In this solo episode, Mike dives into a topic that is near and dear to his heart, and that is when people call their business “small.” Businesses come in all sizes, but none of them are small.
Politicians like to refer to small businesses, and how they are the backbone of our economy, and they can talk about business as they wish, but the problem comes in when business owners talk about their own businesses as small. Why does this matter? Because words matter! What you say and how you describe yourself matters and reflects how you think about yourself.
You are not small, and your business isn’t either. Every business started with a big idea, and even though you may have started small, continuing to describe yourself as small will eventually make your thinking small. Over time, thinking small can become a crutch or an excuse upon which to lean instead of making constant progress, learning new things, or making the business as productive and impactful as it can be. Small is not about the size of your company. It’s about the size of your thinking. Mike offers a great mental reframe to stop thinking of your business, and therefore yourself, as “small.”
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Episode transcript below:
Mike Malatesta 00:00
On today’s solo episode of the HOW’D IT HAPPEN podcast, I am going to talk about something that drives me nuts. And that is when people refer to their businesses as small. The title of this episode is why I don’t believe in small business. I enjoyed doing this. I loved thinking about this and sharing it with you, and I hope you love it, too. Hey, everybody, welcome back to this special Friday solo episode of The How’d it happen podcast. I am Mike. And I am so glad to have you with me today. And today, I am going to talk about something that’s near and dear to my heart. And that is why I don’t believe in small business. So here’s what I do believe in businesses come in all sizes, but none of them are small. Not in my book, at least, you know, politicians, they like to talk about small businesses, how they are the backbone of our economy and all that. And yes, there’s the Small Business Administration whose mission is to help support and promote small businesses. And truth be told, I don’t care if they use the term small business, because most of them don’t have much of an idea about what it takes to run a business, small or large. To them. Small is just a number. And for their purposes, I guess that makes sense. But what gets up in my craw is when business owners use the term small business to describe their business. It’s like, Ah, just drives me crazy. Why does it bother me? And why do I care? Well, first, I am a person who believes that who believes that words matter? I believe that what you say and how you describe yourself matters and informs how you think about yourself. Are you small, I don’t think so. Second, every business started with a big idea. Even if it started small physically. And every business every business started small physically, you know that if you go to the story of almost any business, it leads back to one place. And that is one person with one idea that they thought they could execute and actually took action on. So in that sense, every business is a small business, they all start out as small businesses, but they don’t start out with small thinking three, every business is complex and challenging. Regardless of its sales or its size. Small businesses don’t have small problems and simple challenges. They have big problems and big challenges. And often and here’s the irony, often more of both problems and challenges than bigger companies. At least that’s been my experience. One of the reasons is that all of the challenges and all of the problems typically have to be solved or addressed by a small group of people with very limited resources forth. And I think this is the biggest thing. describing yourself as small will eventually make your thinking small. If you like what I’m doing with this podcast and want to participate in more of the things I’m thinking about and exploring subscribe to my newsletter today. It’s super simple. Just go to Mike malatesta.com Right now, put in your email, and you will get the very next issue. It’s short, thoughtful, and designed to inspire, activate and maximize the greatness in you. describing yourself as small will eventually make your thinking small, and over time, thinking small can become a crutch, or an excuse upon which to lean instead of making constant progress, learning new things or making the business as productive and impactful as it can be. The business owner dismisses the potential to make progress as being too hard. We’re just a small business, after all, again, drives me nuts. There is nothing small about small businesses. Small is not about the size of your company. It’s about the size of your thinking. So how about we try this one on for size no matter the physical size of your business, the number of employees or its annual revenue when you have the opportunity to describe your business proudly answer I have slash run slash own slash started and amazing business and approach everything you do with that mindset. You might just surprise and impress yourself. And one thing I can ensure that you will not do is think of yourself as small because you are not small. Thank you for investing your time and energy in my podcast. I hope you got a positive return on that investment today. If you did, please share this episode and follow or subscribe to the podcast so that every episode comes to you automatically and until next time, maximize your greatness and make your future your property something that you design and are proud to own. You Thanks for listening to this episode of The how that happened podcast where we believe that success doesn’t happen. Unless you make it happen. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast, Google podcast stitcher or wherever you like to listen. And while you’re there, please rate it and leave a comment as well. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the show ideas for future guests or whatever you’d like to share. And of course, you can always find me at Mike malatesta.com. See you next time. Thanks again for listening to the HOW’D IT HAPPEN podcast
