Photo (CC 2.0) by DC Central Kitchen, on Flickr

Small businesses must think big. 

I suspect that I am telling you something you aren’t already planning. Owners are always thinking of how to add more staff, sell more, increase the size of your store and, the ultimate, increase the number of locations you have, and make more money.

All of those are certainly worthy of your planning and effort.

But my encouragement to think big actually is something else. My definition of “think big” includes:

• Setting big goals for family and community support
• Developing plans to be a long-running business, whether that’s through being multigenerational or other means of transition
• Finding and internally developing employees who have big talent
• Having a big heart
• Undertaking new projects
• Generating big memories
• Providing unbounded happiness

As you can see from this list, the big goals focus on the social and community aspects of your business.

Some will challenge this idea, saying that a business must be a business first. And you can’t deny the fact that being around to accomplish any of your big goals does require a business that is profitable.

Yet thinking big along the lines suggested becomes a key for a profitable business. These suggestions – you don’t need to undertake all of them – form part of your brand. Your company becomes noted for them and they become part of your story. It distinguishes your business from the others.

So as a small-business owner, THINK BIG!!