Small Town, Small Business: It’s One BIG Advantage

That’s You. It’s you and your friends and neighbors. Together.

No one else but…you, your friends, together.

It’s an ideal situation, really, working in a small community with your friends and neighbors.

A small company controls its destiny. There’s no home office issuing edicts by email from glistening towers…somewhere. Each employee’s impact is seen, felt, heard. Each action has a direct impact on the company and each of their colleagues.

A small company in a small sees this dynamic, this efficiency, this advantage magnified from the added relationships shared by these same folks living together in a small community. Success now is celebrated not only within the company, but also within the community. Families of one enjoy the success of the other.

You’re (We’re. I’m living/working in a small community.) naturally blessed with One BIG Advantage. You can magnify the impact from the top sources of personal motivation. 8 or 9 of the top 10 motivators* for employees are things like peer respect, recognition, the means and resources to accomplish your goals, a chance to grow, your opinion matters, your voice is heard. Money’s at the bottom of this list.

And what better setting to capitalize on those intrinsic motivators than working, and living, with people you already know and trust and respect, support and encourage. You already have the advantage of trust established. That’s a huge advantage. It removes fear, it removes judgment, it allows for people to grow, to try new things outside their defined jobs/cubicles. And people trust the outcome is beneficial to all.

But more than that, these established relationships insure authentic and transparent (sorry for the buzzwords) feedback for those 8 or 9 motivations employees find most important. Recognition is meaningless if it’s inauthentic. And nothing kills the buzz of recognition than it coming in the form of official, corporate-speak terms that please the home office. When it’s phrased in the real, spontaneous, and colorful terms of your friends and neighbors…its meaning is deeper. Its meaning is richer. Its impact is far greater.

And as an added bonus….its ONLY you and your neighbors…together. There’s no corporate office issuing edicts that long ago lost any meaningful connection to you, your neighbors, your customers, your challenges, and your goals. There’s no one keeping you from doing what YOU are capable of, from innovating ideas, your ideas, ideas you can execute and enjoy. Sure, maybe you’re in a remote area, small population, but with the internet and telephones you’re still connected.

That connection, with you and your friends, together…the world is yours. And that puts your destiny in the control of you and your neighbors and friends, together.

Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations’ excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He blogs about health care issues each Monday at http://zanesafrit.typepad.com. There on the sidebar is a list of blogs and resources to educate yourself on the health care challenges you face, I face, we all face together. He also writes on small business, word of mouth, marketing, branding, innovation, and failure.

He previously served as CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited.