Basic Small Business Management Principles: A Practical Perspective

We don't have much in the way of a business strategy. Like no business plan. Which I say to torment all my friends who are…MBAs. That's always entertaining. The deal is it's a mixture of luck and persistence. ~Craig Newmark, founder of the popular free classifieds website Craigslist

Can success to small business management be relegated to luck? Or is it a mixture of luck and persistence as Craig puts it? Is there a short-cut to small business success?

Here, I’d like to address the issue of small business management in a very practical way. Do note that I am qualifying it to ‘small business’ because larger enterprises are more complicated to be given a micro treatment. However, it does not negate the practicality of these two basic small business management principles I’d like to share:


Principle 1: Small Business Management is not Easy

Managing your own small business is never easy. This is an entirely different ball game. You are the boss, and that made it more difficult. Because your day to day business decisions can make or break your small business and none is responsible but you!

What do you do when you don’t see profits over the last six months? When you are incurring cost after cost which you have not anticipated during your business planning? When the people you hired are not delivering the performance or results you expected? When the marketing and advertising campaigns you launched seem to have not met the targeted exposure you want? When clients fail to pay on time or sometimes, not pay at all? When you received daily complaints on your products and services? The list can go on and on.

These things can cause small businesses to tilt, lose moorings, and eventually close shop in no time if not properly address. It is never easy to manage your own small business. Corporate work is a lot easier because you are only responsible for certain aspects of the business, not all, unlike when you own and manage the small business yourself. It takes sound business acumen, entrepreneurial skills, and accurate planning to succeed in this enterprise.


Principle 2: Small Business Management takes Persistence

It is not easy, yes, but anyone can succeed if they hang-on and face the challenges. What I mentioned above are but parts and parcels of realities you have to face when running your own small business. Again, it is not an easy path to take. I am just dispelling the idea that small business management is easy. In fact, in the strictest sense, it is not even a principle but plain business common sense.

Money is not all the necessary investment you have to make in order to succeed in small business management. You need to invest a lot on persistence too. Persistence, which is a mark of a devoted businessman or entrepreneur, is your key to sustaining your business in the worse of times. Especially now that global economic recession has encroached us, or is in fact pushing businesses out of the game. Persistence will not come overnight. It is something that you have to cultivate within you. It is something that you have practice in every area of your life. It is never luck. Frank Lloyd said it more accurately:

I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.

Here's to your small business success!

Now, have your say please.

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