What topics would everyone like to talk about? Comments, questions, concerns or just talk about your own business! Let's all get to know each other. My name is Nathanael Bagby I am the CEO of a company named Arion Innovations, we are primarily a software company, but we are dedicated to innovation in as many fields as we can get our hands on. Right now we are looking into innovations we can bring to the small business community. How about you?
Replies | 8 Total
April 12, 2008 at 1:00pm by Andy Reibenstein
Big Business vs. Small Business.
If being successful with our respective businesses is our goal, at what point do we become one of those "Big Wigs" and what characteristics should we look out for?
April 15, 2008 at 8:11am by Nathan Bagby
Great question Andy. In a recent interview with Andrea Peiro titled "A Passion for Small Business" Peiro says, "A common misconception is that most small businesses want to grow and need to grow, but this is not necessarily the case. There are some small businesses that are suitable for growth and expansion, but the majority of small businesses are structured in such a way that they will want to remain small. Entrepreneurs are in business to make money through doing what they like, and growth often requires them to spend more time outside of their "core competency" than they would like." No one is implying that a small business owner should avoid growth, obviously this would be a laughable assumption, some may even see growth to the point of becoming a "big wig" as you put it. I say congrats to anyone experiencing growth, but what I would warn against is the cost that growth comes at. It would be far more productive in my view to think more in terms of becoming "Great" than "Big". A good read on the subject if you can find it is "Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big" by Bo Burlingham. Burlingham describes how there are 2 differing types of growth a small business can experience, the first is bigger, the second is better. To answer your question on what characteristics you should be on the look out for, I think you will know them when you see them bigger has a dollar amount behind it, better is taking pride in what you do.
April 15, 2008 at 8:13am by Nathan Bagby
I apologize I forgot to reference who the article with Peiro was with, you can read this article on this very site, Fastcompany.
May 2, 2008 at 6:28pm by Gustavo Javier Machado
Hi, my name is Gus and I am the owner of a small business of software development. I am looking forward to meet people to discuss innovative ideas and share opinions.
About Andy's comment, I think it is very important not to forget to have touch with the people, employees and customers all throughout the company's growth. I believe company's only purpose shouldn't be to make as much money as possible. The way I see it, companies shouldn't be that different from hospitals. Having the ability to make money while doing some good to the community. We should all seek the balance that makes our company a good company to the society.
May 20, 2008 at 3:44pm by Donovan Wadholm
Hi All
My name is Donovan Wadholm. I own a couple of small companies including a pizza restaurant and a website/business plan software company www.diybizpaln.com I blog about small business issues at www.mrbizplan.com I am also a business consultant and a college instructor in Finance and Entrepreneurship.
I love to talk anything with small/micro business, website development, eCommerce, social entrepreneurship and real estate (I am also a licensed Realtor and real estate investor).
You can hook up with my through this site or linked in at www.linkedin.com/in/mrbizplan (throw me an invite!)
May 20, 2008 at 3:44pm by Donovan Wadholm
Oops...typo
www.DIYBizPlan.com
May 21, 2008 at 12:37am by Nathan Bagby
Hey Donovan and Gustav, pleasure to meet both of you. We look forward to getting to know you both and the enlightening conversations that follow. Donovan do you have any specific stories of social entrepreneurs that have impacted your life?
May 24, 2008 at 9:31pm by Donovan Wadholm
I wrote a long reply and then lost it cause I wasn't logged in. Here it is again in summary.
Up here in ND there is less of a conscienceness about social entrepreneurship & environmentalism. I think it is because there is an abundance of clean air, clean water and resources. For centuries we have lived off the land, we have scads of coal and some of the most abundant stripper oil wells in the US.
There is an area in eastern North Dakota called the Penmina Escarpment that is the Saudi Arabia of wind energy. The problem is that there aren't enough transmission lines to get the power out.
We also have the hydrogen research center of the US at the Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota. Hopefully, they are working on a way to turn some of that wind energy into hydrogen for fuel cell cars. But, I suppose the problem would then be water to turn into hydrogen. I guess it is just part of living in a resource scarce world.
That said, there is a strong contingent of people who's motivation for starting a company is not money...but community. I consider this a form of social entrepreneurship. We have a "Brain Drain" problem in Rural ND - young and educated leaving for the metro areas. And, those in the metro areas are leaving for larger cities like Minneapolis, MN. So, we have quite a few people who would like to create good paying jobs to keep kids in the area and save some of these dying communities.
Who knows?
Donovan