Small Business Free Advice #2: Establish Culture From The Beginning

You may think that the term "company culture" comes into play once your company becomes big and has a lot of employees. In reality, company culture in small business is the same company culture that will define your business if it becomes big. Therefore, if you have not laid the foundation of principles, mantras, work ethic, etc. in the beginning, doing so later will prove to be a difficult task.

So why is company culture important in small business? This is a good question, especially if your business has three people in it. It's about branding. You establish reputation as you brand your business. Clients and potential clients will come to associate your business, service, performance etc. with what they see in you and your people, regardless of the true association between the two. My small business advice is to establish rules and traditions and atmosphere that will project the brand that you want for yourself and your established company. Remember - no culture is its own culture.

Small Business Free Advice #1: Think Franchise

In the world of small businesses, too often the business is dependent upon the individual, the owner, the man with a lot of pre-established knowledge or connections with an ability to monetize them. Almost always, these businesses go the way of the owner, for better or worse.

The better way to establish a business, if you care at all about growing it, is to think of it in terms of a franchise. You want your model to be streamlined and replicable by those within, impenetrable by those without. You don't want it to flutter in the wind depending on who's at the helm. You want to be able to transplant it to different locations, different managers, and under different circumstances. This is the key to small business growth and success and some of the best small business advice I can give.