May

How Small Business Survives!

Dan Pink posted a blog the other day titled The 44-cent Solution. The blog solicited quite a few comments and I have to say really made me stop what I was going to write today. I had woke this morning and was contemplating the Demise of Small Business (and solving World Hunger). You either had to be a Wal-Mart or make your living on the Internet. The cost of selling low-volume merchandise is just to difficult. The only real advantage you have is that people can See it, Try it and Buy it(and probably not from you, they find it cheaper on the Internet somewhere)!

I read a Mark Graban (Lean Blog) Tweet about Dan Pink’s Blog and followed the link. The post was outstanding and most of all gave me all the reasons for the success of Small Business. It must of have been that Law of Attraction thing.

This is Mark’s comment from the post:

Great story. It goes to show, for one thing, that “standardization” (of which Marriott is a big proponent of) doesn’t mean shut your brain off. I’m sure they just have a very general policy of doing what it takes to make guest happy – and being a JW, is it a different policy than a Courtyard?

After reading your post, I was walking home and realized that my neighborhood cleaners in Boston exhibits a similar behavior – with just smiles (they are still free, right?). It sounds so cheesy, but every time I’m in the cleaners (2x a week?), the owner or his wife, they smile and make you feel so welcome to be there, like you’re the only customer of the day, which clearly isn’t true.

After 11 months in Boston, I noticed just about two weeks ago that if I’m walking home at the end of the day and the guy isn’t busy, he sees you walk by… I noticed him and he just grinned and waved, as if seeing an old friend for the first time in a decade.

So now I noticed he does this every time. I actually. I now make a point of looking for him and we exchange waves and smiles. Again, cheesy, but it feels good.

Yes, he’s the closest cleaners, but would I think about looking for someone cheaper? Not at all (Well, unless they ruined a bunch of clothes). He’s a perfect example of attitude mattering – whatever your job, you can choose to be a grump or choose to be happy.

Way cheaper than 44 cents.