To be fair, I love writing for all businesses. B2B work is interesting, challenging, and meaningful for me. It gives me opportunities to explore innovative ideas, make new connections, and contribute to thought leadership in my clients' industries.
But the biggest share of my heart will always belong to small- and medium-size businesses. Here's why.
In a small- or medium-sized business, "owner," "employee," and "operator" are often overlapping categories. The same people responsible for the business's day-to-day tasks and trials are the same ones responsible for its overall life, growth, and success.
This means that, when I talk to these clients, I'm not talking to someone making abstract decisions. I'm talking to someone who knows exactly where the pain points are, exactly which opportunities aren't being seized, and what it means to address these. I'm talking to people whose lives and livelihoods will change depending on what I do next. I love that challenge, and I love the trust my clients show in me when they bring me on board.
I can speak "small business owner" because I am one. I've run my freelance writing business since 2009. Since I started, I've had to make all the same decisions other small businesses owners face, from basic structure (sole proprietor? LLC? something else?) to accounting method (cash? accrual?) to whether, when, where, how, and why to invest in growth (advertising? supplies? new lines of work?).
I love entrepreneurship so much I've co-founded other businesses, too. In 2009 I co-founded a medical administration consulting firm; in 2015, a small press. I've since stepped away from both to focus on my own work, but both businesses continue to thrive. I learned a great deal about working with other entrepreneurs on those ventures, and I love bringing that knowledge and perspective to my work with small businesses.
For publicly-traded corporations, "results" usually mean moving the stock numbers. Since I started my own small business, however, Wall Street's movement has become increasingly detached from Main Street's. Moving the numbers for large corporations may be great for them, but it often fails to translate to real, meaningful changes for ordinary people - the kind you and I encounter every day.
For small businesses, however, moving the numbers means everything to those ordinary people. Improving conversion rates means more work and more wages for small business employees and owners. It means more people in a community who can access high-quality, local goods and services. It means building connections between human beings - those who run small businesses and those who rely on them.
I've long known this as a small business owner. Last summer, however, I experienced it as a customer as well. I spent last summer doing an extensive home update - the kind that required me to hire professionals for several tasks.
Each time, I chose a local business. Each time, I got to know the owner and the workers personally. I got to talk to these people as they dug holes near my foundation, sanded down my floors, and erected fences. And each time, I learned we had some kind of shared connection: We went to the same high school, played in the same college marching band, have friends in common.
I wouldn't trade that community-building for the world. I went back to work with a renewed zeal for my small business clients. Small businesses connections are building a better world.
Questions? Email me - let's talk!