Today's lesson for small business is "diversification" as an essential strategy

Yes, we all know building a website and managing fifteen different social media platforms can be time-consuming, but let today be a lesson for us all.

If you are going to put all of your eggs in one basket and just run your small business from a Facebook page, then make sure you understand the risks involved.

Big business needs small business to succeed, but that does not mean they care about small business. Today’s play is all between Facebook, the big media players, and the Government. Once again, many small businesses have been caught in the crossfire.

So let this be a lesson, and today’s lesson is diversity.

• Diversify your product/service range
• Diversify your marketing budget
• Diversify the platforms you use
• Diversify your customer base

If you do decide to go all-in with a particular segment of your small business, then make sure you understand the risks. If your business is located on leased premises you are at the mercy of the landlord and local council. The same applies to any online platform. Your safest strategy is to own your premises, both physical and virtual. Own your store and own your customer and email databases, because you are most certainly going to own the consequences if you don’t.