While small businesses may not bring in the revenue that larger corporations do, many have been able to weather the economy’s most recent storms due to one simple quality: agility. Â The agile small business is usually lighter and more efficient out of necessity, and could teach larger companies a thing or two. Here are five things that successful and flexible small businesses do:
1. Small Businesses Pivot
When you think about media organizations, print media is obviously an example of an industry that has struggled for years with the online environment. When I was a print reporter, my newspaper was only beginning to embrace the web at a time when bloggers were beginning to encroach on the domain of local news reporters. Large news organizations could take a page out of the book of bloggers like The YBF’s Natasha Eubanks – a blogger with no previous media or web experience who has grown her site to a seven figure business in under 5 years. Natasha saw the need for African – American celebrity news channel and she filled it.
Think about other businesses that failed to pivot in recent years, and the game changers that popped up in their steads. In Chris Brogan’s landmark book “Trust Agents” he identifies this phenomenon as gatekeepers vs. the nimble gatejumpers who were able to pivot and make new rules. Radio listeners can now listen to podcasts, print magazines have given way to blogs, bookstores like Borders have closed down in the wake of Amazon. Music stores like Tower Records are extinct because you can easily download your favorite music online. The gatekeeper models all failed to pivot—or if they did pivot, they did so too late.
2. Make Customer Service Personal
During college, I worked at an independent coffeeshop as a barista.  I remember one hot summer day, a customer requested a way to sweeten his iced beverage – as the regular granular sugar didn’t dissolve.  A few industrious baristas and I came up with a simple solution – simple syrup: a highly concentrated solution of sugar and water that dissolved easily in iced drinks. It was simple to make and simple to use and needed no management approval. The solution was so apropos that ten years later it is still in use, virtually unchanged.
When was the last time you complained to a business and was able to get such a quick resolution? Would Starbucks have reacted this quickly to customer feedback? I doubt it.  But larger businesses can learn from small businesses who can’t afford to ignore customer complaints. Sometimes small business are able to observe a problem and immediately go into problem – solving mode. The simple sugar required no committee meetings or board approvals – just  quick thinking and quick action.
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3. Innovate and Take Advantage of Technology
There’s a reason they say necessity is the mother of invention. Cash-strapped small businesses must get creative to get the word out about their services, so their adoption of social and new media is required. Â In the early days of social media, while some larger organizations sat on the sidelines small businesses began using social media to keep buyers informed, engage new audiences and give customer service a personal touch.
Entrepreneur Paul Carrick Brunson skirted traditional marketing techniques when building his boutique matchmaking agency, Â One Degree From Me
.  Instead, Paul developed a YouTube series—The Modern Day Matchmaker, which featured his candid advice on love and dating. The Modern Day Matchmaker video series gave Paul direct access to the hearts and minds of women looking for love, and helped Paul amass nearly 50,000 followers on Twitter, a column on Essence.com, a spot on Dr. Drew’s Life Changers, a book deal, and, premiering in August 2012, a TV show, Lovetown, on Oprah’s OWN Network.4. Stay Lean
When most businesses are starting out, they keep overhead (office space leases, payroll fees, utilities, etc.) low. As companies grow, they sometimes outgrow this thrifty method of doing business in favor of prestigious office addresses and lengthy staff rosters. But small businesses who have been able to remain lean have been able to weather the dips in the economy more easily than weighty organizations that find themselves bogged down by staff and space costs.
Hiring contractors and allowing employees to work remotely has been a hallmark of consulting and other entrepreneurial ventures for years. In fact, the co-working movement
has picked up in recent years as a cottage industry has cropped up to service workers who need a place to work with high speed internet access, relative space and quiet. Remaining in startup mode with low overhead is not only economical, but a smart business move for any size business.5. Maintain a Deliberate Sense of Focus
The confused mind doesn’t buy, so in the long run, the focused small business can develop stronger brand positioning and increased market share by doing one thing really well. Larger businesses that fall into the trap of adding more and more – more products, more services, more options –  could stand to focus on doing one thing really well. Because in the end, most customers would much rather have a more streamlined buying process. Since small businesses can’t afford to develop multiple products or services, they must focus on making one or two products or services exceptional. And one or two exceptional products or services means more satisfied customers, more repeat business, and more revenue – which is what every business really wants.