at the feet of your suppliers you’d do it, wouldn’t you?

Of course you would. This practice increases profitability and the overall value of a company because it turns a supplier’s resources into capital for the original company.

For instance, look at InBev, the Belgian company that bought Anheuser-Busch a few years ago.

In 2009, InBev went to a Net 120 payment system.

According to CEO Carlos Brito, “We always say, the leaner the business, the more money we’ll have at the end of the year to share.” And it’s incredibly easy to run a leaner business when you have your suppliers tying up their own capital for the sake of your business.

When he wrote about this issue in 2009, Steve McKee of Advertising Age said, “By forcing other companies to finance its operations, InBev is tying up capital that doesn’t belong to it. That hinders those companies’ ability to invest in innovation — not to mention meet their monthly payrolls. InBev is stealing their futures, plain and simple.”

Big Business Practices Put Small Businesses in Holding Pattern- Part 1

We all know recovery from the recession isn’t happening as quickly as we’d like it and there are various reasons given as to what is holding it up.

Banks aren’t lending, the government doesn’t understand how to build economic growth or health care costs are too high.

All of these are valid points, but the economy isn’t growing because small businesses simply aren’t hiring.

The 20 million small businesses in the United States account for about 60 percent of jobs created, but small business growth, along with job growth has been stagnant.

Blame can be laid at the factors just mentioned, but the basic reason small businesses aren’t hiring is they lack cashflow. This comes down to an important issue, and one that hasn’t garnered a lot of press but could be the key to the recovery.

Many big businesses have gone from a Net 30 payment system to a Net 60, 90, or even 120 system. This simply means that instead of paying suppliers 30 days after receiving an invoice, the billing cycle for most big companies takes at least 60 and in a growing number of cases, up to 120 days.

Jeffrey Leonard writes in the Washington Monthly, “While large companies sit on mountains of cash, small businesses struggle to maintain lines of working capital, to pay their creditors in thirty days, and to meet payroll every two weeks—all while waiting two months or more after sending out an invoice to get paid themselves. Multiply this by millions of small firms and you have another piece of the missing-jobs puzzle.”

Surprises in the new small-business jobs bill? What a surprise!

Here’s an interesting article about the new “small-business jobs bill,” recently passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama.

As usual, the “devil” is proving to be in the details of this legislation, and now that people are actually reading it, there are sure to be some interesting surprises in it …

Lo and behold, there are …

SBA Loans

Small business has been struggling to find pools of capital for the past several years, but some aspects of this legislation may prove to have the unintended consequences of squeezing this access even more.

Will a “crowding out” of larger companies compared to smaller companies occur?

I guess we’ll see … but for the small business owner looking for policy makers to solve the problems of access to capital, it appears more and more that no one is coming …

So you will need to get very creative in finding ways to continue to fund your operations yourself, and grow your way out of your current conditions.

That said … it’s the perfect time to get yourself some business help from a resource that will be there for you …

Like an ActionCOACH Business Coach.

Just click here …

… to find one in your area.

And let me know your thoughts on what these current policies mean for your company.

Jodie Shaw

Details of the small business “jobs” bill …

Here’s an interesting look at more “stimulus” moving through the U.S. Congress …

“What’s in the Senate Small-Business Jobs Bill for You …”

This is a pretty critical time for small business on a lot of levels … so it’s more important than ever to be aware of how the “rules of the game” can and will be changing for you moving forward.

While you can’t control what the policy makers do, you can control what you do in your own business.

That means:

• Having a marketing system that actually generates cost-effective leads and brings customers to your door
• Knowing your numbers inside and out, from your breakeven points to profit margins on all of your products and services … and even seemingly “small” transaction fees, that over time can whittle away at your cashflow and profits (see my previous post on this here … “Swipe Fees”)
• Finding ways to cut costs and expenses, but more importantly learning new and effective ways to growing your top line revenues and bottom-line profits (because the only way to survive is to grow … and you can’t “cut” your way to success)
• Hiring a Business Coach to help guide you through these processes … and to keep you and hold you accountable to getting your goals and objectives

So … take a look at what the policy makers may or may not have in store for you …

More importantly, make sure you get the skills, learning and knowledge you need to successfully run your business … then it won’t matter so much what other people do.

That way, you’ll have more control over your own future … because you’ll be relying less on others, and more on the things YOU can do.

Jodie Shaw

More anti-business “help”?

I won’t say the following is troubling, or a case of “too little, too late,” just a case of “interesting” …

“The House has approved a $30 billion government fund available to community banks to increase lending to small businesses — a move expected to help create jobs and spark economic growth. While House Democrats project that banks would use the fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans, Republicans criticized the bill as another bailout for banks that would do little for small businesses.”

Regardless of the new and stimulating proposals moving through the Congress, I’m not sure the current overall anti-business atmosphere will do anything but prolong the our chances for real recovery.

A big part of this is the fact that entrepreneurial access to credit is still a problem, three years into our current slow-down:

Small business credit woes …

Entrepreneurs thrive (as do companies) when the “Rules of the Game” are clear and leadership from the top encourages risk taking and innovation.

Yes, policy should hold companies accountable, but it shouldn’t hold them hostage, or force them into deals and schemes that make no economic sense from a profitability point-of-view.

Interesting that in a capitalistic-oriented system, and in dealing with money generally, we use the following words:

• Trust
• Appreciation (as in capital appreciation)
• Gain
• Profit
• Maturity (as in bonds or other financial instruments coming to maturity) …
• Credit

However, it seems as if the policy makers are more interested in finding ways to “fix” all the opposites of these words, instead of finding ways to boost incentives to get more of these positives.

The politicians don’t seem to remember (or know) that small business leads all recoveries, most innovations and is the driving force behind every economic boom in the modern business era.

Washington’s continuing denial of this fact means the U.S. slowdown will continue … and will continue longer than necessary.

Jodie Shaw