Understand Who You Are Working With

One of the first steps I take with clients when they come to me and ask me to connect them to small businesses is helping them understand the personality type and culture they will be working with. Too often, people representing larger entities assume that small businesses will automatically take to what they are offering or that the context in which small businesses are operating is simple. Small businesses are almost always shifting and changing and the people who work and lead in them thrive in that type of environment. No two days look alike, priorities are constantly being rearranged and nothing is set in stone. It is actually one of the most complex and dynamic settings for implementation. If you want to work with small businesses, you have to respect their reality first and put something in front them that will shift and change with the business as needed. The more you embrace the chaos, the further you will go with them. The more your product can transcend small business cultures, and at the same time display your deep understanding of their unique needs and problems, the more likely it will be adopted by small businesses. There is an enormous, largely untapped market, to be discovered!