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There is nothing *small* about running a small business. Usually it takes more effort than running a large business. You have to act as CEO, Accountant, Director of Sales and Marketing as well as Human Resources. What is so small about that?

When asked the predictable question *So, what do you do?* often a small business owner will reply *I own a small business* or *I run a small graphic design company*. How does it help your business when you refer to it as small?

Instead of saying, you run your own tiny PR Company, how about saying you run a communications firm.

The point is, when you use the term small; it is open to interpretation by the listener as to what the word *small* means. How do they define it?

You may think small means: *I can handle work for mid-size companies, up to 200 employees*. Whilst the listener might be thinking, *Too bad they can only handle businesses with under 50 employees; my mid-size company could certainly do with their help.*

Do you think if you say you a run a company, without mentioning that it's small, you will be buried by too much work from bigger clients?

Recently, one of my Coaching clients referred to her business as a small graphic design company. I asked her *What do the *large* firms provide to a potential client that you don*t?* She thought for a moment and said, *Well, they have a known client list and nice offices*. That was it!

Clients hire you to add value to their business by using your talent. Nothing to do with stylish offices or the fact that IBM is a past client.

I have heard people say that they like working with a smaller company because of the more personalized service they feel they receive by dealing with the owner. And it is true, when a client picks up the *phone, it could well be you who answers * they certainly don*t have to go through six people just to get their question answered. However, it is not the number of employees that dictates the quality of the customer service; it is the mindset of the people involved.

If you want to start landing larger clients, stop acting so small. Give yourself some credit for your talent; tell people what you have to offer and what you can do for them. If you don*t start to, no one else will.