A few final microbusiness thoughts before year’s end

Posted on | December 31, 2008 | 3 Comments

I don’t do retrospectives and I save my crystal ball gazing for Small Business Trends.

So, what I have to say to you right now is not especially Janus-like, exactly. Right now, I want to tell you some things I’m hoping for into next year.

That’s as distinct from what I actually think is going to happen.

Last week, Jeff Summers (who seems to just be regularly brilliant — at least, when he talks to me) said this in a comment on one of my posts:

Fundamental changes are happening to the business world as we speak – the unparalleled increase in speed and overwhelming choice. Which means it’s time to rethink (thinking is still relatively free isn’t it?) how we approach the entire gamut of small business issues in order to increase their ability to drive the nation’s economy upward and get us out of this muck and mire as only they can.

I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed that the economy seems to be changing in fundamental ways. Businesses — especially small businesses — are getting smaller. That brings about a whole range of things that need rethinking, as Jeff points out.

I’m also seeing that more and more leaders in the small business space are noticing just how small most small businesses are. That’s new. It wasn’t so very long ago that people used to argue with me about whether microbusinesses matter; now, they talk about the fact that most small businesses are very, very small.

My hope is that soon — very soon — that kind of thinking will spread further and wider. I hope that more and more microbusiness owners will notice that they are microbusiness owners and, more importantly, that they think through what that really means in terms of their day-to-day operations.

I hope that more of the people who make it their business to go to bat for small businesses pay attention to how “small business” is changing early in the 21st century. Advocacy is not so effective if you don’t keep your ear to the ground to know what your chosen folks truly need.

I hope that the stuff on my wish list gets considered, if not acted on.

And I hope that you and I have a very happy and prosperous 2009.

See you next year!

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