Dealing With Small Business

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Many freelance professionals encounter considerable problems dealing with small businesses. The environment is considerably different in scope to working in a medium to large business environment with the resources that accompany such associations.

In small business, owners have to manage day-to-day operations with limited cash flow and personnel resources and when they do seek out professionals to assist them with various aspects of their business operations they are constrained by what they can afford to spend on improvements.

Additionally, they have been less exposed to the technical market place and assume that certified professionals are the experts with all knowledge, even in areas outside their certifications.

The art of servicing such clientele is a delicate balancing act in which one has to be advisor, educator, coach, psychology professional exercising patience while you effect changes that bring efficiencies and a changing environment to the organization.

Many technically knowledgeable professionals have failed while attempting to support small business owners because their focus is on the technical rather than the business side.

A small business owner would typically approach a consultant for assistance because he has been advised by friends that they should update the use of technology in their organization as it would bring improved efficiency and performance to operations. They have little concept that it can mean stress to their employees and a change in work flow dynamics.

Your job as a professional is to minimize the impact while balancing various factors such as cost, maintenance needs, employee retraining, the reality is that the owner does not want to incur additional cost in operations and will look for the least expensive solution without considering the tradeoff this brings.

Many professionals approach working with small business with the assumption that they have the knowledge of the right solution and that is the only solution that should be implemented. If that is your view, you will probably not be successful and would be better off in an environment that has already chosen to implement your chosen technologies.

Many fail and lose valuable business connections because their mindset create confrontational situations that create discord and result in broken relationships.

Exercise diplomacy, patience, tact, with time change can be made to occur in the organization and all parties will benefit.

_{This article is provided by Clyde Thorpe, of Thorpeca Support Services (an IT consultant providing service to the small and medium size
business market) as a mentoring forum to assist freelancing professionals to achieve success. I can be contacted via email thorpeca@istar.ca}

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