The Rise of the Global Small Business.

NOTE: This is an excerpt from the book "Entrepreneur Revolution" which I wrote in 2011 and published in 2012. You can find it here: https://amzn.to/3qInFZe

Not too long from now, almost every business will be a multinational. Tiny little businesses will behave big. There will be millions of “Global Small Businesses”.?

A Global Small Business isn’t like a big global business and it’s not like a traditional small business either. As the name suggests, these are businesses that have less than 20 staff but aren’t limited by geography. They have reach into cities all over the world and could easily be making millions in sales despite a relatively small headcount.

Most commonly they will be service providers or offer intangible products like software and information however many will also sell high value physical products that can be sent whizzing all over the globe to customers in?far away cities.?

A lot of GSBs will also have valuable Intellectual Property that they license to their “local partners”.

Global small businesses will have incredibly well developed brands compared to traditional small businesses, making them look much bigger than they are. It will be clear what these businesses value, their “look and feel” will be consistent across several social media platforms.?

They will be built around a “micro-nich”. Rather than being a business for “Health and Wellness” they will be for “Vegetarian Marathon Runners” or “Triathlon Mums”.?

A GSB can function in the tiniest of niches and go miles deep with their clients (or their “Tribe” as author, Seth Godin would say).?

Global Small Businesses will be great with digital media. They will interact with the world through video on the web, articles, audio podcasts, downloads, streaming live events, slideshows, blogs tweets and communities.

A GSB will revolve around the special talents of a few?Key People of Influence. The business will outsource almost every function that is not clearly creating value. ?

Inside the team will be communications experts and product designers, the one common thread is that you MUST share the passion of the business if you want to be on the team. ?

These GSB teams might not be in the same geographical location. They will communicate on instant messaging platforms, market themselves using social media, manage their operations in “the cloud” and be based wherever it makes sense from a tax and IP protection standpoint (I predict Singapore?and Luxembourg being?front runners).

The GSBs will have their top talent working from home offices and meeting in rented boardrooms on a weekly or monthly basis. Due to multiple time zones the edges of work and play will blur. Performance will be more important than hours clocked -?“the only truth is the results” is the new mantra for managing employees of GSBs.

GSBs will become an attractive alternative to white collar employment. Professionals like lawyers, accountants, consultants and managers will define a “micro-niche” and then leave traditional employment in favour of their own GSB startup or a GSB that stirs up their underlying passion.?

Lifestyle and flexibility will be a huge advantage for a GSB. Correctly structured, the owners of GSBs will pay little tax compared to their employee counterparts. Many?GSB owners will split their time living in 2-3 locations to avoid income tax altogether.

Having a Global Small Business will create an enviable lifestyle. A GSB isn’t like having a traditional, local small business that prevents the owner from traveling and limits the money they can make to the local economy.

A GSB on the contrary, expands as you travel and is only limited by the size of the micro-niche and the creativity of the team. Many GSBs will earn millions in revenue and have only a few staff (some of whom will be based in low-labour-cost countries like the Philippines, India or Thailand). For this reason, many GSB owners will earn 7 figures comparatively easily.

The Global Small Business is an exciting new category of business to look out for in the decade ahead as the barriers to entry drop for doing business across boarders.?

Your next project might be for a Global Small Business. You might even be setting up one for yourself.?