Have you ever wondered if the size of your business really mattered?

Many entrepreneurs believe that success comes from how big their business grows or how many clients they can close on.  Bloggers determine that having a larger audience or comment base is better and hardcore Twitter lovers place an extreme value on how many followers they have.  If bigger is better, then why do so many big businesses fail?

Think about Starbucks.

They are hurting right now and have been closing stores because they grew way too fast.  The placement of Starbucks stores in about any location or venue they could place it damaged the unique experience people loved.  Now they are trying to regain market share by becoming small again and by inventing “local coffee shops” that are forced and inauthentic.  It’s an epic failure.   The same thing happened with Krispy Kreme and Orange County Choppers.  Something unique is created, the demand is raised to higher levels, and then mass production destroys the uniqueness … and profits.

Seth Godin preaches about how scarcity generates value.  This is not a new concept but it is absolutely true.  The less likely you can get something, the more it is worth.

I like love this mindset for business!  Cory Miller and I had a conversation about this while at WordCamp Boston.  He asked if I thought highly popular “mom and pop” shops should grow to meet the demand of new customers or stay small.  I believe that when you start getting bigger and making more of your services or products available to a wide range of audiences, that the short term profits you might earn now, will hurt the life of your business later. I’ve seen entrepreneurs who keep their businesses small or limited, thrive year after year.   Eischen’s Bar in Okarche, Oklahoma is well known for their fried chicken.  It’s a small bar that is packed out every weekend and lunch day (regardless of reviews going either way) and much of the allure is because they’ve decided to keep the special “whole in wall” experience to one location and a limited menu.  Other businesses that use similar strategies are In-N-Out Burgers and Tom Bihn Bags.

My point is that you don’t have to have a large client list, following, or readership to be a successful brand or business.  Sometimes the best thing you can do is stay small and focused, or just create a really cool or unique experience.  If you are something remarkable and worth talking about you won’t have to worry about being a huge success.