Tuesday 14 October 2014

October is Small Business Month: @MicrosoftCanada asked What's your #SmallBizSuperHero Super Power? @MSFT4Work_CA

October is Small Business Month. 


I regularly participate in Microsoft Canada's Twitter and MSFT for Work CA Twitter Wednesday Question, so when I saw this go by in my twitter feed it got me to thinking.


What super power did I think was essential for Small Business success? In my mind success includes going above and beyond for customers.


And since at Cathy Thinking Out Loud I like to share what I think, here is what I came up with:

The super power I see as vital for small business success is vision. I don't mean a vision for the business, although having a vision and plan for where you want to go is important. I am referring to sight and insight. You need a good pair of small business bi-focals! Not the old fashioned ones with a hard line dividing the your near/small and far/big vision. I mean a modern pair of no-line bifocals that allow the user to seamlessly move between and focus on both near/small and far/big picture.

Being able to see and respond to the big picture is vital to success in small business. You must stay current and understand the big picture; your market, industry, world trade agreements, world events, and how they impact your small business, and the industry as a whole. How will you stay up to date on this information for your small business to better compete and fit into the larger picture in an ever changing market? For example, how will an increase in gas prices due to world events impact your shipping costs, and your bottom line?   

As a small business owner it is vital that you are able to focus on the small picture, and the day to day details of running a business. You must have oversight, and insight into: hiring staff, inventory, suppliers, when and what to outsource, pricing product(s) or services, customer service, and your on-line presence to name a few. 

It does appear that you must indeed be a Super Hero to stay on top of all these aspects of running and owning a small business? How do you see both the forest and the individual trees? You would need 20/20 vision! How does a small business owner without 20/20 vision grow their business to it's full potential? Many of us aren't born with perfect vision, but if you "look" there are resources, tools, supports and prescriptions available to correct or improve your vision and bring the big picture and the small picture into focus and balance. 

Below you will find a few links to get you started on your quest for 20/20 vision for your small business and in your life:

Yep, just me Cathy thinking out loud about #smallbizsuperhero powers.

Note: I was not compensated in any way for this post. The purpose of this post was merely to share my opinion and some resources I thought might be of interest to my readers.

12 comments :

  1. LOVE THIS! :) I would <3 to have a superhero power that affects time, lol. I want to be able to pause the clock while I work on my next blog post, or photo gallery. ;) Now I'm gonna spend the afternoon trying to think up a #SmallBizSuperHero power, lol.

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    1. I can't wait to hear your super hero power Aeryn Lynne. Time saver power and teleportation are high on my list LOL Please be sure to share it with me!!!!

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  2. I would want supersonic speed like the flash so i could type up 100 helpful posts and help others with their blogs as well.

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  3. I like the bifocal analogy. The near and far vision is important. Big picture and small picture at once. That's helpful in business. I think I am super flexible like the incredibles mom. So when clients come to me and say can you make this look like this: I say yes absolutely and we shape something new together.

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    1. I love the Mom from The Invincibles...lol Hubby says she is hot. But flexibility is so important Paula. I work hard to be more like that, it is a real skill. It is interesting to think about things like this. Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment.

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  4. Hey Cathy! I would love to have the ability to be in more than one place at a time. To be able to get more work dobe while taking care of my family at the same time would be golden! Even if I had a time machine or the device Hermiine Granger had in Harry Potter 3 would be great to accomplish this feat! Thanks for this great post!

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  5. Thank you for the links which I will be sharing with my partner! Funnily, I bought him that keychain to remind him of the sentiment behind this post.

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  6. OMG, the ability to be in more than one place at a time would be amazing. Juggling work, a husband and 3 kids (WITH ANOTHER ON THE WAY) This would would just be tThebes superpower ever.

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  7. I will have to check out your links. Thanks Cathy!

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  8. The links are very helpful! Thanks Cathy! :)

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  9. Great ideas for everyone but if I could have 1 super power it would be to help my family & friends be happy

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  10. thanks for the links, will check it out!

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