Pride in ownership
I’ve noticed that owners of what I call micro-businesses, sales of $250-500,000, and even up to $1 million, take a lot more pride in what they’ve buil than owners whose companies have broken through and are doing $5, 10, 20 million or more.
Talk to owners of a micro-business and you will hear immense satisfaction in their voices about what they’ve done. They tell stories about how they help their customers and about the jobs they’ve created, which allow their employees to support their families.
I’m not saying owners of larger small-businesses aren’t proud. As I see regularly, when it comes time to sell, owners of larger firms are as attached to their “baby” as owners of micro-businesses. I just don’t see them as demonstrative about what they’ve done. They talk more about process, or products, or marketing than the intangibles.
I’m not sure why and don’t know if there needs to be a reason. At all levels founders and owners (and CEOs) should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. We know there are enough people not in business who don’t understand what it takes to build a company (many of these people work in government).
