Can Your Small Business Adapt to Change?

Over this weekend, I will be looking at some famous quotes about business success.  Take some time to think about your small business and its success.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.    Sun Tzu

I was talking with a friend the other day about how difficult it is to run a small business today.  Small businesses are going bankrupt at a greater rate, they have fewer opportunities to get loans, and yet some survive, even thrive.   People are still starting small businesses, they are finding new ways to make money, and they are still optimistic about the future of small business.  The people who thrive in small businesses today are, as Sun Tzu says, responsive to change.

We live in a time of great change.  The ways we have thought about business success are no longer valid.  Our expectations about the financial system, the money system, and the government are out of date.

If you want your small business to be successful, you must be willing to change your ways of thought.  I am not a fan of the phrase “thinking out of the box,” but maybe that’s what you will need to do to survive.  You can’t count on bank loans, traditional financing, marketing plans, employees, or anyone else.

What will you change to make your small business successful?

Sun Tzu, who may or may not have lived, is said to be the author of a work called The Art of War.  Much has been written about this work, which you can read in full from Project Gutenberg.

Image: sxc.hu