Small Business Owner Mindset

When engaging with solution providers, small business owners adopt one of three mentalities.

Owners have limited mental bandwidth to manage the hundreds, if not thousands, of details that are involved in starting, running, or expanding a business. Owner mindset is the current focus of an owner’s mental bandwidth and priorities.

Our experience with the small business eco-system has helped us develop a model of three mentalities that can help organizations better engage and support their owners.

Sourcing

When an owner’s mental bandwidth and priorities are focused on sourcing new solutions, they have a sourcing mindset. The sourcing mind-set is related to the seed and expansion stage.

Seed stage owners are focused on finding all the solutions that they will need to launch and operate their firm. After a firm has launched and implemented its initial solutions, the owner moves into existence stage and shifts their mindset from sourcing towards operating. Owners will rarely be in the sourcing mindset ever again unless they enter an development stage.

Owners who are in the expansion phase tend to return to a sourcing mentality as they evaluate their business to see if their existing solutions can support their growth. Owners are unlikely to change solution providers 1, but expansion is a critical point at which they may add or switch solutions.

Owners with a sourcing mentality are generally open to implementing new solutions, since this is the area where they are focusing their attention and resources.

Operating

When an owner’s mental bandwidth and priorities are focused on the day-to-day operation of existing solutions, they have an operating mindset.

Owners have an operating mindset in every stage of development after seed (once a firm has been launched and is operating). Most owners have an operating mindset throughout their entire business life cycle – this is their default mentality.

Owners with an operating mindset tend to be resistant to implementing new solutions. They have everything they need (even if there are better solutions available) and they are focused on their day-today operations.

Breaking Point

When an owner has a mindset of operating, but a solution that is currently in place (or the lack thereof) stops working or becomes too painful for them to continue with it, they make it their priority to fix this pain point.

Once the company is up and running, a breaking point can occur at any stage of development.

Owners who are at breaking point are often the least receptive to new solutions (other than those that solve a specific pain point), because their daily operations may be affected. The mental bandwidth is focused on solving that one problem. Solutions that do not address this issue will be viewed as low priority (or even nonexistent).

Owners who are at a breaking point will most likely ask for help from their peers 2 or do an internet search.

Why it matters

You can engage owners who are in the sourcing phase by identifying firms that are at a development stage.

It can be difficult to determine when a firm has reached a breaking point. Inbound marketing programs that focus on breaking points in your organization can help owners find you at the exact moment they are experiencing these breaking points.