Apparently small is the new big.  Seth Godin’s been writing about it for a while now, I hear.  And those guys over at 37Signals have certainly been long-time evangelists.  Here at Epsilon Concepts, it’s been our key mantra.  By focusing on producing the biggest outputs (projects, clients, products, legal insulation, advertising, etc…) for the lowest costs (time/money/resources), you can develop lean habits that will serve you well in business.  All to often, large companies and venture-backed start-ups simply lose sight of a $1.  These $1s add up and before you know it they’ve gone through the garbage disposal of careless spending.

It’s not just about cash.  Sure, in this scary economy we call ours, “cash is king.”  But being small is about more than money.  It’s a paradigm.  It’s a strategy.  It’s having workers telecommute when it saves money, increases productivity and helps the environment.  Or keeping them closeby when it’s quicker, helps the client, or aids communication.  It’s not a black and white point of view; being small is all about gray.  There are countless gray areas in life and business and the smaller you are the more ability you generally have to interpret a gray area and follow-through with a response that fits your paradigm.  In larger organizations a good idea can be shot down quicker than the pace of our government debt.  And the larger you get, the more money, time, and resources you throw at endeavers that maybe make sense on paper, but not in real life.

Being small allows you to wear a kind of glasses that filter your decisions with an eye for improvement.  When you’re small, every opportunity counts, every improvement aids the bottom line, and every weakness is a pounding infection demanding a root canal.  You feel it more when you’re small and this feeling keeps you on your toes and quick, ready for the next problems (opportunities).

In continuation of my points, a few words of wisdom from heroes of mine:

“The media and the tech blogs glamorize businesses that act big. They write about the big checks VCs hand out and they lionize the organizations that make a splash. The untold story is in the organizations that are close to the customer, close to the product and close to each other. Thinking small always pays off.” – Seth Godin

“Another thing I want to take issue with is this notion of “good times.” What was so good about the times a few months ago or even a few years ago for these companies? If you had to keep borrowing to stay afloat, were those good times? If you were running a business with no revenue coming through the door, were those the good times? If you were hiring more people than you really needed, where those the good times? There’s nothing easier than spending other people’s money. So fun and frivolous times, maybe, but good times, no.” – Jason Fried

“Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful” – Warren Buffett
RB’s note: aka now is the time to break out of the race if you can.  Be greedy when others are fearful and insulate yourself or your business while the times are tough and most are avoiding new opportunities!

-Robby Berthume
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From ‘Getting Real‘ by 37signals;

“…success isn’t the only thing you’ll find in the details. You’ll also find stagnation, disagreement, meetings, and delays. These things can kill morale and lower your chances of success.”

“Forget about locked-in specs. They force you to make big, key decisions too early in the process. Bypass the spec phase and you’ll keep change cheap and stay flexible.”

If you haven’t read ‘Getting Real‘ I highly recommend it.

I greatly enjoy the book and appreciate much of the content, but I have to wonder if the “agile” attitude to design is so easily accepted because it encourages laziness. If planning is distasteful to you then saying, “Screw specs we don’t need em!” is extremely easy. It’s probably not beneficial though.

Saying specs are unnecessary and they prevent ‘agile’ work is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water. A well thought out plan prevents problems. If you’re in an environment that says the spec is the golden rule which cannot be broken, then throwing out specs, for a while, may be a good idea.

If you find yourself constantly modifying features, encountering delays based on client expectations, or are in a continual state of crisis, it might be worth your time to develop some preventative maintenance.

Agile is defined as, ‘Being able to move quickly and easily.’ Agility can be achieved by a lack of planning, sometimes. Most of the time this is not the case. If you’ve got a development team that’s worked together for years, has some sort of a psychic mind meld, or you’re just one person working on a personal project, you may be able to launch faster without specifically defining your product.

However, if you’re working on a team without a telepathic connection, I’d recommend you take the next best route. Write out a game plan. If you don’t have someone who’s capable of writing a decent spec, hire one. Having a good plan will only enhance your agility.

Make the spec agile, change it when you need to. You’ll never be able to anticipate every issue that will arise in a project, but planning for what you can anticipate will save you from unnecessary deliberation and disagreement. Don’t sacrifice the agility that having a well written spec can provide, embrace it.

Here are several great articles to get you started.

Marshall is slightly crazy. You can read about his adventures in Europe at the incredibly entertaining LazyVoice.com

Have you ever been forced to live “month-to-month”? If you’re like many (most) Americans, chances are this phrase resonates with you. You’re used to living on the financial edge at times and if you aren’t currently there, you’ve probably either been there, or will be there, at some point during your life.

In the context of business, living month-to-month can be a scary thing. Despite whether it’s 2 or 30 employees counting on you for their paychecks and livelihood, the anxiety of tip-toeing financial disaster can be overwhelming. Yet, for many entrepreneurs, if you decide that you don’t want to go the route of borrowing, living month to month is a reality that has to be faced.

It’s certainly easier (and many times recommended) to borrow capital to finance growth. Whether it’s venture capital money, angel investments, a private loan, your personal credit cards, or perhaps from family or friends with deep pockets,, many entrepreneurs “borrow for bliss”, hoping money will solve all of their immediate problems. And to be fair, many times it can in fact propel you to the next level; helping to buy equipment needed to be a more efficient or profitable company or simply to make the deal.

But, all too often, the results are negative. Sometimes money changes the way in which a company is run, prompting normally sane business owners to go from tight to liberal with their cash overnight. With borrowed money comes debt. With debt comes responsibility. And with responsibility comes lost freedom. If you have no other way to fund an idea besides borrowing, you’ve done your homework , crunched the numbers and feel as if there are no other options, by all means, go for it. Know what you’re getting yourself into and don’t make the mistake of under-selling your idea because you lack capital, but by all means raise the funds if that’s what it takes.

On the other hand, if your business is progressing well naturally and you haven’t had to borrow, it may be best to keep it up. Sure, it may take longer and your dream of being an overnight celebrity after a $100M round of venture capital may not come true, but push the ego aside for a minute and hear me out! Businesses and organizations based on good ideas and the framework of a solid team will grow naturally if you let them evolve. Oftentimes, the companies that are built naturally have the most culture, the most profitability, and the best reputations.

My advice: don’t sell yourself short whether you borrow money or not. And understand two key points:

1. Nothing in life is free. If you’re borrowing money, the lender wants a return. This return can come via lost freedom (having to answer to ___________), future profit, future acclaim (maybe your Uncle Tom says, “Thanks to me you’re successful!”), etc…
2. If others are willing to invest in it, think twice about getting investments. Why? Because they are investing for a return. And if you have something good enough that they trust enough to lend, you’re better off thinking twice about how you can earn the return instead of them.

Additionally, don’t try to be big just for the sake of it. Look at 37Signals.