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Small Business Advantage: Sweet Freedom

Larger businesses have many people to whom they must answer, with whom they must interact, and upon whom they must depend. In some ways, that is wonderful. In others, it's a drag.

One of the first things to disappear as an operation grows to a larger scale is creativity. Out of necessity, things become more regimented, organized and controlled.

Order is seemingly the only antidote to all-out chaos and restrictions on a variety of things become a normal part of the work day. Eventually, this suffocates creative instincts.

Even the folks at the top suffer on this one, though. It can be hard to get creative when a mistake can plunge a big operation into real trouble. It can be very difficult to pull the trigger on even the best idea when you know that you will be a target of stockholder hatred if it doesn't work out.

It's hard to take a risk that could result in job losses for some of your loyal employees when you could just let thing take care of themselves.

Meanwhile, those who are somewhere between the now-suffocating cubicle dwellers at the lower ranks and the "scared to make a real move" head honcho is a collection of people who aspire to scoot up the bureaucracy by doing as little as humanly possible to rock the boat.

They wield their blandness on the way to a corner office like an adventurer wields a machete in the jungle. There is no creative spark in their maneuvers.

Creativity is feared.

In a smaller operation, you have more leeway to make decisions. You can give yourself the opportunity to fail or succeed. You can decide to follow your dream or to try something completely new without worrying about the rest of the world. If you, as an owner, are comfortable with the risk, you can take it.

If someone has an original notion in the traditional corporate world, you can almost wager that every bit of life and light in it will be sucked out before the "final version" sees daylight. Bureaucratic structures exist, in part, to self-perpetuate. No one wants to upset the apple cart. Ideas don't lead to action.

By avoiding the structure and significant interdependence of a traditional office environment, you can do your own thing. You can experiment to the extent you feel comfortable. You can take the risks with which you are happy and leave the others behind.

One of the worst possible mistakes a small business operator can make is to hide his or her creative instincts away or to subjugate them as he or she follows a specific plan to the letter.

Creativity has always, and will always, be the way great advances and fortunes are made.

Small businesses are perfectly situated to take the kind of chances that result in massive success stories.

When we talked about speed, we cautioned against its use unless it was backed by a good plan. The same, of course, applies to your creative instincts. Remember, just because you had the idea, that doesn't mean it is a good idea.

Don't just assume your creative scheme will work. Do your homework. Do your market research. You want to be creative, after all, not silly.