Small Giants

Small Giants is your guide to keeping your company little but mighty that will allow you to pass up deliberate growth for staying true to what’s really important, which is your ideals, time, passions, and doing what you do best so well that customers can’t help but flock to you.

I never liked the idea of having a giant corporation because I know it would make me unhappy. I think most people would probably feel the same way. But the pressure to grow your business is severe, and it can be hard not to give in to it.

What helps me and can help you is knowing that you don’t have to grow if you don’t want to, and there are many benefits of not expanding.

A company that intentionally resists growth is known as a small giant. When faced with the decision to expand or not, everyone decided to favor their passions and values over becoming huge.

W.L. Butler Construction Inc. is a perfect example. After its rapid expansion in the 70s and 80s, owner Bill Butler wasn’t happy. He wanted to know his employees personally and had too many to do that, so he cut his clients down from 25 to just 10.

That might seem like a bad move, but consider how much of an improvement it made to Butler’s life once he could interact with his team more personally.

In small giants, relationships between employees and with customers are stronger. Each person in the company can have a sense of responsibility and pride in their work.

Plus, smaller companies are more relatable and better at customer service, which the big ones can never have!

I took two business classes as part of my graduate degree. I learned a lot but hated constantly hearing about the “need” for venture capital. There I sat with two successful companies that have never used a single cent of other people’s money! The more I learned about venture capital, the worse it sounded because it seemed like borrowing money only took away how much control you’d have of your company. One of the biggest issues for small giant founders is staying in charge of their company’s direction. That’s why many of them decide only to let a few people have ownership, and most of the time, they are only people within the company. Part of the reason for this is that owners of these little businesses care a lot about the work they’re doing. They focus more on quality and their own satisfaction than on making a huge profit. Anchor Brewing’s view on making beer is just one example of how this works. They’re so passionate about good beer that they’ve…