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Renew
Online
You may now renew your annual membership dues online. Annual dues are $45.00.
By Stephen Ingle, Wordco
The “micro” in microbusiness means small in size, not
small in effectiveness. According to the Connecticut Microenterprise
Group (http://www.mergct.org/microenterprise.htm), a microenterprise
is any locally-owned business with five or fewer employees that has
been capitalized with less than $50,000. The 227,000 microbusinesses
statewide generate $15.3 billion in sales annually. That’s an
average of over $55,000 per Connecticut microbusiness, with some of
them well into the six-figure category.
So it’s clear from an economic point of view that microbusinesses
have great value. But there are other less tangible features that
add to the value of microbusiness, both for you the
microentrepreneur and your customers.
If you think about why you decided to start a microbusiness and what
value it has for you, money may be a factor, but it is probably not
the only or even the most important reason. Most owners of
microbusinesses will tell you the primary reason for starting and
running their business is FREEDOM: freedom to decide what your
business is, where it is going, how and where it is run; freedom
from being told what to do and how to do it. Another related reason
is lifestyle: you can work out of your house or a small office near
your house, and you can set your own hours. You can avoid spending
hundreds of hours each year trapped in your car commuting to and
from work, burning up expensive fuel. Depending on your customer
base, you may not need to “dress up” for work and spend a lot of
money on fancy business clothes. You don’t need to eat out or make a
bag lunch every day. As a microentrepreneur, you also have strategic
FLEXIBILITY. Because your business is small and you are in charge,
it is relatively easy to institute changes. There’s no senior
management or boards to get approval from, and no oversized
organization to go through. Changes can be made quickly and
effectively. Finally, but not least, there’s the PRIDE in owning
your own business: the satisfaction that comes from creating a
successful enterprise and the respect it elicits from others.
What about the value of your microbusiness for your customers? Why
would a customer choose a microbusiness over a bigger company? First
of all, the product or service that you offer simply may not be
available from any large company. Many microbusinesses succeed by
catering to “micromarkets.” For example, a micromarket might include
customers looking for a specific style of handcrafted furniture. A
larger company may be unable to produce the same quality product and
may not be interested in a national market of, say, “only” $5
million per year. In other words, microbusinesses are able to
SPECIALIZE in order to serve niche markets. (The Internet has been a
great boon in this respect.) Secondly, many customers choose
microbusinesses because of the superior level of CUSTOMER SERVICE.
They put a premium on one-on-one personalized service, and a
business owner who listens carefully to what they need and then
follows through. The customer knows that the microbusiness owner,
unlike some employees of larger organizations, cannot be casual
about doing a good job. On a personal level, many customers prefer
the genuine relationship with the business-owner over generic
“customer service.”
It’s clear that microbusinesses have great value for their owners
and customers, and that they are here to stay. As with any form of
business, microbusiness has its unique difficulties and drawbacks.
It is imperative that the small business owner recognizes what they
are and takes appropriate steps. This is essential to maintain and
increase the value of your microbusiness, and will be the focus of
my presentation at SAHOA’s October meeting (look for more specific
information elsewhere in this newsletter).