Break out of small business mediocrity by finding your difference

One of my favorite poems has always been Robert Frost’s. the road not taken. Now, as a small business owner, the last few lines speak even more directly to me:

Two paths forked in a forest, and I,

I took the road less travelled,

And that has made all the difference.

If I do what every other small business owner does, I’ll get what every other small business owner gets: a one-way ticket to mediocrity.

Making your business unique and powerful will require you to not only step into its greatness, but also step out of the mediocrity that swirls around it. It will require you to take risks, with yourself.

Goethe said, “Anything you can do or dream of, you can start. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Start now.”

That is the key. Start now.

You can get out of mediocrity by taking small steps so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Start, perhaps, by discovering your true difference. Ask yourself, who am I as a business owner? What do I have that no other small business owner has? Where can I go with that difference? Why will my customers care?

I truly believe we are entering the “era of the small business owner.” We are going back to the business roots laid down by America’s founders. Work here was never meant to be the big, faceless corporation, but rather the smaller, more personalized business.

Would you rather do business with an entity that has no idea or care who you really are? Or would you prefer to work with a smaller company that knows you, that sees you as an important person, that understands that we are all in this together?