Small Businesses, You Need To Get Out Of Survival Mode Now!

A study by Harvard Business Review analysed various problems and similarities of small businesses and backed it with empirical research to categorise the growth patterns of these businesses in a systematic way. The study came out with the five stages of small business growth.

Existence, survival, success, take-off, and resource maturity — the five stages in order. While we appreciate the work put into this study as it provides a framework for small businesses to understand the various dynamics related to growth, the second stage of survival — as explained in the study — made us pause and think.

The study accepts the fact that after transitioning from the existence to the survival stage, small businesses not only enjoy a consistent flow of customers but also manage to satisfy them with their products and services. However, the question that pops into our mind — Why just survive then?

By taking the survival route, the focus stays on continuing to exist. Isn’t this the time to break the shackles and fuel growth by aiming to thrive instead of surviving?

We’re Not Here To Just Survive — We’re Here To Thrive.

When we trace the growth path of Specscart, a certain thing is that we have always set our eyes on thriving, regardless of the conditions imposed on us. There are three things that have helped us here.

Embracing Change

Change is the new normal. Whether it is consumer behaviour, supply chain disruptions, volatility in the markets, or any other area where change is inevitable, small businesses need to embrace these changes rather than resist them.

According to the website of Statista, the global eyewear market was valued at around 140 billion US dollars in 2020.

In such a large market, the competition is hot. There are lots of things going around. Entry of new players, big corporations becoming even bigger — thanks to acquisitions and mergers, the ever-evolving government policies, and the list goes on. What really matters is taking care of the controllables and adapting to changes as and when they arrive.

What about the uncontrollables then? Read on!

Being Prepared For The Uncontrollables

Small businesses can’t get complacent and turn a blind eye to the uncontrollables. You have to do your homework to be prepared for any unforeseeable event.

Take the example of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which caused havoc in the markets. Many businesses — regardless of their size — were caught off guard as it touched almost every aspect of doing business.

Product-based businesses like ours had to encounter supply chain disruptions. Many small businesses had to wind up, many were forced to liquidate. The reason? Although the volatility of supply chains was out in the open long before the pandemic, these businesses had not done enough to be prepared for the disruption brought about by the coronavirus.

How did we deal with it? By keeping our manufacturers in the loop through effective two-way communication, diversifying our supply chain networks to different geographic locations, and maintaining a contingency inventory, we were able to tackle the disruptions and cater to the consumers.

Opportunities Over Threats

Keeping your business opportunity-driven rather than threat-centric sums up the difference between surviving and thriving.

When the central motive of small businesses is to wipe out the prevailing threats and work towards avoiding the anticipated ones, every action that flows points to mere survival. These businesses might feel that once the threats associated with their small size are eliminated, they can then aim for scaling up. Playing it safe is not at all the way to go.

Small businesses need to realise that their risk appetite is much higher as they don’t have much to lose. This is the time to do things not just the right way, but also in ways that are unique to your business.

Threats will never lose your back. Your eyes should instead be set on the opportunities that you have as a small business. And believe us, there are many of them. You just need to look in the right direction.

While threats bring about feelings of fear and anxiety, the feelings associated with opportunities are polar opposites. When you constantly strive to look out for opportunities, your business is driven by joy, passion, and excitement. Now it’s up to you which path you would like to go with.

Every small business aims to grow big someday. To do so, they don’t have to merely exist but exist at the largest scale possible. Getting out of the survival mode is the key here.