People ask, “Is your company big?” It’s a small question, but they don’t want to hear a small answer. The bigger the numbers you mention, the more impressive, professional, and strong you will seem. “Wow, cool!” if they hear that you have over 100 employees. If your company is small, you’ll get a response like, “Oh… that’s fine.” The previous answer was a compliment, while this one is just polite. But why is that? Is there a connection between size and business? Why is expansion always the goal? Why does size matter so much, aside from self-affirmation? If you talk about “economies of scale,” you should still consider a more thoughtful answer. What’s wrong with finding an optimal size and staying within it? Do we look at Harvard or Oxford and say, “Oh, if only they would grow larger, open branches, hire thousands more professors, and create campuses around the world… then they would be serious universities”? Of course not. That’s not how we measure the significance of these universities. So why do we measure the significance of businesses in this way?
It’s possible that the right size for your company is five people. It could be forty. Maybe two hundred. Or perhaps it’s just you and your laptop. Don’t make assumptions about how big you should be in the future. Grow slowly and find what feels right for you. Large staff rosters have led to the downfall of many companies. Avoid hasty growth—you might just miss the moment when your size is exactly what you need. Being small is not a phase. Being small is a significant achievement in itself.
Have you ever noticed that while small companies strive to grow, large ones often dream of becoming lighter and more flexible? And remember, once you become big, it will be really difficult to downsize without layoffs, morale issues, or completely changing the way you do business.
Expansion should not be your goal. It’s not just about the number of employees you will have. It’s also about expenses, rent, IT infrastructure, furniture, and so on. These are things that don’t just happen on their own. You have to decide for yourself whether you need them or not. And if you start playing these games, you also take on a new headache. By focusing on quantitative growth, you force yourself to build a complex business—one that is much harder to manage and requires more nerves.
Don’t lose your sense of security just because you have a small business. Anyone who has a stable and profitable company, whether big or small, should take pride in it.