What is the “small-business size gap”, you ask? It’s the often hard to define difficulties that some companies experience when they try to go from being a small business to a larger business.
There are a number of different issues or problems that can make up the small-business gap. Things like having the right personnel, a working space that can accommodate growth, or generating new sales. These are all important issues.
And then there are less intuitive problems that can arise, such as the change in company culture.
Most small businesses start out with a strong sense of camaraderie or “family”. They tend to have a small, core group of people, “wearing many hats” in the business, all working together closely for long hours every day. That shared experience of striving to “keep the lights on” forms strong bonds. But, as a company grows, sometimes the number of new faces grows rapidly. And with that comes the need for more rigidly organized departments, more clearly defined duties and responsibilities, and a more formal leadership hierarchy. All of these rapid changes can lead to feelings that the company has lost that sense of family and has become “more corporate”.
This is where Sweeten CPA can help. As a starting point, we can help you identify your business’ particular pain points. Many of our clients have told us that just having the conversation is a huge weight off their shoulders—often times the business owner is so busy with the day-to-day running of the business they haven’t really had the chance to step back and evaluate things from a big picture point of view.
Oftentimes, the first step in crossing the small-business gap begins with the owner themselves. It begins with the subtle shift in mindset--from a “just do it” attitude to a mentality of looking at the business as a collection of best practices.
Sweeten CPA has a library of reliable, practical, and effective best practices. And we look forward to having the conversation with you about how to bring those best practices to your business.