We live in a world where, in order to make sense of things, people like to put others into categories or “boxes.” We divide ourselves based on gender, race, ethnic heritage, sexual orientation and more. Even in business, we are categorized by number of employees and revenue. While I understand the desire to segment, I truly hate the phrase small business and would love to see it replaced.
In reality, there’s nothing small about us. There are 28 million small businesses in the U.S. alone, far more than large businesses (which number just over 14,000, according to recent census data.)
We aspire. There is nothing aspirational about being small and what we do isn’t small either. We risk our own capital. We work hard with incredibly long hours. Many of us employ others. We drive growth.
Many of us also innovate where others are unwilling—or unable—to do so. That doesn’t sound small at all to me.
Most of all, we put our heart and souls into creating something of value, not just for us, but for the clients and customers that we serve.
All of that is way too large of an undertaking for us to be labeled as small businesses.
What do you think about the term small business? What name do you, or would you, prefer? Weigh in!
