Small business is very much the “David” against the “Goliath” of the market place. Small business says dynamic, prepared to go for it, entrepreneurial, willing to challenge the status quo! Small business is the foundation of most economies in the developed and developing world.

Those who have decided to establish their own businesses can feel very like David. They have confidence and ability but the challenge for success can be gargantuan.

This challenge is not easy and should not be considered as such. Most business concepts have already been thought of or implemented to greater/lesser extents. So the small or new business venture is in a highly challenging market – Goliath!

Small business – who is your goliath?

1. He’s the bank manager who won’t lend you the capital you need.
2. He’s the government grants that none of us can get hold of.
3. He’s the corporate giant who is in the same/similar field and who, if they bothered to look, could squash your business like a bug.
4. He’s the people you know who say “this is never going to work”.
5. He’s the cash-flow problems.
6. He’s the non-paying customer.
7. He’s the supplier who delivers late.
8. He’s the competition.
9. He’s …….The list is endless. Goliath pounds on the business owner/entrepreneur every day.

So how does the small business/entrepreneur beat it?

Obviously having a great product or service that is better than the competition is a good start. But small business I think survives and prospers by being faster, knowing some killer moves and delivering customer service that is above and beyond. Many larger businesses are so caught up in running themselves that they forget to look at their customers and their customers’ needs. Their bureaucracy is an inhibitor – use that to your advantage.

Don’t be naive enough to ignore them though. If they happen upon you while you are sneaking up on them, life can get very difficult! Of course, this also applies to the rest of your competition also. Stay alert to your market place.

The other items in the list?

Outside of financing, everything else is in your power to control or manage more efficiently.

With the financing options? Well, we’d love to hear your suggestions. Often it is about gaining the gravitas necessary to convince an investor. E.g. getting a “name” on your board who has previous business start-up and investment experience perhaps.

Remember: The biggest selling point in any smaller business is the team that makes it work. They are a part of your brand. Your team are the people that your customers have faith in. All other things being equal, they are the reason why customers keep coming back to you and hopefully bringing their friends.

Most importantly, keep your sense of “self” – you are your business’ greatest asset.

Have you anything else to add to the Goliath list?

The scrum – it conjures up images of two teams battling it out on the rugby pitch for possession of the ball. In the context of this post though, nothing as sporty I’m afraid. However, scrum is a very useful methodology that can be applied to your business projects.

Scrum is a way of working that, as part of your project, you deliver pieces of the project that can be understood by the end-customer.  To help you along, lets design and build a house as our project.

The Product Catalogue (as it’s known) is where you start and is the “end-game” i.e. what you will have when you finish the project – in this case, the house design, the building itself and the fittings.

The sprint is the “mini-delivery” that you will undertake into which you create the scrum-backlog which is basically the contents of that “mini-delivery”. A sprint normally lasts between 2 and 4 weeks and the team determine what they can achieve in that time-frame. Of course, a sprint can last alot less, but rarely is longer than this. An example of the mini-delivery could be the first set of architects plans or perhaps the foundations of the house.

A daily meeting is held with the people involved in the sprint (known as “pigs” – nice eh, so called because their bacon is on the line!). This meeting should not take more than 15 minutes and is where progress is discussed and issues are raised that the project manager needs to handle (outside of the session). These meetings occur until the end of the sprint i.e. until the mini-delivery is taken care of.

Once a sprint is complete, the mini-delivery should be demonstrated. E.g. the house design would be shown to the customer and also perhaps to the builders contracted to do the job. If feedback or changes are required as a result of this sprint, then the “mini-delivery” is fed back into the scrum backlog and the cycle starts again.

Why would I do this though?

The main advantage to the scrum is that you have a “something” to show your customers and other interested parties on a drip-feed basis. It keeps them engaged and involved, which is particularly true of longer projects e.g. building a house, designing a complex piece of software, designing and building a landscaped garden etc.

Another advantage is that if something goes pear-shaped, the costs and time required to fix a particular problem are greatly reduced because it is only the mini-delivery.

And lastly, if means that the team communicates regularly. The lack of regular communication is, I believe, the primary cause of failure for projects.

Would scrum work for you? Let us know!

Photo : Darkmatter with thanks!